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For 8 months during the pandemic, my Kawai MP11 was stored on its end by my East Coast landlord while I was "Covid stranded" in Los Angeles. He (with my permission) moved my property out of my rented room into a smaller storage room and rented my room to someone else. That way, I didn't have to pay "full boat" rent on two coasts for nearly a year and a half; I paid him a fee equivalent to a storage fee instead, and he rented my room for full value. A "win win" on paper.

All good so far...

However, despite my explicit instructions to carefully place my MP11 in its case and lay it flat on the floor as advised, he simply stood it on its end, outside of the case, which was placed next to it.

The affected end cap is damaged, but that's just cosmetic and I assume it can be replaced.

But the key mechanism is also damaged - the keys stick; they do not return once pressed.

Is my MP11 kaput? If not, what would a service tech do? Can I do this repair myself? The landlord won't pay; he also outright stole some of my stuff (which he actually admitted), so there's no hope of getting him to voluntarily pay me anything. If it's ruined, a lawsuit might be in order, but I'd rather not go down that path.

Thanks.

I can't help, but feel your pain. Good luck recovering it!

Hello,


+1, definitely!

Could @Kawai James offer any suggestions?

Cheers and good luck!

HZ

I think the keys are susceptible to the infamous teflon tape problem under the capstans. See past threads that cover this. That may be the cause of the problem, and the storage, vertical or just inaction over the elapsed time may have allowed the problem to manifest. If so it can be repaired, there are videos on YT, and I seem to remember Kawai even having repair kits for it.

It may be something else and opening it up is the first step. Edit, actually, asking Kawai support for help might be the first step on the basis this, teflon slip tape is a well known problem, and see if they will service it (for free).

If it is out of warranty, you may try to open it and check if the longitudinal rails at the bottom of the keybed are bent. If the balance and front rail are very bent, the pins push against the bushings of the keys and the keys do not return. A telltale sign is if there are more stiff keys in the middle octaves than on the extremes.

How can yiu straighten a bent keybed? No idea, but a diagnosis is the first step to a cure.

I used to own a MP11SE and something like that happen to mine.
I just loosen the screws at the bottom of the key slip??? Not sure what’s the name. It’s the metal plate where the keys are.
And then I slightly pulled the key slip and tighten the screws. Problem fixed.

You could try that.

If the keyboard was handled roughly (you can assume that it was!), this suggestion strikes me as a good way to check for (and correct) a simple mechanical problem:

. . . the key slip??? is touching the keys, and preventing them
. . . from moving freely.

It doesn't require dis-assembling anything, or calling Customer Support.

Thank you!

Thanks ... yeah, he basically just threw everything in the room. He lost his business (wedding shows), so I think he was mad at the world.

I have to take the top off do this though, correct? If so, no big deal, I'm actually pretty good wth that stuff...

No you don’t.

Just loosen the screws at the bottom of the key slip, pull the key slip out and tighten the screws.

I was able to do it and I’m a moron.

I looked up "key slip" - you mean just unscrew the screws on the bottom front of the unit?

Yes. There are a couple of screws at the bottom front that hold the key slip in place. If you loosen them you can just bend it outwards a bit to see if that fixes your stuck key problem.

What a total douchebag of landlord!

Skyscrapersax,

Do you have the MP11 with you now?

Perhaps you can contact your local Kawai dealer and ask them to place you in touch with a technician, who can take a look at the instrument and fix any issues.


Perhaps you can file a legal complaint against the landlord (just don't use Apple's Word to type the letter...)?

Kind regards,
James
x

Cool. I'll do that!

Yeah, he's a piece of work. He threatened to throw everything out early in the pandemic - I think he went loco!

If I had to do it all over again, I'd pay movers to move everything into storage. I shopped for some, but didn't find any willing to properly move the Kawai MP11!!!

Ah, the irony.....

That sounds like a terrible experience. Unfortunately, it is not atypical. There are some rotten apples NYC and the city certainly has regressed in the past few years.

Your homeowner's insurance may cover these losses.

I'm hoping to avoid the repairman or an insurance claim, but if I have to, yeah to both....

Yes, it's with me. I've been playing my ES-110 and Numa...

Wow, what an awful way yo cap the pandemic. Sorry man. I wish I knew what to tell you but my advice would not be sound--pardon the pun.

Puns are good!

I survived the pandemic, got my 2 vax shots and escaped Los Angeles (just went there for a vacation, got Covid-stuck for 15 months!) - so some collateral damage to musical instruments pales in comparison to what might have been....

I also can't find the neck to my 72 year old baritone saxophone, but a replacement of sorts can be had ---- for $750, but it would change the sound.

But I'm alive, which is of course the main thing!

Wow! This has been such a lousy year for you and many others. I’m an RN and 2 of my coworkers lost their lives to COVID. I did chest compressions on one that was a close friend and watched her get intubated. It’s been a nightmare in ways I can’t express. I guess I’m lucky to have made it through all the understaffing, lack of supplies/PPE, the social media onslaught of stupidity and ignorance, coworkers getting sprayed with Lysol in public, etc…. The whole thing was a disaster, but at least I got to come home every night. As scary as that was worrying about what I may bring home to my family, I worked my laundry room like surgery prep and everything was fine. My piano is a little out of tune now lol. That’s the worst thing that’s happened to an instrument of mine. We’ve all got to count our blessings. It’s important.

I cannot tell from the original post just how badly the keys stick.

The previous advice about the keyslip is good. The key slip is the black piece of the piano body that is between the very ends of the keys and your belly as you sit to play the piano. If you placed a limp finger on a key and slowly dragged the finger toward you, your finger tip would likely fall onto the keyslip as it dropped toward your lap. In order for the keys to go up and down freely, there must be a small gap between the keyslip and the key ends. Otherwise, the keys contact the keyslip when played, and the friction causes the keys to be sluggish or stick in place instead of returning to their proper resting place.

If the keyslip is dragging on any keys, then the keyslip is likely bent or has been jarred and repositioned too close to the keys. In such a case, loosening the screws holding the bottom of the keyslip to the piano body allows you to gently slide the keyslip ever so slightly away from the key ends, eliminating the contact with the keys, and freeing the keys to play without sticking. If the keyslip is bent, loosening the screws affords the opportunity to gently bend/straighten the keyslip, or, to just move it away from the keys without any bending if that is what you prefer.

If it appears that the keyslip is NOT RUBBING on the keys, then it is possible that the capstans are misaligned from the wippens, and sticking. Try this approach to to deal with that possible cause.

Info first. Each piano key is a stick of wood. Close behind the fallboard, the stick rests upon the balance rail. The balance rail serves as a fulcrum, making the keystick a lever. When you press downward on the visible end of the key, the other, hidden end goes upward. At the hidden end of the stick there is a screw like device called the capstan. It is screwed into the top surface of the stick, has a smooth, rounded top (the "head" of the screw) and protrudes upwards from the stick when the stick is at rest.

When the rear of the keystick moves upwards from a downward stroke of the key, the smooth, rounded surface of the capstan contacts the next piece in the works. In an acoustic piano, this next piece is called the wippen. The precise point at which the capstan contacts the wippen is called the wippen heel. It is very important that the capstan travels vertically in exactly the same plane as does the wippen. If the two parts get misaligned, the capstan top could miss its corresponding surface on the bottom of the wippen heel, or at least contact it off center, or off to the side of the usual contact spot. These deviations from normal could cause the key to stick or encounter little bits of resistance in the course of its travel.

If the MP11 was stood on its side, it is possible that the keys have rotated slightly along their long axes. Such a rotation along the key's long axis would necessarily cause the capstan to now point slightly downward from its normal plane of travel while the MP11 is standing on its end. There is naturally some looseness between the felt key bushing and the balance rail pin a the balance rail. Combined with the absence of the usual gravitational pull that keeps the keys down and bedded on the balance rail, and the corresponding slight movement of the key away from the balance rail while the MP11 is standing on its end, these factors can allow the key to rotate along its long axis, which in turn allows the capstan to get off its intended plane, and out of alignment with the heel of the wippen. If, when the piano was returned to its horizontal position the capstans did not re-align to the wippen heel, sticky keys could result.

Try this simple procedure to see if the keys will easily go back into alignment with the wippens. Place the piano horizontally on a padded/carpeted floor. Gently roll the piano backward along its long axis so the the underside of the piano is coming off the floor and swinging upwards so that it will be facing you. Keep gently rolling the piano until it is upside down. While doing this, do not let the keys come to rest on the floor. Use some kind of cushioned block under the ends of the piano to keep the keys from pressing against the floor. At this point, gravity will be pulling the wippens and wippen heels away from the capstan so they are not touching, and the keys will come slightly off their resting position on the balance rail since the piano is now upside down. However, the keys will not fall out of the piano. Continue gently rolling the piano until the backside of the piano faces up, and then further, until the keys are once again facing upwards and the piano has been completely rolled 360 degrees and back to the horizontal, playing position once again.

Hopefully, by temporarily removing the weight of the wippens from the capstans and then returning the keys to their natural resting positions, all without the interference of friction between the capstan top and the wippen heel, any keys suffering from misalignment caused by the piano being stood on its end will have had the opportunity to right themselves, to fall back into proper place, and return to their intended, shared plane of motion with the wippens.

If some, but not all of the keys come free of their sticking, repeat the process until all keys are working properly.

I hope this helps. Good luck!