Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum When will the Kawai GL10-ATX2 come to the US market?

Hello everyone!
I am a retired engineer and a piano enthusiast with very little formal training. I just joined the forum for the first time although I have visited it a few times before.

I have my heart set on the Kawai GL10-ATX2 because it's a baby grand with silent feature and it's within my (stretched) budget. But as far as I know, it's currently only available in the Europe market. I live in the US (Texas) and here the closest model is the GL3-ATX2. Does anyone know if/when Kawai will market the GL10-ATX2 in the US?

I can't tell you when it will be available in the US, but if you haven't already done this, I suggest trying both the silent and non-silent versions of the K series upright. It uses the same Millenium action as the grands. I tried them both when I bought mine and found the difference to be noticeable.

The uprights don't use the same action as the grands.

Update...
I am no longer looking to buy a GL10-ATX2. I have read other discussions of the pros and cons of the digital addition/modifications to an acoustic piano, and decided to buy a GL10 and a CA48 separately since I can manage to accommodate both.

Congratulations! May I ask how you reached a decision between GL10 (baby grand) or K500 (upright)?

I am upgrading from an older model Kawai upright (forgot the model but it's about 20 yrs old and in great shape). Never considered upgrading to another upright. I heard some tall uprights may have better sound than baby grands but I'm going for the action.

I have tried the GL 10 .What I remember is a mellow tone compaired to the 5ft 2 inch which was brighter.The Gl 5ft 11(?)was mellow like the GL10.A nice little grand with a smaller voice.

Awesome solo8. Please do review your GL10 here when you get it!

My GL10 is being scheduled for delivery. While in the Kawai showroom the other day, my (little trained) ears did notice the difference in the bass section when comparing the GL10, GL20 and GL30 side-by-side. The GL20's bass was only a little warmer and deeper than the GL10. If I ever want to upgrade, I will go straight to the GL30, which sounded rich and deep enough for me. I did play around a bit on some of the Blak series GX2, GX5 but did not let myself stray too far. Because when I went back to my GL10 after the tuner finished the pre-delivery tuning, reality did set in. The bass notes (~C2-F3...) sounded kind of twangy ! I stopped myself from thinking any further at that point. My consolation is that the Millenium III Action is the same through out and that's what I'm primarily looking for.

I think you will love that small grand .Going from a bigger grand to the smaller one will of course
exaggerate the differences.You can change your mind to bigger ,before arrival or upgrade later as many do.Congratulations on your new piano.Enjoy!

Welcome to the GL10 club.

Hi Solo. Did the bass notes sound "twangy" when you repeatedly hit the same note? I notice that on my GL10. My tech said that happens with other pianos too, just a limitation of the bass register. Can't remember if the register you mention has two strings or one, but if two, the strings being slightly out of tune may cause that too. To my ear, the bass register on my GL10, though not real powerful, is mellow and nicely balanced with the piano. Power is there, however, if you hit it hard. I'd describe the bass sound almost as "fuzzy," which may be an odd description for a piano, but I think it matches the smooth sound of the rest of the piano quite well.

As with all of the lower end models, the GL10 will have had minimal prep at the factory and dealership. Get a tech to do a good regulation, and you should have a fine sounding and playing piano. The parts are of solid Kawai quality, so everything you need is there. All pianos go out of regulation eventually, so a relationship with a good tech will need to happen sooner or later with even the most expensive pianos.

Happy playing, and as Mark said, welcome to the GL10 club!

Thank you GL10'ners for the warm welcome! I was excited but so anxious (in the true sense) at the same time because this was for the most part uncharted territory to me.

Emery: I'm not sure what you mean by "repeatedly hit the same note"... the bass notes sound "twangy" pretty much in a uniform, consistent manner, alone or in rapid succession. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Just as you said, "a limitation of the bass register." Also, they sound the same whether they are single strings or double strings.

Hi Solo. Hmm, I wouldn't describe my bass as twangy at all. Mellow is the word I'd use, and that's a long way from twangy. Is there something buzzing?

By repeatedly hitting the same note, I mean something like a left hand part with a repeating arpeggio, say EAE. What I find is that after a measure or two, the A will buzz or sound twangy sometimes, due to being struck 4 times per measure. This doesn't happen with all the bass notes, just a few. My tech says the repeated striking of a bass string can make it sound wonky sometimes, not sure why.

I'd be interested to hear your twangy bass if you can post a recording. Maybe a tech here can tell you what's going on.

I see. Now I realize you are much deeper into it than I am. At the showroom, I had not spent much time on my GL10 to discover any problem or inner characteristics of the piano. I must have used the wrong word to describe its bass sounds. Maybe a better word is "colder" or "more metallic" or "hollower" ... compared to the warmth/richness/fullness of the higher models.

Now that I have the GL10 in my living room, I have found a couple of issues with it (a sluggish key, a couple of notes slightly out of tunes, etc...) which I kinda expect after delivery. I've been jotting them down and will bring them up when a tuner comes for a post-delivery tune up in 6 weeks.

By the way, I just tried hitting a bunch of low arpeggios and didn't hear any buzz or anything abnormal. Also, I've been practicing with the lid down and have the impression that the sounds are a bit warmer.

With the sluggish keys, try lifting some of the keys up and see if they all fall back down quickly. Some may stay up or go down slowly. Mine had that problem, and I had the tech ease the front and rear rail bushings. I understand that they're often tight when new on Japanese pianos, and that will slow the action. Once properly regulated, the M3 action is smooth and fast.

Also, do you have carpet and upholstery in your piano room? Carpet, drapes, furniture and such really help the piano sound better in a house as the sound tends to bounce off the walls if not diffused by these things.

Actually my problem is in the opposite direction. The key (G4) was intermittently slow to fully return to its resting position (up). Most of the time it behaves normally. Every now and then, when it happened, it would come up slowly and rested at about 9/10 of the way. But this only happened several times the first day or two after the 'Baby" was delivered. She seems to have outgrown it now.


I have a thick laminate covered concrete floor. I saw your setup on the other thread. Thanks for posting that picture. I will try to do the same. Where did you get that round rug? Does it come in different colors?