Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kawai CA-58 Issues?

Hi all, this is my first post here on Pianoworld and I just would like to say thank you for providing so much free quality content (especially in these trying times).

So recently, I've bought a Kawai CA-58 from an online retailer after testing it out in a non-local store for quite some time. I love the action! It's much better than the Yamahas that I've tried, though that's just my two cents. However, I've also noticed some worrying issues regarding the QC of at least what I received from Kawai. First of all, the faux "escapement", though pretty decent for a DP, has varying inconsistencies throughout the keys. It varies from being a very perceptible "click" feel to a vague "mushy" feel. I'm not completely turned off by this, since I use the escapement minimally, but that does raise some concerns for me as a consumer. The second glaring issue I had was when I try to "lift" the keys a bit, some actually get stuck in the "up" position and don't come back down. Is this a sign of some underlying problems that I should be worried about? I'm not sure if this would be covered by warranty, since it truthfully does not affect my playing to a major extent (although some keys do get stuck in the up position slightly while playing more involved pieces). The last issue I encountered was on the display panel. When I turn it on after a long "cooldown," the panel shows these odd stripes. After a while, they seem to gradually disappear, though to be honest this is kind of nitpicky at this point. To be fair, I did save up quite a bit for this, so I was expecting a little bit more quality from Kawai at the very least.

I've attached some pictures here to show these problems visually.

My question is, should I be worried about these things? Is it normal or should I try to get a warranty claim somehow? Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Where are the attached pictures?

@MacMacMac I attached the pictures in a link above (the text "here" underlined is the link). Sorry for the confusion, here is the link again: https://imgur.com/a/8YqLdXn

OK, I see the link now.

Wow, that's bad! That's a reject piano!
Make 'em fix it or make 'em take it back.

Yes have them fix it or replace it!

I remember pulling up the keys like that on our acoustic upright many years ago. So it seems that’s a feature that Kawai successfully recreated.

I’d probably ask for a replacement or my money back.
The key thing could be gone after playing a few hours more - who knows - but the display thing looks odd. Have you tried doing a factory reset and / or firmware update to solve the display issue ?

I don't know about the key lifting issue (I never lift the keys above their rest point and I don't want to do it), but I can say you that the display behavior is the same on my CN37 (which as far I can see from pictures, it has exactly the same LCD hardware, interface menu and buttons of the CA58).
In my case, those stripes are not so strong as in your first picture (at the start they are more like your second picture) and they disappear (although not completely) after a few seconds from power on. Sometimes they stay a little more but they always disappear after a while. After a long time (maybe 1 hour from power on) they disappear completely.
I'm not an electrical engineer but I always thought it's just some electrical thing related to the initialization of the underlying LCD matrix. Probably it's just a very cheap LCD that needs some time to be in perfect shape after power on, like some old tube amp...

@magicpiano Yeah, I was also thinking that it might be a limitation of the technology, but I am kind of concerned that it's so obvious when first starting it up.

@Morten Olsson I don't think a firmware update would have a relation to the screen showing all sorts of weird lines like that. Reset does not do anything to change it.

I think I might try to get a warranty claim to repair / replace, but I'm not sure what Kawai can do right now with this virus going on.

Hello darksecretagent,

I'm not a piano technician, however I don't believe it's a problem if the keys do not return when lifted.

The lines showing on the LCD screen does not look correct, so you may wish to contact your Kawai dealer/distributor to have this matter investigated.

Kind regards,
James
x

@Kawai James Thank you for the response! I think I will contact my dealer for this. About the problem with the keys, I think it's not necessarily a problem per se, but it definitely raises some concern for the quality control and consistency of the product so that's why I'm a little concerned about it.

darksecretagent, are you referring to the keys not returning to their original position when lifted?

Kind regards,
James
x

I had a CA-58, and liked it overall, but this was my only problem with it, the inconsistencies across keys in resistance at the let-off simulation. This was noticeable only when playing softly. There is a video by a piano teacher on this forum who noticed the same.

The LCD
Try adjusting the Contrast. It might be set to absolute max.

(Couldn't edit previous post)

The LCD
Try adjusting the Contrast. It might be set to absolute max.
Also, Lifting the keys. There may be a lip or catch or something that once lifted, could be difficult to get back into place.
A while back, the wooden keyboards were made in segments of seven keys etc. The 'C' key was assembled just a bit to the left. Which resulted in a narrow gap with the key next to it. The fix was easy. Just, carefully, place pressure on the direction you wanted it to go and 'click' all was good. But, it would not go backj to its original spot.
Your keyboard problem may be an easy fix for a Technician.

Kawai James, Yes, when I lift the problematic keys from their normal resting position, they do not return to the normal resting position. The other keys return to the normal resting position after being lifted (as they should).

McBuster, In the attached pictures, the LCD contrast is set to 5/10 and the lines do not disappear even after changing the contrast.