<html> Hi Dave! As Kevin so aptly described them, the Shigeru Kawai pianos are Kawai's new hand-made line of grands.  They are the same scale designs as the larger RX pianos, but are built differently and with some different materials.  Since they are hand built they are very limited in quantity, so there are presently less than 20 dealers in North America. They come in 5 sizes, SK-II (5'10"), SK-III (6'1"), SK-V (6'6"), SK-VI (7') and SK-VII (7'6"). The soundboards are made from long-term aged Japanese spruce (air-dried a minimum of 5 years before final seasoning), and have cold-pressed hammers and hand-wound bass strings (wrap is fed by hand instead of numerically controlled string machine).  The cabinets are somewhat different, with round legs and some fancier features - but it is the sound and touch that really makes them nice. The actions and dampers in the Shigeru Kawai pianos are installed and regulated by Kawai's concert technicians in Japan, so they come from the factory quite well regulated and voiced. As you might expect, they cost quite a bit more than the standard RX pianos.  Although Kawai has had other limited production models in the past (like the original GS models and the R - 'Artisan Select' models), these are built similarly to the EX concert grand.  The added labor really adds to the price. Don Mannino Kawai Piano Company At 09:05 AM 1/24/01 -0600, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Ok Don, tell us, what is the S...... (can't remember how it's spelled) Kawai that is advertised in the January Journal (pg 33)?   dave <hr> David M. Porritt <a href="mailto:dporritt@swbell.net">dporritt@swbell.net</a> Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX 75275 <hr> </blockquote></html>