Millennium III Action / Ninja Action

It has long been acknowledged that the use of wood in piano actions was a compromise at best – one of the biggest misconceptions is that because actions were traditionally made of wood, it must have been for an acoustic or musical reason. Quite the contrary – wood was nothing more than an economical, easy material to manufacture with. Compared with other materials available to piano builders, wood was light, strong, inexpensive, and could be milled, carved, and bonded easily. However, wood also reacts with temperature and humidity, and so seasonal changes have always played havoc with the regulation and overall mechanical behavior of pianos.

Many companies have tackled this problem, the most well-known of attempts being Steinway’s failed experiment with Teflon bushings. For the same reasons that Kawai was developing it’s composite actions, Steinway had tried to replace traditional bushing material with Teflon, to reduce the dynamic friction caused by seasonal changes in North America. Unfortunately, there was an insufficient field-testing of the innovation, and in a short period of time owners discovered that the bushings had loosened and were causing loud, audible clicking throughout the piano. The backlash was swift, and the narrative throughout the industry quickly turned against all ideas of improvement.

It was within this climate of distrust that Kawai released their first ABS composite action, and for the next 20 years, spent an enormous amount of time and energy proving the merits of their design. It really wasn’t until the late 1990’s that the tide began to turn, and by the mid 2000’s, all written publications were dismissing the arguments against Kawai’s actions as nothing more than fear-based propaganda.

Kawai’s last two versions of its composite action series have been received with overwhelming enthusiasm: The Millennium III Action, and the Ninja M3 action. Both use carbon composites to replace parts traditionally made of wood, with the very conscious exception of the hammer and shank. Kawai claims, and has published academically-scrutinized research, that their actions are more responsive, faster, and easier to maintain than traditional wood actions. The principles are straight-forward: carbon fibre doesn’t react with temperature and humidity, and therefore several advantages can be gleaned:

1. The actions do not change in their response depending on temperature or humidity
2. The action materials are lighter in weight, allowing for less leading of the keys and generally a faster ‘reset’ speed of the action
3. The action can be regulated to a tighter tolerance, since no gaps need to be left to allow for the expansion and contraction of the wood
4. The action is more even over it’s lifetime, since there is no wear-and-tear on the components – even in the mid-range.

The actions have decades of research and field-use to back up their claims of durability and endurance, and now with Mason & Hamlin’s WNG action also in the market, the strength of many of their arguments have been further substantiated.

Scale Design and Construction

Kawai offers a rare combination of features and materials quality for the price ranges that they cover. Taken out of context, none of the elements of Kawai’s construction are particularly unique within the industry, and can often be found on several competitors’s models and lineups.However, on closer examination, it becomes rather apparent that almost no other competitors bring the same standards in such a wide range of feature categories as Kawai does – and Kawai manages to accomplish this in 4 different lines across a $50,000 price spread.

• Maple-capped bridges in nearly all models, upright and grand
• Vertically laminated bridges in all top upright and grand models
• Aged, AAA-grade sitka spruce in all models (K15 – GX7)
• Maple framework on all models
• Pure-copper bass strings on all models
• Locator-pin construction technique for > 0.005″ tolerance
• Composite Action design across models
• Nickel-plated Tuning pins across all models
• 10 Year FULL Warranty, transferrable to any owner
• The fastest recorded repetition speed in every model size and designation