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<DIV>
<DIV>I'll chime in with Avery on this one. They really do their best t=
o
help technicians in the field. I usually deal with Andrew Thomas, who =
is
the primary phone contact.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I have a Kawai GE2 that I service in a private piano school that has ha=
d
the living daylights beaten out of it. The customer was convinced that=
the
piano was no good and was in need of warranty replacent because it was break=
ing
strings and needed voicing in the worst way. When I heard how hard the=
piano was being played, I understood immediately that the piano was under se=
vere
duress. Nevertheless, Kawai went beyond what they were responsible for=
in
order to make the customer happy. </DIV>
<DIV>A piano like the one you are working on gets far more wear and tear tha=
n a
concert instrument. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Kawai's phone number is 800-421-2177. Just ask for acoustic piano=
tech support. If it is a warranty fix, you will get a claim form. =
;
IMHO, this is a (ab)use issue. People that use their pianos often and =
hard
need to spend more to have them serviced and repaired regularly.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Good luck,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Dave Stahl</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 4/4/05 6:21:14 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
avery1@houston.rr.com writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><=
FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=
=2>Tom,
<BR><BR>Since no one else has responded to this, I'll stick my nose in! I
don't know if this type of thing would be covered under warranty or not. I=
doubt it. But, I do know that Kawai will bend over backward to help you.
They've done it for me several times! I haven't developed a relationship w=
ith
Nick yet (but I need to). However, I've known Don for years and he's reall=
y
helped me a LOT! Many times! All I can say is, ask their advice about what=
to
do! Believe me, they won't screw you! :-) <BR><BR>Avery <BR><BR>At 08:23 A=
M
4/4/05, you wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite="" type="cite"><FONT face=arial
size=2>List<BR><BR>I service a Kawai grand, model number not at hand r=
ight
now, that is 10 years old. This piano is owned by a piano teacher =
and
she uses it for her lessons, so it does get heavier use than most home
pianos. Still, I am surprised at how poorly it was fared.
<BR><BR>Key bushings are completely worn and need replacing. Dampe=
rs
lift immediately upon depressing the key. The damper lift, I am go=
ing
to remedy next week, but I wonder if the key bushings are something that=
would be covered by a warranty. (She couldn't find the warranty wh=
en I
was there, but hopefully will have found it by the time I return next we=
ek
to regulate the damper lift.)<BR><BR>I would think Kawai would warranty
their new pianos for some length of time. But even should the warr=
anty
still be in place, would key bushings be covered? <BR><BR>Having b=
een
in the business for only 6-7 years, I'm not really sure how long key
bushings are supposed to last . So maybe it's unrealistic for me to expe=
ct
them to last longer than 10 years. Please straighten me out on thi=
s if
my expectations are off.<BR><BR>And unrelated, really, to the above:&nbs=
p;
let's say that a Kawai did have something that needed fixing that was
covered by an existing warranty. How would you go about getting Ka=
wai
to cover the cost of the repair? Or even agree to have the repair
done? Why would they trust my opinion that the key bushings (or
whatever) needed replacing? Would I have to produce some evidence =
to
prove it? I've never had to do any of this before. And=
yes, I could probably call Kawai and get an answer, but then, as a
hypothetical question at this point, I wouldn't want to bother them with=
it. Certainly someone here has done warrantied repairs: how is it
arranged?<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR>Tom Sivak<BR>Chicago Chapter PTG
Associate</FONT><FONT face=arial> </FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BLOCKQU=
OTE></DIV>
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