Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards KAWAI MP10 Arrived! Couple of issues... (!)

I played an MP8ii a while ago in a shop and was turned off by the sharp corners. My MP10 on the other hand is nice and smooth.


Mine was also from Sweetwater. It had a loose connector for the display that caused the backlight to flicker, which was easily repaired by a local technician. Other than that, mine arrived without damage.

Mine has a little of the C-D spacing, issue, but not enough to notice when playing.

Both Sweetwater and Kawai were extremely responsive in fixing the display.

The key fronts on the two MP10s that I had were also smooth. In general, the keys on this model are amazing to the touch!

And I think I need to clarify something here, for what it's worth! The C-D spacing existed on both pianos but it was on the first one, where the key "sag" that spanned from C5 to the right end of the board, where the spacing really bothered me. Mainly because the C was pushed up and tilted to the left! It was actually like a ramp! Very noticeable and enough to catch your finger when sliding around in that area.

Curt

Good news indeed!

KawaiDon,

The abnormal key spacing issue described in this thread exists between every C-D interface on the MP10 and nowhere else on its other keys. This is unlikely to be due to moisture or temperature, but rather the design of the key modules themselves. I observed this same abnormal C-D gap on the MP10 at NAMM and did not observe anything similar on any of the competitor's keyboards. I'm not sure the gap is detrimental to playability, but it is, at least, a cosmetic fit-and-finish type of problem (sort of like uneven gaps on each side of a new car hood).

Hi guys. I'm pretty new here. Regarding the new DP I bought last week I chose a corresponding name for this forum. ;-)

Well, thing is - the uneven spacing is very annoying. I'll bring the MP10 back and will upgrade to Roland RD-700NX.

btw, that's no winter related problem. As bbent already posted, it's only between the C-D keys. And yeah, there are also "sharp edges" on some of the black keys. Seems that the manufacturing team was on lack of files at that point. Well, you can't cut yourself, but it kind of scrubs your finger.

Here's again a picture of the problem:




The keyboard was the main reason to buy it - no perfect keyboard, no MP10 for me :-(


Ah, and it's not a batch problem. Mine is not from Sweetwater, I bought it in Germany.


cheers
Andy

Disheartening, after all the eager anticipation. At least, you're covered two different ways: both by Sweetwater and by Kawai. I'm pretty sure that either would make this right for you.

I was feeling somewhat left out when, not so long after buying the MP8ii, the MP10 was announced. But, my keyboard is not thumpy to speak of (I've never seem a DP that didn't have some thump, and real pianos have them too), the keys are evenly spaced and at the same height, and it turns on when I turn it on. And I had the benefit of the final patch program. And the keys are not sharp-edged. Pretty nice keyboard, all things considered.

There's something to be said for buying, if not at the end of the product cycle, at least not right at the beginning. I can't tell if these problems are because of a rush job at the fab or a failure of QC, a design flaw that doesn't allow for the typical rough treatment during shipping or on the road... or what.

It does seem that Kawai upper management's attention has been acquired, and that they're working on it. It has to be both embarrassing for them, and not exactly a boon for sales of the new release. The complaints will be circling the web long after the problems are solved. Discouraging, after an earnest effort, and after we've become accustomed to a better-quality product from them.

I tried the MP10 at Pierre Fines Piano (LA) today at it didn't have any problem of spacing between keys, just for the record...

Action-wise this piano is impressive, they almost nailed it. If in the next update of the action Kawai will improve the responsiveness, control the bouncing better, without altering the weight, the action will be very close to a grand action.

The ac piano sound is very good also but I prefer 700NX's...matter of taste of course! The Rhodes\Wurly emulation is great, indeed I do prefer the Rhodes sound over 700NX's for sure.

I'm really sorry for the forumers that are experiencing problems with the MP10. I suggest them to have patience cause this digital piano is really, really good.

My new MP10 arrived today, right in time for my birthday

Sadly enough I also have a quality issue with it.
5 of the keys (lowest Fis-Ais, black & white keys) make an annoying noise when played.

I will contact my supplier (in Belgium) next tuesday to have the piano replaced or repaired.

I just tried out the new Kawai MP10 at a local dealership today. I have to say that I'm pretty disappointed that it isn't what I expected it would be. I had really high expectations seeing that it had wooden keys and all. I actually expected it to feel like a real acoustic piano action, my mistake. If anything it feels just like every other DP I've tried. Also, one of the things that kinda put me off, I noticed that the black keys are hollow! Apparantly they use plastic hollow keys for the black key tops not solid wood. Doesn't feel right.

Get this, I stopped by another dealership to try out some new Yamaha Clavinovas, same result. Then by chance I happen to sit down and try out the Yamaha AvantGrand N3. I've been playing classical music for 16 years, I've owned a few uprights, numeruos DP's, have played on 100k steinways at the university and currently own a beautifull Schimmel grand piano, but I'm totally blown away by the AvantGrand. I had no idea something like what I saw today was possible, it's exactly what I was looking for in a DP. Except one problem, it's 14k. Pretty tempted, but it's a bit too much for a fake piano if you kow what I mean. They also have a lower priced one for about 12k and another model comming in this year, the N1 which supposedly will be priced around 7k. Hoping the N1 is more compact, maybe not too heavy where I can take it to on the road.

You guys have to try these DP's out, there is no comparison to the MP10.

Are you sure you are not mixing things up with the fake Yamaha 'natural wood' NW-action?

If the keytops are like mine, then these are hollow plastic (Phenol, not PVC probably).
It must be said that on all acoustic pianos the keytops for the black keys are glued on and quite often these are plastic. Would be interesting to look for the Yamaha N3-N1, I would bet at least the N1 also has plastik keytops.

I you are a DIY man, you can buy a set of real black ebony keytops for about 80 Euros at Ebay ;-)

Nope, the MP10 has plastic hollow keys tops for the black keys, but just the top part of course. You can confirm this by flicking it with your finger nail, you can clearly hear it and feel it. Although you'd think you wouldn't notice it while playing, believe it or not you do notice, or at least I noticed it while playing pizzicato. And it's the little things that they get wrong that make all the difference. $2500 payed for wood and we get plastic. Since when did the black keys become less important in music?

Yes, in case of the MP10 the black and white keys are made of solid wood, with synthetic Ivory Touch key surfaces (as advertised, so that should be no surprise). More important is i.m.h.o. that the black keys have a shifted pivot point.

Sounds more like you want a Ferrari for the price of a Volkswagen. By the way, in case of the AvantGrand synthetic Ivorite keytops are used (also no real solid ebony of course).

Same here. Well, this is indeed very dissapointing. I looked into this forum in order to gather more informations about the new Kawai DPs, I was certainly not expecting the bad news... Looking back, though, I remember having the same keyboard issues (gaps, uneven keys) with a kawai MP9000 I owned 10 years ago. I could live with that back then, today I'm a little more on the picky side when spending 2k for a digital piano. Anyway, I'm sure the MP10 is a pretty good instrument and will find a lot of buyers, regardless the esthetical issues, no need for the Kawai CEOs to perform seppuku because of this.

Well, time to take a closer look at Yamaha, I guess, though I was not very impressed with the keyboard feel of the CP1 I tested few months ago. I'll certainly give it a second chance.

BTW, since I'm new to the forums: Hello and thanks to all of you, great postings, very informative!

Best,
Manolios

A bit in defense of Kawai; I spoke to a very honest employee of a very large retailer today and we did a count together on sold MP10 units and (defect-) returns. The amount of defect units is actually very low in comparison to the total units sold.

So, if any defects do show up, it is possible they are mostly from the same shipment(s), so in the perception of the customers it might seem as if all units are a problem. The bad luck lies more in the fact that they have been shipped in the same batch and show the same flaws (or have been mistreated in the same way). Anyway it doesn't seem to be true (to my relief) that the issues concern all MP10 units and that most instruments are just doing fine.

Sorry for the people who are stuck with problematic deliveries and are disappointed , but I thought it was fair to share this information to put things just a little bit in perspective. I know how it feels, my just delivered MP6 has been thrown around and will probably be replaced. Bad luck too, but I still have confidence in the product...

J (not employed by Kawai, so putting something in defense here doesn't raise my bonus ;-)

No, I think it's not like a Ferrari for the price of VW.

It's more like that other brands are able to get those black keys done well.

Here you can see a closeup how the Kawai MP-10s black keys are actually glued together. In some cases both parts aren't really aligned to each other (top & bottom part) - which causes the "sharp edges".




cheers
Andy

Luckily I can say that I didn't experience any 'sharp edges' on my CA93 during playing (and I'm talking about hundreds of hours of playtime). Neither did my friends. Moreover, I personally happen to even just so very slightly prefer the tactile response of the black keys to the white keys, but it's a close call (e.g. you could play an improvised pentatonic Asian song on the black keys for testing).

The letters we have in this thread sound very sincere and believable. I don't suspect our members.

But--- it has crossed my mind that Kawai's competitors could have a motive for flooding the online forums with complaints, in order to damage the reputation of a competing product.

I'm far too innocent personally even to think of this. The only thing is, it happens so much in this shrinking piano market. Knock out the other guy (for example, with confidential inside information about their "cheap plastic action parts") so that your product looks better to the unknowing chump who comes into your store.

We know some of the complaints are true; Kawai has announced that they've tracked down the circuit board problem and will make it right. Some complaints may come along with the mail-order marketing model, both for rough handling en route and because the customer hasn't had a chance to try the product in the store. If you could actually hear that the keys are too loud in the bedlam that is most music stores, maybe you'd choose another make... and maybe the other maker would be getting these letters.

Jeff, this was exactly what I thought for the last two days but didn't dare to speak out loudly. I contacted at least one of the just recently registered members that seem to just register to complain about the MP10 telling them that I'm sorry and if they could provide me some more details, but never got a single answer. At least I consider this as a strange coincidence. Noone ever mentioned those issues with the (plastic??) black keys and sharpness issues. MP10 has the same action as the highly reputable CA93, so what is going on here?

Sorry for answering that late, but I noticed that tiny icon showing me new PMs just a few minutes ago.

I'm really no Roland, Yamaha or whatever fanboy at all. I was very excited about the MP10. Until I unpacked it and went for a test play at home. As I already wrote Joe, in my case I had trouble with the key spacing and the black keys. If it only takes place in the C-D interval (spacing) and some of the black keys aren't aligned as they should - that is just a manufacturing defect, not based on winter conditions or false handling.


And yeah, I just answered to this posting: