Voicing Kawais was --near impossible tuning

[Erwinspiano at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/5/2006 9:21:09 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, Erwinspiano  
writes:

  Hi Dean
 Well the statement you make on the bottom of your post  is usually the 
problem.  I have voiced or replaced hammers in many older  & newer Kawai & Yamaha 
pianos & had tremendous improvements in  tone.  As is the case in so many 
pianos with the harder pressed version  of hammers, without out voicing, sustain 
will always be short & the tone  an imitation of the sound of shattering 
glass.........., unless I sell a  voicing job.  
    Some pianos I've serviced have been  tonally so bad that IF after a 
couple attempts at moving the  client towards voicing without success, I have  
politely suggested  they perhaps they find someone else & also that I'm trying to 
protect my  hearing from the excessive DBs these pianos produce.  A bold 
move?... yes  & but rarely does the client go elsewhere.  The cleint doen't realize 
 what's possible.  An A-B  voicing demonstration is often the best  sales 
tool to share tonal changes with our clients & let them hear  what's possible. 
  By the way I have replaced hammers in many old Kawai  500 series pianos, 
KG-2's, GS-70 GS- 60. All with remarkable & stunning  results.  Not my words but 
clients exclamations.
  10 years or more ago a teacher bought her dream  piano, a Kawai KG-2.  She 
liked it at first but then as it changed &  brightened to unacceptable levels 
within a short time & she  thought  she had truly purchased a Lemon.  After 
first attempting to voice some a  very hard set of hammers without getting what 
we wanted, I put in a few Isaac  hammers in & her face lit up.  She still 
teaches & I saw the  piano last week & the voicing was perfect even after all this 
time &  use.  I have yet to stick a single needle in these hammers.  DItto  
the exact same experience time after time on the GS- 60 &  70 & Yamaha C-3s, 
kawai 500,550 & others. 
    I saw the GS -70 recently as well &  still hanging in after 12 years.  It 
is ready for a few minutes of  needling & evening up but nothing major.  This 
client is  big  church Power pianist, always plays to the bottom of the 
keys...vigorouly.  By the way many of the pianos mentioned here just to be accurate 
are the  Isaac hammer is which are or can be softer hammers  voiced up 
properly  with lacquer.  On other pianos they are  Ronsen Hammers.  All these painos 
are used more than the average.
  As you may no Heroic & extreme voicing attempts  are not with in the realm 
of my patience any more.  If the tone I  KNOW is possible & it doesnt' develop 
within a short amount of  time,  then hammers tell me they are just to hard 
to achieve  the lasting results & tone  I want. 
    In these cases  I'd rather the  client spends the hundreds of dollars I 
would have spent voicing, & put it  towards  a new set of hammers. The sustain 
& balanced tone will be  long lasting & without continual re-needling & tennis 
elbow.   You'll be a Wizard & the good will is enormous.
  Hope this is of value friend
  Dale

I don't get it.  Most all of the Kawai grands I tune (which aren't that many) 
I don't really  care much for. Since there aren't any new Kawai's being sold 
in this area  most of the ones I encounter are 10 plus years old of the KG 
variety, a  couple of GS, one GS-70. I don't like the sustain. With the sustain 
pedal on  when playing an arpeggio the sound quickly fades into white noise and 
one  cannot discern what scale was just played. I've done some experimenting  
even, hitting individual notes across the scale with an f blow and I get  
about a second of tone before there is only  noise.
 


These  are pianos with original hammers that have probably never had a needle 
stuck  in them. Is this a hammer/voicing  problem? 
 
Dean 


eereeeeerwinsErwins pianoDale Erwin--Piano  Restorations
4721 Parker Rd.
Modesto, Calif 95357
Shop  209-577-8397
cell 209-985-0990
_http://www.erwinspiano.com/_ (http://www.erwinspiano.com/) 
Specializing in the restoration, service & Sales  of
Steinway, Mason & Hamlin, & other fine  pianos

 
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