Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kawai ES7 user thread

My ES7 is now 4+ years old with well over 1,500 hours on it. It's been mostly at home, was gigged often for about a year, now just home full time. I must admit it has truly been a rock solid slab, but yes, the keys are starting to show some age. My symptoms are probably common as any decent stage pianos with a lot of mileage: You can see some wear on the surface of keys. I have little bit of noticeable left/right wobble on some keys mostly between C3 and C6. I do not have and plasticky clicking noise but rather some slight mechanical noise in the action and "thumping" bottoming sound that has become louder over the years. Kind of reminds me of the RD700NX PHAIII thumping when playing with a heavy hand. As with CyberGene, it does not affect playability or precision whatsoever, yet can be somewhat annoying when practicing late at night in the most quiet environment. I was recently thinking about having the keybed reconditioned or a winter DIY project to tackle if the cost was reasonable for new felt, rubber key contacts, etc.

The ES7 is still my go-to for daily practice at home. Also, still love the ap sound and simplicity of turn-on-and-play with no futzing. I was almost going to sell/trade-in for an ES8, but still very happy with my faithful ES7. However, I can't wait to see the all new ES9 design next year with new RHIV wooden key action


(for the record; I have absolutely no clue about any ES9 release or RH4 wooden key action. Just fun to speculate)

CyberGene, Marko, I'm confident that an servicing performed by a skilled technician will restore your pianos to their former glory. There are a lot of moving parts in a piano action, so I expect the lubricant may have dried or migrated over time.

Give your Kawai dealer/distributor a call, explain the situation, and I'm confident that they will offer their services to you.

Kind regards,
James
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Hi folks.

I was recently fortunate enough to score a lovely ES7 second-hand. It hasn't had any firmware updates since V1.10. My question is, do I need to install each update since then separately and in order of release, or by installing the most recent one will that include all previous update fixes?

Secondly, does it matter if the root of the USB stick I download the update to has other stuff on it (ie: will the piano 'know' to search for and only accept the firmware files?)?

Finally, I notice a couple of keys have a buzz when struck firmly. Any tips for figuring out the source of the buzz and how to fix it?

Cheers

Most recent is fine, the previous changes are included. I don’t think it matters whether there’s other stuff on the USB stick, but if it doesn’t work, try it on a blank one. Can’t help with the buzz. Is it in the audio sample, or a mechanical noise from the keyboard? (Do you hear it when the speaker volume is off?)

Congratulations! The ES7 is a very nice board.

Thanks a lot, ColoRodney. I'll proceed with installing the latest firmware update.

It's a lovely instrument, I agree. I feel very fortunate to have come upon the opportunity to buy one secondhand in almost unused condition for a bargain price. Only flaw is that the connector to the 3 pedal unit is broken, and since the other end is attached to the keyboard and not removable it seems, I suppose I'll need to get an electrical pro to replace the broken part. In the meantime, happy to just use the single sustain pedal that comes with the board.

Re the buzz, I suspect it's something to do with the keyboard, but I haven't tried listening through earphones. Will do so. If no buzz with phones, I guess that means it could be one of the keyboard speakers, or something on or in the board itself. (Have looked around the room for a possible source vibrating in sync with the 2 notes that buzz, but don't think there is anything.)

As you may know, the third pedal is rarely used in most music, so unless you’re practicing those pieces, you don’t really need it. (Schumann's “Papillons” is the only time I’ve ever needed it).

I bought the Kawai 2-pedal unit (una corda/sustain), which I use when the piano is at home (and at some chamber music gigs where I need the una corda to balance with other musicians). I keep the single pedal in my gig bag, so that I don’t show up without a pedal. I know that on the ES8 It is possible to set the single and double pedals side by side and have it treat them as a three-pedal unit, and I’m pretty sure that ES7 can do that too. So, that’s another possibility for you.

As an extra bit of fun, the left pedal on the two-pedal unit toggles the fast vs slow Leslie speaker effect when you’re playing jazz organs.

And there may be something in the room doing the buzzing... an obvious test would be to carry the board into another room, plop it on a table or the floor, and see if you still get it.

Ta for the suggestions, Rodney (both the 2 pedal unit and the buzz test).

Cheers
Ross

Problems with dust, opening the ES7, and cleaning

I live in a dusty environment (rebuilding a house) and my ES7 has suffered accordingly, with several notes now sounding loud, or sounding only occasionally, or not at all. You don't have to look further for a technical explanation for such problems - it's almost certainly dust, and you should eliminate this as a source before taking any other direction.
I play it daily, often several times a day - Chopin, Debussy, Bach normally.
It is out of warranty, and I dont have the funds to have it serviced, and in any case I dont want to be without it for several weeks.
I searched far and wide for instructions or a video on how to open the ES7 without success. In the end I decided to give it a go, and was able to figure it out. I'd like to make a video of it for others the next time I go inside, but if you're stuck, send me a message and I'll talk you through it.

There was an embarrassing collection of dust hair etc to clean, and indeed some of it had got in under the rubber covering for the sensors. I cleaned the electronic surface with alcohol, and vaccuumed out the insides of the rubber sensor housings. After all that effort I have eliminated all the pre-existing problems, but have managed to introduce some new ones, presumably by introducing more dust, or simply moving it around when I did my cleaning. Frustrating to say the least.

Any tips on more effective cleaning inside the sensors?
Where can I buy new sensor pads?
Any tips on how to prevent dust getting under the pads? (apart from moving to a dust free environment and buying a cover)
Any tips on how to get those pesky little rubber lugs on the sensor pads back into their holes?

PS LOVE the ES7.

How do you connect the single pedal and double pedals to the piano?
The single pedal at Damper jack and the double pedals at Damper/Soft jack?

Yes, that's correct.

The included F-10H pedal plugs into the Damper terminal, and the F-20 dual pedal plugs into the Damper/Soft jack.
Then you can reassign the functionality of the three pedals using an option in the Settings menu.

Kind regards,
James
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