Sticky key on new Kawai grand

[sandracb]

Okay minor annoyance and dealer's tuner should be coming in the next week or two anyways, but today I found a sticky key on my new RX-2. The B flat two octaves from the top.

I've been keeping the room humidity around 53-55% as I think the tuning seems the most stable in that range, but is it too high? Or maybe it's just one of those things that happens with a new piano when getting broken in?

It's only the one key so far so I'm inclined to think it's just a wonky key and not overall humidity problems. I supposed I can't do anything but wait for the tech, though it is super annoying!

[hfmadopter]

That humidity should be fine.

[visitor]

good tech should sort it out, be patient. i had a  similar issue w mine w/ lots of middle keys sticking and failing to reset for a restrike. required taking action apart and replacing jack and whippen (spring should be find but could be a culprit, or anyo other number of things). it took several months and many appointments to sort most of them out.   your millenium action should not be as suseptible to humidity, actually  kawai in general do better than other brands in high humidity climates/envrionments. 

but it's a super complicated deal, each key can impact a hundred different tiny parts so it's not unusual that as the hours build up you'll discover a few places that require a bit of fine tuning and attention

[sandracb]

good tech should sort it out, be patient. i had a  similar issue w mine w/ lots of middle keys sticking and failing to reset for a restrike. required taking action apart and replacing jack and whippen (spring should be find but could be a culprit, or anyo other number of things). it took several months and many appointments to sort most of them out.   your millenium action should not be as suseptible to humidity, actually  kawai in general do better than other brands in high humidity climates/envrionments. 

but it's a super complicated deal, each key can impact a hundred different tiny parts so it's not unusual that as the hours build up you'll discover a few places that require a bit of fine tuning and attention

Hah!! Patience! Not my strong suit!

No worries, I'm super afraid to fiddle around with anything in there as it's under warranty, so I won't be poking screwdrivers under the keys anytime soon or anything crazy. It's not a horrible problem - yet - as it's a little used key and also it seems sporadic and partial. Sometimes it works fine, sometimes it sticks, sometimes it only sticks midway. At least it's not in the middle registers!

Sounds like it's just one of those things where eccentricities start popping up as the instrument gets played in, which is fine. At least this sort of issue should be covered under warranty no matter how many visits.

[indianajo]

I wouldn't be able to breath without coughing at that low humidity.  It is more like 80-95% around here all the time, with ittermittant sixties in the winter when the cold fronts blow in.  Like today, when I am coughing.  My pianos made it through the summer at 95-100%, but I did manage to buy a room air unit in the September closeouts so maybe I can keep the humidity down some next year.  
I hope conditions are right when the tech comes to where the problem repeats itself.  Nothing like trying to get an  ittermittant problem repaired when it doesn't show up in front of the tech. 

[sandracb]

I wouldn't be able to breath without coughing at that low humidity.  It is more like 80-95% around here all the time, with ittermittant sixties in the winter when the cold fronts blow in.  Like today, when I am coughing.  My pianos made it through the summer at 95-100%, but I did manage to buy a room air unit in the September closeouts so maybe I can keep the humidity down some next year.  
I hope conditions are right when the tech comes to where the problem repeats itself.  Nothing like trying to get an  ittermittant problem repaired when it doesn't show up in front of the tech. 

Holy crap! Our windows would be sweating buckets at 80%+! The humidity in the winter with heating on can sink as low as 20-30% easily, but we have an expensive hardwood floor I'm pretty careful. Still, even with a full house humidifer built into the central air system, and room humidifiers, in the nasty part of winter I can't push the humidity past about 45% without mold growing all over the inside of the windows. (It gets to -35C outside so that's why).

Yeah the problem probably won't happen when the tech is here, but at least he can check the problem key and see if anything is obvious. Who knows, could just be new parts rubbing and maybe it'll 'play back out' too. Definitely warrantable, so if they have to send the tech repeatedly so be it! Just glad it's not in the middle registers.