Hi all

Following up on the recent thread by paino_mike, and some problems experienced with my RX6, in which I promised to report back, here is the latest.

The piano finally received its tuning, voicing and regulation a week ago, and it has been stable ever since. It is simply a different instrument altogether, now displaying the qualities that I fell in love with when I bought it.

However, there is some caution. In our damp climate, the dammp chaser is not very effective, at regulating the climatics inside the paino. Rust has already appeared on the strings, after 8 months. The technician as also advised against the string cover, as it may attract moisture under same, which may have lead to the strings starting to form rust.

I have also been advised to invest in a dehumidifier, which will keep humidity levels in the room stable, at around 50%.

That is the sum total of comments from the technician, and all that I can do is to follow his advice, and trust that any further problems with the instrument will be avoided in future.

Needless to say, i am a little bit annoyed at the string cover which was sold to me under the premise that it would avoid the strings from rusting. This has proved to be ill advised.

Apart from all this, my instrument is a joy. Remakable in it's tonal balance, and the range of expression is superb. Bass is now strong and growly, and the tenor beautifully balanced and expressive. After some voicing to the treble, to make it brighter, it sparkles and even shimmers.

Thank you for all your advice. Just shows what happens when a piano is tended by a competent technician. Thank you James Webster....

Kind regards

Deon

As a general rule, and experienced local technician who knows the climate can give better advice on piano care than people out of the area. The local tech sees a whole lot of pianos in your specific situation and gives advice based on that. I'd give it a lot of weight.

That is great news. I was sure your RX6 would be a gem after a good tuning, regulation and voicing. After all, it IS a big piano with a decent size bass string, so there should be minimal issues with bass. Or if there was, they can be fixed, unlike smaller pianos where the bass can be an issue.

Glad that the RX6 is great now! It is an awesome piano! I am probably changing my RX2 for a larger RX6 or RX7. Depending on the deal offered by my dealer. It is in the negotiation stages right now.

The point here is the importance of having the piano set up right in order to get the maximum beauty and performance from it.

Great news! I just love the Kawai RX pianos.

Enjoy your piano now and practice hard!

I'd like to add that in humid environments, to create a stable micro-climate inside the piano, it is best to isolate the insides of the piano from the room. That is done with a full undercover and string cover. (That is without a room dehumidifier) Solving the problem in the room is a more solid fix...

Another thought - when dealing with high humidity situations, it is common to need to add more power to the "drying" side of the system. A quick check is to plug in an analog electric clock with the drying bar and see how much it cycles off over a day or two. (by seeing how much time is lost in the clock) If the drying side never switches off, the system is underpowered. It is designed to cycle back and forth between humidifying and dehumidifying to be most stable. Additional drying bars would then be needed to adapt to the room climate.

Ron Koval