Cheaply made Kawai HA20 upright piano c1995; plastic action.
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- Being a Kawai, this piano is still going strong and probably will do so for another 20 years at least. Having said that, the tone is extremely thin in the mid treble, which is where it should be full and vibrant.
We took it in part exchange for a Bluthner grand. The owner was an organ scholar and apparently learned on the piano as a child. He said it never had any technical problems.
We're not sure what to do with it! We could use it as a cheap rental but don't really want to sell it, though thought we'd put it on a video for comments!
Since making the video we looked it up in a piano atlas and saw that the HA-20 was made in 1995 and seems to have gone out of production that year.
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I get the feeling that this piano has far too many compromises it is impossible to improve it.
But someone was grateful for it.
It has a surface tension soundboard or laminated soundboard. It is made of several layers of laminated spruce. It is a very durable material but it is not good at being resonate. Solid Spruce is much better.
Have you thought about doing a comparison between mass-produced and handcrafted pianos ?
that is a good idea most likely my father may have done one or two already comparing perhaps a C3 Yamaha with a German piano etc, without having labelled them as such.
Agree with you Marcus its not the voicing and tuning its just the overall quality that's severely lacking and any voicing and tuning i think would be just a marginal improvement.
It's false to say that those parts are plastic ,when actually it's a composite of fibres including carbon fibre which is harder than steel , that's technology sir . It's made on purpose ,cause it lasts longer than wood and moisture doesn't affect and they are not precisely cheap.
Thanks for the correction; I didn't know that. Marcus
Those appear to be pre-M0-composite plastic components used in many Asian pianos, not the Kawaii composites from a different factory facility. Also, very few mfgs other than Kawai use carbon fiber in their modern composites.
Those appear to be pre-M0-composite plastic components used in many Asian pianos, not the Kawaii composites from a different factory facility. Also, very few mfgs other than Kawai use carbon fiber in their modern composites.
Have you decided what you're doing with it yet? And any luck with the mid treble?
As it was fully functional someone made us an offer which we accepted. Marcus
Aha. Thanks for the quick response!
It's 20 years old! Tone the hammers!
A bit too late now seems like you sold it....
pretty sure all new kawai's have solid spruce and tapered soundboards..
This piano would benefit from a good tuning and voicing. Kawai has been using plastic parts for decades. Don't blame Kawai, but work on tuning, toning and regulation.
Diminishing returns on that build....you would understand with more experience ;) Marcus briefly mentions the risk of over-softening as well (you can see they are single-core, very stiff, and do not show much surface wear, and are not producing much of a full sound of attack so voicing down a bunch is not likely to change much on that front). That piano is designed for stability in fluctuating environments and to be economical
Is the thin sound of the HA-20 entirely due to the soundboard? I was wondering about the influence of the hammers and the standard of the strings fitted here.
Was the piano incapable of being improved?
I think the thin sound was a combination of factors as you suggest; soundboard, strings and hammers. We didn't spend too long on it; could possibly have improved a little more but decided to spend time on other pianos. Marcus
@@RobertsPianos I wondered what were the major issues & I wondered about the soundboard in particular. Kawai vs Feurich tested with a tuning fork.
I suppose that the time and labour expended to achieve a worthwhile improvement in the piano's sound wouldn't make economic sense.
You talk about there being " plastic " parts within the piano. I am sure you should be aware though that you are not talking about any old " plastic" , you are talking about a very special type of composite plastic which in many ways out performs timber. It is much less suseptible to heat variations and will last for just as long as the piano lasts. You do have to move with the times you know !!
Hi Scabbycat cat, just recently I had to remove a plastic cracked pedal bracket and order brass ones as well as replacing a whole set of plastic elbows on a spinet here in Houston. Both had corroded. Wood usually adapts better to changes in humidity and wears longer. Carbon fiber parts are becomings more popular and are said to have a long durability. Mostly I see cracking or 'crumbling' plastic and not wood when I tune 4-5 pianos a week here in Houston. Another material that is not good to see is when the wooden frame sustaining the action has been replaced with metal. This causes fear when removing and inserting screws and the thread will eventually wear with simple regulation or replacement of parts. Wood tends to be more maluable. Thank you for your comment and thoughts. Greetings from Roberts Pianos Oxford, Evan Roberts
This appears to be of that "any old" plastic though....not the quality stuff, i mean, just compare with the soundboard, how likely do you think they used the more expensive stuff in their money-saving basic model?
Yuck! the sound is that of the proverbial "tigerskinachord"!
Will this someday be considered a "vitage" tigerskinachord?
😂 never heard that proverb .....old Dutch ?!😅
@@Li-yt7zh It's a mid-1960s Southern California expression for a sleazy, cheapo, overly glassy sounding lounge piano that has had its eoof surface tacked over or nailed on for the tiger skin pattern cloth or fur covering (i.e. the real fur or simulated).
I meant "wood surface" there, at the typo
@@geraldparker8125 interesting expression, thx for sharing