Kawai VPC 1 Problem. FIXED by Kawai warranty! :)

Edit: I got a hold of the Kawai technical manager who knew exactly what the problem was over the phone. A few weeks later I had a piano tech and my house and voila--all better now. Give Kawai a call if your piano is experiencing this!
Four month old piano, but after two months of very light use, this F key started sticking and hasn’t improved. Hoping Kawai will repair. Listen to the “binding/stuck” sound the key makes.
Thoughts?
Test Weight = 18 nickels weighing about 90grams.

[@joaonuno439]

Try PFPE PTFE - Grease Used: Krytox GPL 205 G2. Between keystick and hammer bolt head. You have Teflon tape on that joint. In some cases that teflon tape needs to be replaced. Good luck!

[@JasonGeraldG]

Thanks for sharing this and sorry your awesome keyboard isn't feeling well. Please report back your experience fixing this issue.

[@aceman199]

Thanks--Kawai sent out a repair man a few weeks ago and it is responding normally now. :)

[@szatanica1]

Jason Gorman So how was the repair?

[@aceman199]

Great! No problems! @@szatanica1

[@ext271828]

Can weight of 65 grams move middle C (C4) down? (90 grams is too much)

[@greeneyes66]

Good to know that Kawai takes the warranty seriously and even sends a technician to your home. Would hate to send the heavy thing in for maintenance... I have acquired a VPC-1 and am in the 30day money-back trial phase. Are any of the VPC-1 owners here also have slightly different spacing on some of the white keys? I wonder if that would fall under the warranty as well...

[@maulcs]

Yes, the keys slide side to side a bit - Kawai says it's normal. It's caused by the bushing being a bit loose. Kawai didn't send a technician to my home to fix my issues, they sent me a replacement, which actually had more issues. Then they started to ignore me and clearly didn't want to send a third replacement, so I had to open it up and fix the problems myself. Based on the two VPC1s I received, there seems to be quite a bit of variance between units, and their QA leaves a lot to be desired.

[@greeneyes66]

@@maulcs I wonder if the transportation is not also a factor in this. The unit has has a big journney to our shores... Add to that: the keys were laterally held in place only with a (quality) wide adhesive tape. Which possibly is not enough against displacement by lateral impact. Final delivery to me was through a carrier service one step better than our country's go-to consumer shipping service... you just can't guarantee that someone will put the package upright en route for an extended time at some point. - Based on your experience, I guess I won't contact Kawai over that matter then ...kind of come to accept it. Might address it once the warranty is over...

[@maulcs]

@@greeneyes66 Transportation could cause some problems, but I've seen others that definitely weren't caused by it. If you don't have key clicking or sensor inconsistency issues, consider yourself lucky - the keys sliding thing is standard and you'll get used to it.

[@vripiatbuzoi9188]

Yes I have the same problem gap between keys is very uneven all over the keyboard. It's a little disturbing at first but it seem to be only esthetics. The action performs well anyway. Still I would prefer more attention to the details.

[@flashboy7095]

yes, same problem, but even author of this video didn´t notice..

[@mr.c1989]

I like those notes "cheat-sheet" you have on the keys. May I ask what that is and what can I get those too? And how long after the VPC1 purchase did this problem manifest? Thank you so much!

[@lucasvieira1805]

Nice man, good to now that kawai fixed

[@LibertyRecordProductions]

The weight shouldn't touch the sides of the other keys I don't think.

[@townnet]

Omg the weight is same as CLP645. I thought this Kawai model is more light.

[@ameliastefanescu4857]

If you don't mind my asking, do you live in Canada or the US? This is regarding some warranty questions about the Kawai warranty. And I'm glad your piano got fixed, it's good to know that Kawai honors their promise :)

[@aceman199]

I live in the U.S. :)

[@luigi95-]

Is key action heavy or normal?? Compared to yamaha p125

[@GalantGoStudio]

Heavy

[@anatol1204]

Where did you get these sticks !!?

[@amedeofabris1268]

How much does the action weigh, what is the toccherebbe of the keys

[@maulcs]

Around 65-70g to the let-off point, 80g to fully depress a key (for C4). Obviously digital pianos don't have dampers so it's hard to compare it to the 50g recommended for an acoustic with dampers disengaged (which makes the keys lighter).

[@OnlineMD]

Just seeing this video in January 2021! I'm wondering why anyone would pay $1850 USA for a keyboard controller, when they can get a state of the art digital piano with rich sounds, namely the brand new ES920, for $1600! I guess some professional keyboardists are extremely fussy about keyboard feel and weight. Three days ago, I tried putting a stack of nickels on the Middle C of the ES920 but did not have enough nickels. :) So I used torque wrench drive bits, and found that 80 grams brought the key down. The result was the same with a 30 year old Steinway upright piano as well. The keys of the ES920 felt kind of heavy at first but in just two weeks my fingers are getting used to it. Disclaimer: I'm just getting back into piano after a lapse of 30 years so I'm not a good judge about these keyboards!

[@andywilliam367]

I hope you happy with your ES920 Piano. I just ordered the brand new Kawai VPC-1 and it will arrive February 8. What I like about vpc-1, it has bus power, just connect to MacBook Pro and it will tun on and ready to play and record to Pianoteq or any favorite DAW. Many review said good about this vpc-1 action key. The new ES-920 should have good key also. I tried the ES-920 at the local store and it seems ok but missing something connection to express more while the vpc-1 can give more. It just my experience, people have more opinion. I think only 1 or 2 left brand new that I found online, soon will be replaced by new Kawai I guess. Good luck with brand new ES-920

[@maulcs]

Why? Because the action is better.

[@LeeBlaske]

The action of the VPC1 is superior. The keys are made of wood, and have a wonderful feel. The VPC1 duplicates the feel of the way the escapement in a real piano works (those mechanical elements that other MIDI keyboards don't have are why the case behind the keys needs to be higher).

[@OnlineMD]

@Lee Blaske my 11 year old granddaughter is progressing well in piano, playing Debussy pieces and such. So my daughter moved her up from a Kawai digital piano to a new Kawai acoustic piano costing $7000. The child and her teacher are very pleased 😀

[@thomasmayr1583]

Does anybody know how to fix this problem yourself? I have this problem since 3 years but didn't contact kawai becaue i thought the guarantee is only valid for 1 year. thanks!

[@maulcs]

Did you fix it? It's a problem with the slip tape, and you can fix it yourself. Search for "piano world key clinic" on Google, and there's a few MP11 key fix videos which you can use as a guide as well.

[@gahlanaventis]

Kawai producing crap piano I have mp11 se very noisy keys

[@fredhohner]

KAWAI warranty = 5 years // noisy keys "all over the keyboard" or are there some keys ? James Pavel is testing a MP11SE ; listen to his comment about 'quiet' >> 30:04 - 30:50

[@maulcs]

Kawai QA is simply subpar, lots of variance between units.

[@michael69040]

@@maulcs How do you know? Do you own twenty or so VCP-01s. I bought one a few months ago but am prepared to open it if problems occur. I do expect quality at the selling price but Kawai might be jobbing our the action to sloppy shops.

[@maulcs]

@@michael69040 I've read countless threads, and had two VPC1s myself. The replacement they sent had a lot of variance compared to the original, and in fact was even worse - I ended up returning it and fixing the original myself. I also measured every key downweight and sensor value, and compiled a detail analysis between the two: www.udrop.com/5Nv6/VPC1_comparison_CHARTS.pdf

[@maulcs]

@@michael69040 I think the VPC1, when working properly, is probably the best slab digital there is - and with a more acoustic-feeling action over the MP11, even if the pivot point is a bit shorter. If you don't notice any issues I wouldn't go searching for them. The problem I had was readily apparent, with clicking key tops that were independent from the action - you could hold some keys in place and tap and they would still click. The Kawai representative, and myself, thought that keys were coming unglued, which is why the replacement was sent. After returning the replacement for different issues, it was a struggle to get them to act, so I opened it myself. The internals are actually quite simple, and easy to deal with and repair. It took me awhile to find out what the problem was, and I'm pretty sure that a Kawai tech might not have noticed it. The wood was actually too tight around the balance pins, and the clicking was actually a kind of wooden creak. I could have tried Protek CLP, but it was quite tight, so I decided to run an electric drill very gently for like a second around each wooden key hole, and that did the trick. Now I'm only feeling the action itself, and not added friction - which has made it more responsive, but also a bit lighter. I also calibrated each key for consistency, which you can do with the VPC1 software - you always want to reduce the sensor values though, not increase. Regardless, I'd recommend getting the VPC1 software just to choose some different default curves. The normal curve is too light by default, and hard to play softly with. The Galaxy curve is closest to the acoustic I have. Garritan CFX full is also the best modestly-priced VST I've tried. I still prefer my modest upright acoustic, but the VPC1 is a great digital alternative that I can play at any time.