Michael, Kawai first started using ABS in upright hammer and wippen flanges from 1968 - 70. ABS only had just become commercially available in around 1964, so when this piano you wrote about was being built the material was only just being tested by Kawai. In Kawai grand pianos, the oldest I have seen was a KG-3C from around 1973 which had ABS wippen flanges. In that piano I had tightened the hammer flange screws, as the wood hammer flanges were extremely loose. When I turned the action around and tried to tighten the wippen flange screws they wouldn't budge - after more than 20 years they were still factory tight! As the others have mentioned, you won't see ABS parts failing like the bad plastics from the 50s. Don Mannino Kawai America >Do 1965 Kawai grand pianos have action with plastic parts? If so, can the action >plastic parts have the same bad condition that American made plastic parts do in >spinets? >Thank you >Michael Mezhinsky RPT
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