🎹Kawai Piano Buyers Guide: What You Need To Know BEFORE Buying a Kawai Piano🎹

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0:00 - Intro
1:05 - Playing Demo
1:56 - Country of Origin
3:56 - Kawai vs K. Kawai
5:27 - Carbon Fibre Action
9:24 - Kawai vs Yamaha
12:00 - Used Kawai Pianos
13:42 - Kawai Warranty

#Kawai #Piano #BuyersGuide

Greetings and welcome to the Merriam Pianos YouTube channel. Anyone familiar with our channel will know that we review a lot of Kawai’s pianos on this channel, both acoustic and digital.

But if you’ve never shopped for a piano before and are in the early stages of your research, there’s a chance you may never have heard of Kawai since pianos are all they do. With that in mind, today’s video is a general overview of both Kawai as a company, and some important things to know about their pianos as you begin the research and shopping process.

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#1. Country of Origin

We get this question a lot - where are Kawai pianos made? Some people make a subconscious assumption that because the name Kawai starts with the letter K, Kawai’s must be made in Korea.

In reality, Kawai is a Japanese company, founded in 1927 in Hamamatsu Japan, and the majority of their acoustic pianos are still made in Japan to this day.

Kawai has another facility in Indonesia where some acoustic pianos are made, and some Chinese production for certain pianos sold in China.

#2. Kawai vs K. Kawai vs Shigeru Kawai

There is no quality or production difference between pianos branded Kawai, vs piano’s branded K. Kawai. Their uprights are always branded Kawai, whereas certain grands are branded K. Kawai has a tribute to company founder, Koichi Kawai.

The Shigeru Kawai series do represent a step up in quality from the rest of Kawai’s instruments, as a fanatocally handmade line of instruments built in extremely small numbers. The name Shigeru is named after a later President of the company who oversaw the design of the new Shigeru Kawai line.

#3. What’s the Story with the Carbon Fiber Action?

There’s a lot of accurate information out there about this, and a lot of not so accurate information.

Kawai began experimenting with ABS plastic composite materials in their action as a more durable replacement for wood in the 1980’s. Wood is not traditionally used in piano actions due to anything to do with it’s acoustic properties, but rather because historically, wood has been the only material to use for small, lightweight mechanical parts - steels and metals would be much too heavy.

Kawai is currently using Carbon Fiber reinforced ABS for the use in their piano actions, namely the Millennium III action.

Carbon Fiber is more stable than wood, less affected by shifts in temperature and humidity, more durable long term, and actually lighter.

Are great wooden actions inferior to a Carbon Fiber action? No - carefully aged, old hardwoods used in high-end piano actions are going to be just as stable as Carbon Fiber.

The issue is cost. You’re not finding a wooden action of this quality at mid-range and entry level price points.

#4. Kawai vs Yamaha?

This is easily one of the most common questions asked within the piano industry - should I choose a Kawai or a Yamaha?

Both are Japanese companies, both are renowned for their excellent value in the mid-range, and their instruments are generally positioned directly against one another.

In 2022, both companies are right at the top of their game, and there’s very little daylight between these two in terms of build quality and factory prep when comparing competing models from Japan.

From a sound standpoint, their instruments actually sound very different. Kawai’s are considered darker and warmer, while Yamaha’s are generally regarded as being brighter.

Ultimately, we’ve got two companies producing different, but equally good sets of instruments.

#5. Are Used Kawai Pianos Good?

In our experience, used Kawai pianos from about the 1970’s onward are well regarded both for their durability and musical potential.

Kawai’s perform very strongly on the second hand market, and generally have very good resale value.

#6. Are Kawai Warranties Transferable?

A really nice thing Kawai does is make their acoustic piano warranties fully transferable to future owners within the warranty period. If you buy a 5 year old used Kawai, even privately, you’re going to have warranty coverage for another 5 years.

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