I read somewhere that the new Kawais, k15 k300, k500, k600, etc., those that replace the old k3, k5, k6, are all assembled in Japan, whereas before, until 2014, the lower series k15, k2 and k3 were assembled in Indonesia while the high-end series from the K500 onwards were all assembled in Japan. Only the k3 had two production lines, one in Japan destined for the United States market and the other in Indonesia destined for Europe. Then, in practice, even the K3s destined for the American market were assembled in Indonesia, then shipped to Japan just to attach the 'made in Japan' label. Now the propaganda that Kawai does is as follows: it says they are all assembled in Japan; does this mean that the factories in Indonesia are closed? I don't believe it, I am sure they still assemble them in Indonesia and send them to Japan for final testing and to say they are made in Japan, at least the K15, k200 and k 300. It goes without saying that the high-end series K500, k600, k800 are always assembled in Japan. Does anyone know anything more about this?
Sometimes Manufacturers want to talk about themselves and emphasize these matters. Personally, I believe it doesn't matter much where a piano is assembled, as long as the production team knows exactly what to do. The Eastern market does not seem to be improvising on a subject like this. Materials, however, are very important, and it is important that Manufacturers are at the forefront or at least keep their "guard" very high. To Western high quality, the East is responding with carbon (my last visit to the Musikmesse in Frankfurt was the subject of this observation). Ultralight stiles and bridges make the action increasingly agile, and even the calculation designs for the hitch pins are increasingly attentive and optimized. Soundboards... a little too heavily loaded to obtain a greater sound attack transient (even more impregnated hammer felt!). Everything seems, in short, to be progressing towards greater ease of use and a sound that I would say is more "aggressive". Pianists themselves play more aggressively in a modern way. Lang Lang, the great little lion of the keyboard, gives us an example. The "romantic" sound and the sweet, more harmonic prolongation of the piano sound now seem like a memory of the past. Pianos with small hammers and lightly loaded soundboards, with a gentler attack but a longer decay transient, are no longer made today. Today our instrument has a more "restrained" sound, easier to pedal, and with greater clarity in the execution of rapid passages. Repeated notes and rapid octaves, still difficult to execute on early twentieth-century concert pianos, are easily achieved on modern instruments. Piano technique has also adapted: the new "School" suggests that there is no need to change fingers on repeated notes, allowing for playing closer to the keyboard. A better ratio between downward weight and return weight allows the pianist the possibility to "rely" more and more on their instrument instead of "challenging" it.
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nancy
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Reply 3 by nancy
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521
...but advantages and disadvantages....I like old pianos and a less aggressive virtuosity....who knows what Chopin would have said about it...
Sometimes Manufacturers want to talk about themselves and emphasize these matters. Personally, I believe it doesn't matter much where a piano is assembled. As long as the production team knows exactly what to do. The Eastern market does not seem to be improvising on a subject like this. Materials, however, are very important, and it is important that Manufacturers are at the forefront or at least keep their "guard" very high. To Western high quality, the East is responding with carbon (my last visit to the Musikmesse in Frankfurt was the subject of this observation). Superlight styli and bridges make the action increasingly agile, and even the calculation projects for hitch pins are increasingly attentive and optimized. Soundboards... a little too heavily loaded to obtain a greater sound attack transient (even more impregnated hammers!). Everything seems, in short, to be progressing towards greater ease of use and a sound I would say more "aggressive". Pianists themselves play modernly in a more aggressive way. Lang Lang, the great little lion of the keyboard, gives us an example. The "romantic" sound and the sweet, more harmonic prolongation of the piano sound now seem like a memory of the past. Pianos with small hammers and lightly loaded soundboards, with a gentler attack but a longer decay transient, are no longer made today. Today our instrument has a more "restrained" sound, easier to pedalize, and with greater clarity in the execution of rapid passages. Repeated notes and rapid octaves, still difficult to execute on early twentieth-century concert pianos, are now easily achieved on modern instruments. Piano technique has also adapted: the new "School" suggests that there is no need to change fingers on repeated notes, allowing for playing closer to the keyboard. A better ratio between downward weight and return weight allows the pianist the possibility to "rely" more and more on their instrument instead of "challenging" it.
I agree 100% with everything; in fact, the most important thing is not where a piano is assembled, but rather the materials used and also the good know-how that the parent company must transmit to its subsidiary, with fixed and constant quality controls, as well as with staff training that is constantly updated. Both Kawai and Yamaha have understood this very well by now. The only thing is that most people who purchase them care about seeing the plate specifically stating "made in Japan.".
I agree with you and, in my opinion, the mistake lies in the conviction that greater cleanliness corresponds to greater sound and/or artistic quality.... While in my opinion it is the opposite... I would make a note regarding tuning; old pianos "tolerated" detuning more, also due to the shorter sound, which gave rise to an infinite range of sympathetic resonances and made interpretations like those of Cortot personal... Today, unfortunately, we are moving more and more in the direction of a steady sound, without color. In a certain sense, people are increasingly willing to make everyone equal, to submit to globalization and the will of marketing. Art suffers from the crisis of values of each man's individuality, which was wedded to the imitation of nature... Franz Mohr, Horowitz's tuner, while testing Lang Lang's piano before a concert, expressed the opinion that it was horribly tuned... so in a certain sense, it does not only depend on the instruments but also on fashions and the will of those who play. My opinion is that art should not depend on fashion, just as one does not strip a historic building's facade of its ornaments because times have changed. Musical heritage, from an interpretative point of view, should be a heritage of inestimable value that must be preserved over time just like in museums; it may improve as the medium improves, but philosophies that alter its principal matrix should not be applied...
