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<DIV>Don, Terry & Donald,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Australia is a funny climate full of odd people. In Darwin, where =
the
humidity is currently 85% and in Queensland in general where humidity is =
also
high you will find that 98% of the houses are not air-conditioned and =
everyone
leaves the windows open to let the breezes in ( and the moisture). Seem =
this is
a different world. It is hard on all pianos in all senses but most of =
them
handle these conditions better than does the Kawai.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Now I have to admit that I have not checked out the bushing cloth =
in the
new Kawais and maybe this has been changed recently but in the Kawais =
that I
have worked on, the bushing cloth did not have the white bit in the =
middle. It
was red right through. This makes it different in construction to other =
bushing
cloths that I have used.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> One tuner in Australia rebushed a complete grand action with =
Renner
felt and the problem never reoccurred. So, is it the felt or the ABS
resin.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Also one of the English actions, I think Schwander, used ABS =
flanges with
normal bushing cloth and I have never seen a problem with tight centres =
there so
I guess I would have to say its the cloth at fault.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I have not made a proper study of this and it may have changed =
since but
its easy to check it out. take out a flange and look at the felt. Does =
it have
the white inner weave ?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Tony</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=donmannino@attbi.com =
href="mailto:donmannino@attbi.com">Donald
Mannino</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, March 11, 2003 =
3:03
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Kawai NS-20</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT size=3>At 10:56 PM 3/10/2003 +0930, you =
wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite="" type="cite">ABS flanges or the =
type of felt
used are affected more by humidity than the<BR>flanges in most other =
pianos.<BR><BR>Tony Caught</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Tony,<BR><BR>I'm not sure =
where you
got this information, but it is completely incorrect. Perhaps =
you have
been taken in by a non-ABS propaganda artist! The ABS material =
is inert
and does not change measurably with humidity changes, and the bushing =
cloth is
just a normal tight woven wool bushing cloth - it does not react any
differently than any other piano.<BR><BR>I once had the same =
misunderstanding
regarding ABS flanges. The reasoning went that the wood hole =
expands
along with the felt during humid times, and thereby gives some =
compensation
for the swelling of the wool cloth.<BR><BR>In reality, the wood hole =
expands
in an oval shape, and the amount of movement is only barely measurable =
using
very high quality reference points. Since the hole expansion is =
not the
same in all directions, the effective radius of the hole (from the =
perspective
of the center pin) does not change enough to measurably compensate for =
the
wool expansion.<BR><BR>Kawai ABS actions have really, truly excellent
reputations in the most humid climates, and it is extremely rare to =
have to
repin Kawai actions in humid climates. If you have had some bad
experiences with particular pianos, don't simply blame it on the =
ABS.
The reason I say this is that in the 80s I can remember having to =
repin 1
Kawai actions which had frozen up - but it was a UST-6 which had all =
wood
action parts!<BR><BR>Since I started working for Kawai in 1995, we =
have had
close to zero complaints of tight action centers. Any piano maker can =
have
problems with action centers for one reason or another, and virtually =
all
piano companies have at one time or another. It is completely =
incorrect
to assume that the ABS would be responsible for tight action centers =
in a
particular piano or climate.<BR><BR>Don Mannino
RPT<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BODY></HTML>