Kawai piano needs orthodonture

[Gary Mc]

I'd geuss the fireplace has a great deal to do with the problem.  It can
quickly suck the moisture out of the air ,driving an already low humidity
level even lower.
Gary McCormick

----- Original Message -----
From: <Tvak@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2002 2:03 PM
Subject: Kawai piano needs orthodonture


> Last year, I helped some good friends of mine find a piano.  After a
couple
> of months looking, I found a Kawai console which they purchased last
January
> (2001).  This piano dates back to the late 70s with one owner, a professor
> and musician;  the instrument was in very good condition with little
hammer
> wear.
>     I tuned it for them and did a full regulation of the piano, including
> setting key height and key dip.  Now, just 13 months later, the keys are
not
> level any longer.  And I'm not being picky here, this keyboard looks like
it
> needs orthodonture.  I would expect a leveled keyboard to last for years
> before it needed leveling again.
>     What would cause this?
>     I can guarantee there are no children banging on the keys, as the
parents
> are professional musicians and I am confident that this would never take
> place in their home.    The humidity level in their home is at 21%, which
> seems very low to me, but then, I leveled the keys last January when the
> humidity was probably close to the same.
>     This piano also goes out of tune amazingly fast in spite of the pins
> being tight in the block.   I can see why it would be out of tune from my
> last tuning in August, now that the humidity in the home is so low, but I
> tuned it one week ago and today there were 3 or 4 unisons which had
drifted
> dramatically.  This is not a one time event, either;  I am always
> disappointed when I visit them to find how poorly the piano has held its
> tune.
>     The piano itself seems fine to me.  The work I did on it is the same
work
> I've done on other pianos.   I have mentioned to them that the low level
of
> humidity was not good for the piano and could possibly be causing these
> problems and I got the fish-eye.  I'm afraid they think that there's
either
> something wrong with the piano, or me, and they're leaning towards me on
that
> issue.
>         Could the low humidity be at the bottom of all of this?  The piano
is
> NOT near a heat vent, it's even sitting on an inner wall.  There is a fire
> place across the room about 10 feet away.   They use it frequently.
>     What's going on here?
>
> Any thoughts are appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Tom Sivak