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Hi,

I am having a problem with the sustain pedal on this piano. It is probably because I am not familiar with all the buttons and adjustment options. I just turn it on and play. I do really like the action.

When I am playing a bop style tune (short notes) every once in a while in the piece I have to use the pedal. Sometimes, after I use the pedal, the following notes are sustaining slightly (not completely), which seems to clear if I push down all the way on the pedal. Is this normal? Or is something wrong? Is there an option somewhere I can turn this off?

I read the manual, but I have to admit my eyes glazed over. I tried the pedal from my Yamaha CP5, but that one just sustains even after I release the note, so something between that pedal and the MP11 is not compatible.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hi drphamer, I'm not sure what your pedal is doing but when I first got my MP11 I accidently put the three cords in the wrong order in the back and the pedals didn't work right till I put them in the right order.

So, you're half pedaling (the damper pedal is only partially pressed down) but when you lift the pedal from half damper position, the half damper sustain remains for a period...Is this correct?

Sorry but I don't know exactly how a half pedal should work.

In this case, even after I lift off the pedal the next notes I play still sustain longer than they should. If this is how a half pedal works is there a way to disable it?

Are you using the included 3-pedal unit, or a 3rd party pedal? In my experience, third party pedals don't always work well with the MP11.

IIRC, there are two areas in the menu where pedal settings reside--in the EDIT menu, and also in the SYSTEM menu. One of these has a right pedal calibration routine, which I would recommend you try. It could very well be that your pedal's voltage stays just higher than nominal when off, and the MP11 is reading that as being slightly on.

drpharmer , you may be interested to know, I too have a similar problem (starting just a few days ago) with the sustain pedal on my MP 11.

I have had the instrument for a few years with no real problems ( the odd glitch now and then) but now intermittently when I use the sustain pedal, it does not "shut off' when I lift my foot and even comes on unless I actually disconnect the sustain pedal cord. This problem is not constant - it happens only intermittently but it is quite frustrating. I am in the process of having the problem dealt with the authorized repairer - hopefully it is just the pedal and not the keyboard which has the problem.


Andy

There's been some discussion about the 3-pedal unit from the MP11, including the fact that the pot in the sustain is a fairly standard carbon film type with multi-filar wiper. It's not a high-reliability pot, so after a few years of regular use you can expect the pot to fail. Hopefully that's the issue (meaning at least it can be taken care of with the pedal rather than the piano).

Gombessa, thanks for the reply - hopefully the issue I have is with the pedal unit not the keyboard. I was not looking forward to sending off my keyboard !

Does anybody have a good number for tech support for Kawai? I would try that and let everyone know how that goes.

BTW, I have only had this piano maybe 3 months, so it's not from sustained use.

Not sure where you are located, but if you are in the USA/Canada, the Kawai America phone number that I have is: (310) 631-1771 (Los Angeles area). You probably want to speak with Alan or Juan, these guys really know their products well and I have received excellent service from them in the past. (have the serial number of your keyboard handy when you phone).

Thanks Kanadajin, I am in the US, and I will call. This will take a couple weeks, I am away on a business trip starting tomorrow. I'll let you know how it turns out.

drpharmer, I'm sorry to read that you're experiencing some issues with your MP11's F-30 damper pedal unit.

As kanadajin notes, the best course of action would be to contact Kawai America directly to report the issue. My colleagues in the US are very knowledgeable, and should be able to identify and resolve the matter promptly.

Kind regards,
James
x

The problem is identified. I have a bad pedal. I called the number above and talked to Alan. It only took a few minutes to find that the range on my pedal is not correct. The lower range should be 0 or 1, Mine was around 30, so the piano thinks the pedal is still on. They are sending a new one. Alan was great to talk to, he taught me a lot.

Not sure I understand this. I thought the pedal-calibration tool was supposed to sort this problem out. If I've understood correctly, it reads the boundary resistance values and sets those to correspond to 0 and 127 respectively.

Still you'll have a new pedal so nothing for you to worry about. I've had three F-30s and they've all failed. Now stuck with conventional on/off sustain (single).

I tried the calibration described in the manual. It did not work. Alan also said the calibration for this problem could only be done at their facility. Sorry I can't be more specific. Not my area of expertise.

drpharmer, thank you for the update.

I'm glad you were able to speak with Alan, he's a lovely guy, and incredibly knowledgeable.

Fingers crossed that the replacement pedal resolves the issue that you have been experiencing.

Kind regards,
James
x

Update:

The replacement pedal unit they sent me worked fine until the last couple days when it started doing the same thing, sustaining notes even after the pedal was released. I called the same number, they are sending another pedal unit to me. So I consider their tech support may be the best I have ever seen anywhere. And the MP11 is the best piano I have played anyway. If only I could get a durable pedal...

It's odd to see the same failure with two separate units. If the problem is with the pedal(s), my guess is that it is occasionally giving variable resistance values, so even if you calibrate it correctly, once in a while it spikes or drifts in a way that the piano interprets as a half-pedal.

But since this happened with two units, it could be the failure is in the piano, perhaps in the circuit that reads the resistance from the pedal? I think if your third unit behaves the same as the first two, it would be a strong indication that this may be the case.

I'm also sure that it's cold comfort to know that the MP11SE's new digital optical pedal unit is most likely immune to the foibles of these analog pot circuits

Interesting thought about the benefits of digital optical over old fashioned pots.

I would be inclined to agree that optical sensors are less prone to analog frailties, but then again any speck of debris can foul up an optical reader something fierce.

My understanding is that most cases of misfiring DP keys these days are attributable to the optical sensor becoming flustered by a tiny particle of debris making its way under one of the rubber key switch housings on the circuit board.

Since 2 out of 2 pedals worked fine at first, but then began misbehaving, I wonder if perhaps something like this is going on here?

- OneWatt