CAUT

  • 1.  Howard/Kawai leg screws

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-15-2018 14:30
      |   view attached
    Hi,

    I have a request and then a rant.  Does anyone have a couple of the leg screws pictured that they can spare?  I guess I will have to go to the hardware store to try to find something that will work but I hate mixing things up.  It is a very unusual part that I won't find at the store.  See photo.  Do any of you have a derelict 1970's Howard (made by Kawai) that is parted out?

    I visited a new customer yesterday.  They were gifted a beat up but very decent little Howard.  Whenever someone tells me that the grand piano was just moved I instinctually check the legs to make sure they are on correctly and tight.  First screw I touched was barely finger tight, next three not even that.  The third leg, however, had no screws whatsoever holding it on.  These legs do not have locking cams, just two large screws that bolt the leg to the piano.  There were none.  If these good people had tried to move and reposition this grand in any way, it would have immediately fallen.  Since it was the third, tail end leg, they lyre wouldn't have helped.  It would have gone down hard.  

    I borrowed a screw from one of the front legs so the leg is being held in place at least.  I begged them not to move it until we fix this.  The "piano mover" that they used is someone I had never heard of.  They told me he is a "touring musician" that moves pianos on the side.  I would love to call this cat up and ask him to concentrate on his music and never move another piano.  

    If I had not found this problem, I could have been drawn into a liability situation should something have happened.  I spent the entire tuning visualizing just how bad this could have ended up.  I'm still pretty upset.

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    Christopher Purdy, RPT
    School of Music, Ohio University
    Athens, OH . 45701
    purdy@ohio.edu
    (740) 590-3842
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  • 2.  RE: Howard/Kawai leg screws

    Posted 04-15-2018 14:48
    Prior to 1972, Kawai used ½" x 12 Whitworth screws.

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    Regards,

    Jon Page
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  • 3.  RE: Howard/Kawai leg screws

    Posted 04-15-2018 14:54
    2.75" in length

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    Regards,

    Jon Page
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  • 4.  RE: Howard/Kawai leg screws

    Posted 04-17-2018 21:14
    Wow, and I thought i had seen the last of whitworth with my '56 K3 Allard

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    Leslie Koltvedt
    Marietta GA
    734-657-7034
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  • 5.  RE: Howard/Kawai leg screws

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-15-2018 14:48

    Christopher,

     

    Call Kawai and order some leg bolts for a model 500.  I believe they are available.

     

    There was a lengthy discussion on these in the past, as these used Whitworth threads – an old British thread type.  You won't find them in a hardware store.  The threads changed to more common metric threads sometime in the 1970s.

     

    800-421-2177, ask for piano parts.

     

    Don Mannino

    Sent from Mail for Windows 10

     






  • 6.  RE: Howard/Kawai leg screws

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-15-2018 15:01
    Thank you Don and Jon.  I wouldn't have dreamed that Kawai would still stock them!

    Chris 

    Christopher D. Purdy R.P.T.
    Registered Piano Technician
    School of Music, Ohio University
    Rm. 311, Robt. Glidden Hall
    Athens, OH  45701
    Office (740) 593-4230
    Cell    (740) 590-3842
    fax      (740) 593-1429
    http://www.ohiou.edu/music






  • 7.  RE: Howard/Kawai leg screws

    Posted 04-16-2018 18:36
    Christopher,

    Another option is to contact the mover and tell him what you found and ask him if he has the bolts. Start a conversation with him.
        I did this with a mover in my area and taught how to move grand pianos only after telling what equipment he needed to by. It has worked out well for me.
    Doug Mahard





  • 8.  RE: Howard/Kawai leg screws

    Member
    Posted 04-17-2018 21:12
    ALWAYS check the hinge pins on any piano even if it was moved long ago. Checking leg bolts and lyre screws/bolts is also not a bad idea . There is no guarantee that a leg will be really locked in tight just because it has leg plates. Had a Steinway and Sons in a church here that had been moved about quite a bit and the plates were worn down and bolts holding the plates were loose. The pastor went to move the piano that was on those three wheel shop dollies. By some miracle he caught the piano , yelled for help and a mens group came to the rescue. I eventually replaced all of the leg plates with genuine S&S plates and new bolts and lots of routing and chisel work supporting the piano with steel work horses, timber and hydraulic jacks. Recently had to evaluate damage to a Yamaha Grand. Movers "lost" all the leg bolts and lyre bolts and lyre support rod. In addition instead of leaving it on a skidboard they left it leaning against the wall resulting in the lid lip to force the lid hinges out of the rim. In your case the "mover" created a potentially deadly situation. It would probably do no good to try tracking down someone like this who obviously does not care.

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    James Kelly
    Pawleys Island SC
    843-325-4357
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