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hello Roxane, thanks for reminding.

i am plan to change a table runner later, hope it will helpful.

By the way, normally what you guys use to prevent ants, insects in the piano?

Wow， more than 2000 posts already. Geng leh!

My technician says use the black color dried star star thingy (some dried food)and hang it near the hammers. Can prevent insects...

Don't use thirsty hippo inside the piano! I tried with my previous piano and it doesn't work, but actually make it worse...

You mean 八角? A kind of food? I guess it's herb.. Not sure..

Table runner, as in long table cloth? Won't help with RH either – you need the full wrap around cover. In these economic times, you might actually be able to get someone to sew one for you cheap!

Yo Snr!

I can understand cos I share the same experience. Had my 1st tuning on my K8 done last week. The technician fr RP made 3 visits but still can't it right!

This is what happened: After 1st tuning, I spotted a couple of keys especially on the high octaves with inconsistent tone after his servicing. They were obvious cos those keys produced very piercing sound. I feedback to RP via email with the problematic keys identified. They sent him down a second time but he called me when he was at my place saying that he didnt find anything wrong (I was in office). We then arranged another visit when I was at home so that I could tell him exactly what the problems were. The way he resolved the piercing sound problem was to use a 2-needle tool and rubbed it against the hammer head to lossen it. While this may ease the piercing sound problem, it also tone-down the sound. In his kind intention to make the sound consistent, he did it on all the keys on the upper 2 octaves instead of just the problematic ones! OMG now I feel there's a dampener when I play the high octaves and the touch is horrible. I did feedback to him on spot but he said if he tone up those keys again (by using an iron), they will all be very piercing and said the sound should project again after few weeks of playing.

There was another problem with a key which had a foreign sound when being hit. It was obvious to me esp since the other keys did not have this foreign sound. But he couldn't hear it and insisted there was none. He nevertheless "trusted" my hearing and kept adjusting the tone/pitch of that key and asked me if I could still hear it after each adjustment! I kept telling him the problem has nothing to do with tone/pitch and after long investigation, we finally found the root of the problem which was the board rather than the string/hammer. He could finally hear the foreign sound by hitting the key with the musical sound fully muted!

I don't know what to do now except to trust him that all these problems with pitching, inconsistent tone are due to my piano being very new and it will improve with time. Its actually hard to convince myself cos the touch was so much better before his servce. This technician as I understand is the most experienced one in RP and to be fair, he's a nice guy and has been patient throughout. I just hope my upper 2 octaves will start to "sing" again soon...

Snr, u said the technician spent <1hr on your piano. That doesn't sound right cos this guy spent at least 1 1/2 hrs to tune mine which is consistent with what the sales person told me. Yours is a grand (you own RX right?) which logically should take longer than upright. Anyone with tunning experience to share, especially on new pianos?

I think the best way to prevent insects in piano is to play in daily!

hi bihua, may i know where to buy those black star star thingy?

hi sheue, does it work? But anyway, we will have vacations sometime. So i'd better find some other solutions.

That's actually quite a good idea. One of my aunts (she's now passed away) used to collect Chinese paintings. She left most of them rolled up in scrolls and stuck them into tall cylindrical ceramic jars. To keep insects like silverfish etc away the bottom of the jar was strewn with dried star anise and black peppercorns.

For the piano you can make a couple of small cotton bags, fill them up with dried star anise and black peppercorns and leave them at the bottom of the piano case. Or you can tie some up in a couple of old handkerchiefs. Even old socks (washed!) will do.

The dried star anise and black peppercorns can be bought at your neighbourhood wet market, or in supermarkets (NTUC Fairprice for sure). In supermarkets look for them in the dried foods section -- if you spot dried Shiitake mushrooms then the star anise and peppercorns are probably nearby.

Sheue:

Kawai pianos are usually quite well voiced in the factory. Assuming that your K8 is not a dud, then the piano tech should not have touched the hammers. What's worse is that the way he used the voicing needles is wrong. According to your description he used it to fluff up the hammer felt around the striking point. That is NOT the way voicing needles are meant to be used.

My guess is that his tuning technique is deficient. I too used to own a K8 (which I sold it to get a grand). I tune the K8 and grand myself (with the help of an electronic tuning device), and I can confirm what I've read and been told -- that many voicing problems can be fixed by careful tuning. I'm still not good at it yet -- my own tech is able to get far more even voicing across the keyboard than I can. I can't bear to play on a piano that has drifted out of tune, but I can't afford to pay my dealer/tech to tune my piano every month. So I do it myself.

In case you are thinking of learning to tune your own piano, think again. I do not recommend it unless you are willing to spend some money and a lot of time learning how to do it. And since you are learning on your own piano, you run the risk of snapping strings and damaging the pins and pin block if you don't concentrate and move carefully and with the correct technique.

Yes, is 八角...can buy from any market one...

You put them into a small plastic bag, poke some holes on the plastic bag and hang near the hammers....

Haha, ya, I think this is herb...also food mah! Heehee...

Digitus,

Thanks for your note. The touch and voice are definitely much better before the servicing. I'm not sure what he did to the hammers was correct but what's more important now is to get the "feel" back. Would you recommend I approach RP and request Uncle Robert to help me even if it means I have to pay for his service? I'm afraid the warranty will be void if I get someone outside RP.

I never thought of tuning the piano myself..... but you've given something to think about!

hi bihua and digitus, now i know what is the "star". Yeah, i always use it when i cooking. thanks again.

Sheue,

Voicing INSTEAD of tuning/regulating (a good regulation could take up half a day!) is a "kwik-fix" solution. That senior technician ... I suspect is an elderly man who prefers to speak in Chinese (Mr Tay was it)?

In RP, if Mr Tay can't fix it, don't suppose others can

RC is very old, you sure he can hear well?

Void warranty huh? You don't say, how to tell? But to play safe safe hor, finish all the free tunings THEN get your own tech. Mr Kwan is good (Emmanuel and Sons).

Sheue,

I forgot to say lah! If it's Mr Tay, I don't think he will poke poke your hammers at the strike point lah ... he like to rub the SIDES of hammers with his pincer thingy ... saw him did that before. Hammer will harden up again in no time ... say a few months.

I actually have to TELL Mr Tay not to voice my piano

Make sure that if it sounds bad, I'll get my own tech to redo the job. That is why I'm always so satisfied with RP's service. LOL!

Hello everyone!

finally read finish about first 1/2 of the posts. lol and registered. I am an adult beginner looking to get myself an upright. Been playing on my sisters piano at my mums place and nowadays got more urge to play so i decided to get my own.

Anyone can help with a piano? havent been to many shops yet. Just online mostly. Looking to get a used piano. budget < $5k. Only piano I've played on is a kawai.... no idea which model though... no one in the family remembers... is it stated on the piano somewhere? All they remember was that it cost around $7k when it was bought. (new)

Saw an advert online selling a yamaha U3 for $3800
http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/Used-Yamaha-piano-U3_W0QQitemZ290306799972QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_216?hash=item290306799972&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1240%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

The search begins....

Hello everyone ! End of last year I was looking for a piano, and found the Hailun (much thanks to Bihua). I am now super happy to say that I got it ! The Hailun 125 (which is what Bihua got as well), I bought it on Friday and it arrived the next morning.

I have looked at some used pianos during my search, but none of them really left an impression on me. Did not like the feel of the keys on the used pianos as well.

The piano is amazing to an amateur like me, I love the sound, the touch, everything.

Thank you everyone ! I kept coming back to read up more to make sure that I am making the right move.