Contact Samick, they use Whitworth.
Original Message:
Sent: 08-27-2016 07:51
From: Philip Jamison
Subject: Kawai Leg Bolt
Thanks, Don, for your attention to my missing lyre bolt. This GE1 may be unique, but it definitely uses Whitworth threads. The standard metric thread for this size bolt (1.75) doesn't fit. The standard ANSI size is 13 TPI; again, doesn't fit. The Whitworth standard is 12 TPI: perfect fit. Good luck finding a 2-3/4" x 1/2-12 Whitworth bolt. I've attached some photos of the bolts with thread gauges. I think I can fix the problem, but it is a strange one!
Phil
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Philip Jamison
Philip Jamison Pianos
WEST CHESTER PA
610-696-8449
Original Message:
Sent: 08-26-2016 12:20
From: Donald Mannino
Subject: Kawai Leg Bolt
Ah I found the message, it's not posted online in sequential order!
Philip wrote: "I called Kawai, and they said they do stock the 1/2 X 12 Whitworth thread bolts for the GE1 grand. " Philip, I don't know how you possibly got this idea from Deborah. She has no idea what a Whitworth bolt is, and she told you that. But she does have the correct bolts to work in this GE-1, which are metric thread.
If the standard metric bolts don't fit into the sockets, that means the threads in the sockets were damaged. It happens all the time. In that case, you need to order new sockets - which you were also offered when you called.
The JIS standards you referred to were drawn up a very long time ago, which is why I can't be sure about the 60s and very early 70s pianos until I go home and take a bolt out of my piano and measure it (I'm working in New York this week). But since the KG 'C' series started in about 1972, the leg bolts have all been metric; 12mm 1.75mm thread pitch and available in 70mm, 85mm, and 100mm lengths.
I am posting this again in the thread so that we don't get confused technicians calling us and asking to order Whitworth leg bolts because they read online that Kawai uses them! No, we do not.
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Don Mannino RPT
Kawai America Corporation
Original Message:
Sent: 08-25-2016 13:14
From: Philip Jamison
Subject: Kawai Leg Bolt
I called Kawai, and they said they do stock the 1/2 X 12 Whitworth thread bolts for the GE1 grand. The lyre bolts are longer than the leg bolts on this model. I was offered no explanation as to why a Japanese company would use a Whitworth thread. I Googled the association and came upon the JIS (Japanese Industry Standard) Japanese Screw Thread Specifications. These give more details on thread specs than I'll ever need, but it does list the Whitworth thread, indicating that they were/are, indeed, used in Japan. Also, here is a quote from Industry in Japan (Oxford Univ. Press, 1997):
"In Japan, the Whitworth thread was used in the navy, railways, and other private factories. Metric threads were primarily used by the army. The reason for the co-existence of different threads was simply because the Japanese Imperial Navy and railways were modeled in British technology, whereas the Japanese Imperial Army looked to Germany and France to its modernization."
By 1927, Japan adopted two standards; a metric and a Whitworth as follows:
1. Metric threads for automobiles and aircraft, and diameters under 9mm.
2. Whitworth threads for all other uses
... and that's the rest of the story.
Phil Jamison
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Philip Jamison
Philip Jamison Pianos
WEST CHESTER PA
610-696-8449
Original Message:
Sent: 08-21-2016 13:58
From: Donald Mannino
Subject: Kawai Leg Bolt
Philip,
Please call Kawai, ask for Deborah in piano parts.
800-421-2177
Credit cards accepted!
Don Mannino
Kawai America