Kawai NS-20

[Tony Caught]

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Don, Terry & Donald,

Australia is a funny climate full of odd people. In Darwin, where the =
humidity is currently 85% and in Queensland in general where humidity is =
also high you will find that 98% of the houses are not air-conditioned =
and everyone leaves the windows open to let the breezes in ( and the =
moisture). Seem this is a different world. It is hard on all pianos in =
all senses but most of them handle these conditions better than does the =
Kawai.

Now I have to admit that I have not checked out the bushing cloth in the =
new Kawais and maybe this has been changed recently but in the Kawais =
that I have worked on, the bushing cloth did not have the white bit in =
the middle. It was red right through. This makes it different in =
construction to other bushing cloths that I have used.

 One tuner in Australia rebushed a complete grand action with Renner =
felt and the problem never reoccurred. So, is it the felt or the ABS =
resin.

Also one of the English actions, I think Schwander, used ABS flanges =
with normal bushing cloth and I have never seen a problem with tight =
centres there so I guess I would have to say its the cloth at fault.

I have not made a proper study of this and it may have changed since but =
its easy to check it out. take out a flange and look at the felt. Does =
it have the white inner weave ?


Tony

  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Donald Mannino=20
  To: Pianotech=20
  Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 3:03 PM
  Subject: Re: Kawai NS-20


  At 10:56 PM 3/10/2003 +0930, you wrote:

    ABS flanges or the type of felt used are affected more by humidity =
than the
    flanges in most other pianos.

    Tony Caught

  Tony,

  I'm not sure where you got this information, but it is completely =
incorrect.  Perhaps you have been taken in by a non-ABS propaganda =
artist!  The ABS material is inert and does not change measurably with =
humidity changes, and the bushing cloth is just a normal tight woven =
wool bushing cloth - it does not react any differently than any other =
piano.

  I once had the same misunderstanding regarding ABS flanges.  The =
reasoning went that the wood hole expands along with the felt during =
humid times, and thereby gives some compensation for the swelling of the =
wool cloth.

  In reality, the wood hole expands in an oval shape, and the amount of =
movement is only barely measurable using very high quality reference =
points.  Since the hole expansion is not the same in all directions, the =
effective radius of the hole (from the perspective of the center pin) =
does not change enough to measurably compensate for the wool expansion.

  Kawai ABS actions have really, truly excellent reputations in the most =
humid climates, and it is extremely rare to have to repin Kawai actions =
in humid climates.  If you have had some bad experiences with particular =
pianos, don't simply blame it on the ABS.  The reason I say this is that =
in the 80s I can remember having to repin 1 Kawai actions which had =
frozen up - but it was a UST-6 which had all wood action parts!

  Since I started working for Kawai in 1995, we have had close to zero =
complaints of tight action centers. Any piano maker can have problems =
with action centers for one reason or another, and virtually all piano =
companies have at one time or another.  It is completely incorrect to =
assume that the ABS would be responsible for tight action centers in a =
particular piano or climate.

  Don Mannino RPT


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