Pinning on new flanges

[Richard Brekne]

Hi Don

Grin... well I have to go along with you far enough to acknowledge that 
what you say is entirely possible. I have no way of confirming or not, 
or seeing through whatever motivations they have or dont... and the 
world of marketing competition is full of the most bizare consequences 
of face saving endeavours.... Nor have I tested any of this myself.

A fellow like me is left listening to guys like you on the one hand, and 
guys like I met in Hamamatsu on the other with nobody ever producing any 
real documented studies to exam.  We are asked to pick sides as it 
were... without more then somebodies word on the matter.  I know my own 
refusal to do more then report the differing sides of various subjects I 
hear as I hear them gets me into trouble with more then a few who have 
built up an opinion... but then... when I do take a stand on something 
or another I get into trouble there too... hehe... yas cant wins for 
loosing.

But in this... I just have to register what you and others say... and 
wait until I get a bit personally closer to some factual data before 
taking a stand.  We dont get Kawai instruments here in Bergen.. or very 
few. So my experience with them is limited.

Cheers
RicB



Don Mannino wrote:

>
>>
>> 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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