Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum 1963 Kawai 750. 7'4" Grand

Anyone know where I can find more information/reviews for the Kawai Model 750 semi-concert grand?

I recently purchased one that was built in 1963. It needs some work, but it was essentially sound and the case is in decent shape. I have the action getting completely rebuilt right now and will have a few strings replaced as well. According to the Piano technician, that's all it needs right now. It only cost me $1000 to buy it and $1200 to move it, so, even with $4500 worth of work going into it to bring it back to it's former glory I felt it was worth the cost. I was really surprised to find out that it actually has one-piece ivory keys which the piano tech says are pretty rare as most ivory keys (uncommon these days in and of themselves) are two piece. They're also in REALLY good condition. some minor yellowing, but mostly just needed cleaning.

Anyway, I have been googling everything I can about the piano but can't seem to find much of anything on it. Sure, I found technical details and the serial number registry (that's how I know it was made in 1963), but any reviews, comments, descriptions etc. etc. about it are, so far, nowhere to be found. I know that it doesn't compare to the hand built semi-concert grands put out by Kawai these days, but I'm curious as to what you "experienced" people out there know about this model.

Thanks!

Donald

$1200 sounds like an interesting move! ??

Sorry I can't help you with any technical details.




It may not be what Kawai builds these days, but it is what got them to these days.

It's hard to go wrong with a 7ft piano. Sounds like a cool project.

Hello, and welcome to Piano World!

Sounds like you got a good deal on a nice Kawai grand, despite it being an older model.

Maybe KawaiDon, a member here, and an authorized Kawai master piano tech, will chime in with some technical info for you. He owns an older Kawai model 700 grand, if I'm not mistaken, although it may be a 600 or 650. Either way, he would definitely be a good resource.

Also, since he visits here randomly and on occasion, you might look him up on the forum and send him a PM. Here is a PW thread from the archives with his link address "Question for KawaiDon" (Click on his forum name and then click "send private message")

As for the one-piece ivory keytops, I have an older Kawai upright from 1969, a K48A, with the real ivory one-piece keytops. But I think the K48A was one of Kawai's top-of-the-line upright pianos back in the day.

Congratulations on your new-to-you Kawai 750!

Rick

I have never seen a Kawai piano this old, in America. I doubt they were being imported here by then, but hopefully one of our dealer members will see this and give a precise answer. Obviously, any reviews (even if there were some) are not informative, as this piano is pushing 60 years of age.

Fingers crossed that it will work well for you, after the repairs/replacements are complete!

Hi! The 350, 500, 600, 650, 750, and 800 were the original Kawai grand models. Their lengths were, in this order: 5'1", 5'10", 6'1", 6'8", 7'4", and 9'1".

I've played a couple 350s and one 500, and actually liked their actions more than I liked the later GE and KG series. I've found the ones I've played to be very nice instruments, but I' don't know anything more about them.

I hope yours is absolutely wonderful!

Here's an interesting thread about a 1954 750 https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthr...shbuckling-adventures-of-capt-kawai.html

I loved the Captain Kawai thread, Cassia!

Kawai America will celebrate our 60th anniversary in 2023. Some Kawai pianos were being imported to the US starting in 1960 through an importer in Florida.

Kawai Japan will celebrate the company's 100th anniversary in 2027, making grand pianos right from the start.

[quote=KawaiDon][quote=terminaldegree]I have never seen a Kawai piano this old, in America. I doubt they were being imported here by then, but hopefully one of our dealer members will see this and give a precise answer. Obviously, any reviews (even if there were some) are not informative, as this piano is pushing 60 years of age.

Fingers crossed that it will work well for you, after the repairs/replacements are complete![/quote/terminaldegree]

Kawai America will celebrate our 60th anniversary in 2023. Some Kawai pianos were being imported to the US starting in 1960 through an importer in Florida.

Kawai Japan will celebrate the company's 100th anniversary in 2027, making grand pianos right from the start.[/quote/KawaiDon]


Wow! Kawai has been making pianos for 100 years, they are catching up to some American and German pianos!

Thank you everyone for the comments and information! Even though we haven't gotten to play it much since we bought it (2 days before Christmas), we're really happy with it. The piano tech has had the action at his shop for the last couple of months to do a complete rebuild of it with all new whippens, hammers, felts etc. The old hammers were really flat and REALLY hard. It played in tune... but sounded like you were using metal hammers!

It's only taking so long to rebuild the action because he's had to wait for parts. He did finally get the last parts he was waiting on and so it should be all done in a couple of weeks. He brought the action back a few days ago to fit it back in the piano to take measurements and make sure that everything would align with the strings when he was done... and when he hit one of the keys I was absolutely floored by how much better/different it sounded. It's hard for me to believe that hammers made THAT big of a difference.

It cost us $1200 to move it as we live out in the middle of nowhere and it was coming from 160 miles away. Lots of movers said that "sure, we can move a piano" but I decided to use a mover that the piano tech recommended. Maybe that made it more expensive, maybe not, but it showed up in one piece, they had everything wrapped and padded and put it all together watching very carefully not to scratch, dent or bend anything... so, worth it.

Either way, I think that $6700 for a 7'4" grand piano with a completely rebuilt action is a pretty good deal! It's certainly better than anything else I had seen in the last few years I had been looking around.

Thank you for the link to the other Kawai 750, it seems like very close to the same experience as I'm having with mine!

Thanks again everyone! As I said, I haven't had any problems at all finding technical information on it... it's the NON technical info that I have had so much trouble finding... history, reviews, background... You know: "These pianos were frequently used by people with short left ring fingers and extra long right pinky's because of the spacing of the thingymajigger and whatchamacallits." or "Winston Churchill had one of these pianos that he primarily used to hold his hat and only played it on alternate Tuesdays when he would play the song "Wild Thing" over and over". These kinds of background, plus reviews and things people liked/disliked about them, things to watch out for and pay special attention to when having it tuned/maintained.

Thanks again everyone!

Donald

If I'm not mistaken, the old Kawai action was either identical to or actually was the old Schwander action. Parts for this action are made by Tokiwa.

Interesting. I know that he got everything but the hammers directly from Kawai. The hammers he got from a German company if I remember correctly.

I do not know whether these action parts are to simulate some of the parts that were originally used (rebuilders) but I see Hamburg Steinway, Renner, older Kawai, and Yamaha/young Chang, Renner?
http://tokiwa-action.jp/en/catalog/parts2.html

Peace of mind is definitely worth something.