Description
Since 1927 the name Kawai has stood for quality pianos. In 2001 the Shigeru Kawai series launched and has enjoyed great popularity with pianists and institutions around the world.
A new era began for Kawai in 2012, when the Shigeru Kawai “Concert Series” was released.
These “Concert Series” models are distinguished by elegant design, high quality materials, technological advancements, sensitive touch and perfect sound. The Shigeru Kawai offers an unparalleled musical experience to the world.
Over one hundred years ago, in a humble workshop in japan, koichi kawai embarked upon a journey – a spiritual quest to design and build a piano that would one day be called “the finest”. a generation later, this dream burned intensely in the heart of shigeru kawai.
To Shigeru, the dream represented not just his origins, but his destiny – an unrelenting force that would launch a lifetime of devotion in the pursuit of perfection. In the Shigeru Kawai piano, you will see not just his labour and his love – but his life.
time has little relevance in the creation of a shigeru piano. there is no rush to completion. no pressure to perform, no demanding deadlines.
Each artisan understands that the ultimate priority is perfection. This explains why every element of the crafting process is three to five times longer, and why the Shigeru workshop is a place of unruffled focus and serenity. If there is an underlying secret behind the resonant song of the Shigeru grand piano, it is this tranquil place of origin where heart, mind and spirit are given the time to breathe and the freedom to soar.
For this reason, those who possess a Shigeru Kawai piano will receive an extraordinary visit from one of our elite Master Piano Artisans within the first year of ownership. It will be our privilege to provide a complete concert-level regulation, voicing and tuning as our gift to those who have selected the Premier Piano of Japan.
The custom-tapered soundboard in a Shigeru piano is made exclusively from the finest spruce, aged by the traditional kigarashi process that uses only the forces of time and nature to allow the wood to attain a state of natural balance. It is this lengthy and painstaking process that gives Shigeru pianos their uniquely rich tonal quality.
Shiko Seion hammers, which take their name from the Japanese words for “ultimate voicing”, are the exclusive province of our Master Piano Artisans who oversee their formation from beginning to end. Every hammer is meticulously hand-pressed without the application of heat and carefully voiced without artificial hardeners to ensure outstanding dynamic response and expression.
The exclusive Konsei Katagi rim uses a blend of distinctive hardwoods to achieve an ideal balance of tone. For the inner rim, small-pored hardwoods that provide superior brightness and projection are interlaminated with dense, large-pored hardwoods offering warmth and fullness. This synergy of structurally divergent hardwoods produces a powerful, well-rounded richness of tone that is the hallmark of the Shigeru piano.
Our acclaimed Millennium III Action uses state-of-the-art ABS Carbon components that are exceptionally light and rigid to provide faster repetition and more power with less effort. Microscopic surface textures on selected action parts provide superb response and control.
Stretcher Over-Lap Integrated Design (SOLID) creates an exceptionally rigid foundation to support string tension. With SOLID construction, the pinblock is hand-fitted to the plate. The pinblock and over-lapping stretcher bar are then integrated into a single structure and solidly anchored to the rim. The resulting framework possesses outstanding strength and rigidity to ensure stable tuning and powerful tone.
The overall length of each keystick is extended to make playing easier and provide more even touch and response from the front to the back of the playing surface. Keysticks are also designed with a slightly taller profile for maximum rigidity to deliver greater power.
The use of hardwood maple key buttons adds stiffness to the keysticks for improved energy transfer. The redesigned key buttons on the Shigeru Concert Series instruments have been doubled in length to provide exceptional energy transfer and optimum power.
Boxwood is an extremely hard wood that is particularly effective in transferring higher tonal frequencies through the bridge to the soundboard. Boxwood bridge caps help to ensure treble projection that complements the more powerful bass sound of larger pianos.
Meticulous attention to the needs of professional performers is evident in every feature of the Shigeru piano. One example, originally developed for our Shigeru Kawai Ex Concert Piano, is the unique dual-pivot damper design that allows smoother half-pedal control for delicate tonal expression.
