> >Well Don... I dont claim to have done any formal studies myself.... but >upon directly asking some folks in the <<know>> at Hamamatsu whether or >not they actually had tested this... the answer was a very firm yes. >They said... if we hadnt tested, we would have no basis for not using >plastic parts. Ah, but that shows the fallacy of what they told you. The have a great reason not to use the plastic parts already - they cannot do it because Kawai (one 'i', by the way) already does! Actually, Kawai tests everything very thoroughly in the R&D laboratory. I have also tested this myself back in the 80s. That is why I suggested you give it a try. The wood hole does change size, but in a slightly oval shape. The difference in frictional changes when comparing plastic flanges and wood flanges (using the same cloth installed at the same time under the controlled conditions) is negligible - no consistent trend was measurable in testing. The normal variability in the felt overwhelmed any changes in the wood, and the plastic flanges had the same variation in friction as the wood flanges under varying real-world humidity conditions. So you can take it from one who has personally tested it - what they told you was just anti-Kawai propaganda, or perhaps a form of wishful thinking. Don Mannino RPT (Kawai Employee)
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