Voicing up Shigeru Kawai SK3

[Stéphane Hanriat]

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Hi Kevin,

Thanks a lot for your comments.

Actually, the piano was very harsh when coming from Japan. A french =
Master Piano Artisan has prepared the piano and I've tried it before =
ordering. I've well noticed the need to give more power to these notes =
to get more balanced sound, and I've considered this a minor problem. =
The MPA told me to play the piano for 6 months and he will improve this =
during the visit at my house (MPAs are licensed by Kawai to service =
Shigeru's).

I'm confident the technician will recover some brightness to these =
notes. I'll follow you regarding juicing. I agree that "banging" the =
hammers might do the trick. I'll also take care of the keyboard frame =
level in that range.

The piano tech of my local dealer (familiar with S&S) tells me dry =
ironing on the shoulders, not directly on the crown, would anyway =
recover a cleaner attack at soft playing. it's likely something that =
could be tested, in a conservative way of course. What do you think ?

Your remark regarding losing high frequencies is relevant, but I'm still =
OK for the moment (still young 40 years old man, isn't it ?). By the =
way, I've checked with other pianists playing my piano who are having =
the same perception than me.

Stephane Hanriat

----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Kevin E. Ramsey=20
  To: Pianotech=20
  Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 4:47 AM
  Subject: Re: Voicing up Shigeru Kawai SK3


  I'm a little shocked at the response from my fellow technicians here, =
perhaps they're not familiar with the Shigeru.

  First of all, don't even think of changing the hammers on your piano. =
Those hammers are very special, and they are one of the secrets of why =
the Shigeru is what it is.  If you had a technician file the hammers, =
his technique may leave a lot to be desired. With Shigeru's I always =
finish off with at least 800 grit, with the hammers set at the strike =
point, so that I'm getting an absolutely level strike surface. If you =
don't get the strike surface level, you lose power. Unless a technician =
who is not familiar with the special techniques used on one of these =
happened to over-needle the hammers, they come from the factory well in =
the range of where they should be in your home. Only you can answer as =
to who may have worked on your piano.

      I don't want to offend you, but this question sometimes comes from =
people who are losing a little of their high frequency hearing, which is =
more common today than most people realise. I just mention it so that =
you can consider whether that may indeed be a possibility.  If the =
hammers have been over needled in that area of the scale, usually they =
will brighten up when filed properly, and or "reset" with the back end =
of a voicing tool, or a small 2 oz. mallet, in a voicing tray. Do not, =
nor let your technician, treat these hammers with chemicals. These are =
not Steinway hammers, so they don't need the juice, you'll lose your =
dynamic range if you do. Have you had a Japanese technician come out to =
your house, yet? Explain your concerns to him, and I'm sure he can do =
what you want. I read what someone else wrote on the list before I =
hastily jumped in here, about them not coming out to the college.. I'm =
not sure that they do that for institutions, only individuals perhaps. =
I'm sure that Don Mannino is going to jump in here, he's the final =
authority, not me. I only posted this to keep you from doing anything =
too drastic in the meantime.

  Kevin E. Ramsey, R.P.T.
    ----- Original Message -----=20
    From: St=E9phane Hanriat=20
    To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
    Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2004 2:31 PM
    Subject: Voicing up Shigeru Kawai SK3


    Hello,

    I own a brand new Shigeru Kawai SK3 that the Kawai technician in =
France has
    made, according to me,  too deep voicing on notes in the treeble =
range (octave 5 to 6).

    Although he disagrees with that, the tone is slightly too mellow in =
this range,
    from pianissimo up to mezzo forte. At pianissimo or piano, the =
higher partials are
    reduced compared to neighboring octaves (impacted notes are from 55 =
to 69),
    and the attack looks a bit dull.
    Those higher partials are coming back with more strength on the key. =
However,
    these notes always require slightly more strength to produce a =
balanced sound.
    From Mezzo forte up to Forte, things are OK (overall loudness and =
tone quality
    is well balanced)

    The technician made several filing with very limited improvement. =
I'm not a
    specialist, just a pianist - but my engineering background and what =
I learned
    reading your very interesting posts, tell me that there has been =
likely too much
    deep needling in the higher section of the shoulders.

    The Shigeru hammers are cold-pressed and are considered as =
medim/soft in
    europe. May be they are not  very robust to extensive voicing.

    I'm wondering what could be the best solution to recover some power =
to these
    15 hammers : dry ironing, juicing or changing those 15 hammer heads =
?
    Kawai says the tone will not be even if I change only a sub set of =
hammers
    (they don't want to replace either full set of subset anyway...).

    Have you experienced changing subset of hammers in this range ?
    Which hammer head brand would you recommend for those Kawai pianos =
(softer
    than Yamaha...) ?
    Do you think dry ironing would make it ? (actually the recovery =
level I'm expecting
    is not that big and the felt thickness is small in this range, so =
this could work).

    Many thanks for your feedbacks,
    Sincerely yours,
    Stephane Hanriat
    stephane.hanriat@free.fr

    PS : This being said, the SK3 is an outstanding instrument. Action =
is close to
    perfection, overall tone is wonderful, rich, not too harsh like =
Yamaha and the
    softer hammers give you great control and margin in the way you =
produce louder
    sound.



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