<HTML><HTML>List Just tuned a Kawai vertical, a CX-5H.  I have always thought of Kawai = as one of the better brands of piano.  But the design elements of this= piano make me wonder if they continue to aspire to quality.  First of all, this piano had a soundboard with the grain orientation vertica= l!  I had always read that the best orientation for soundboard grain o= n a vertical was diagonal.  Cheap pianos had the grain horizontal beca= use it took less wood (lengthwise) to do it  this way.  I've nev= er seen vertical grain orientation before, but I'm guessing it's for the sam= e reason, and it ain't because it sounds better this way.  The tone of= this piano?  Well, the top two octaves were pretty weak.  Not m= uch sustain, not much brightness. There were also no wooden frame support beams in the back.  Completely= open.  Again, from what I understand beams bracing the frame are ther= e to help tuning stability by stiffening the structure of the piano.  = Perhaps, just a coincidence, but this piano, which was one of three that I t= uned in the same building, was the only one that needed a pitch raise. = Following a tuning 6 months ago (by another tuner), this piano was 35 cent= s flat in the center, and nearly 100 cents flat in octave 7.  The bass= strings were generally 15 to 25 cents flat.  The other two pianos wer= e within 4 cents of A440. I also noticed that the action had only two brackets attaching it to the pla= te, one on each end.  There was a hole in the plate at the tenor break= where a third bracket could have been attached, but there was nothing on th= e action there.  Perhaps this plate is shared by another model in the = Kawai line that does have a third bracket there.  Or maybe they  = elminated the bracket after designing the plate with the hole already there= .  So maybe I'm misinformed about some of the above elements of pianos in gener= al.  If so, I'm sure someone will enlighten me.  And that's what= this list is all about.  But from my humble viewpoint, the Kawai CX-5= H has quite a few corners cut, resulting in a piano that makes me contemplat= e Kawais in general.  Tom Sivak Chicago PTG Associate</HTML>