Kawai GX-3 Conservatory Grand Piano

Product Overview

Officially released in 2013, The Kawai GX series is the most recent line of professional grand pianos from Kawai. Like most Kawai pianos, these GX series are fully built and assembled in Japan and offer an exceptional level of build quality and dignified elegance. The GX advanced scale-designs were first created in the Shigeru Kawai Research and Development Laboratory and feature a slightly longer action design, a different technique for attaching the pin block to the frame, and a thicker rim than the previous generation RX series.

The Kawai GX-3 is the third model from the GX line and has been one of the most popular pianos of the series. At 6’2″ in size, the Kawai GX3 grand piano is an ideal size for most large homes or even a performance venue. Some features of the Kawai GX-3 that make it unique include the carbon fiber action, extra-long bass strings, oversized grand piano action, and double casters. This would be a great choice for a church, college or university teaching studio, or fine home.

Action

One of the main selling points of the GX-3 is its action. The GX-3 is outfitted with Kawai’s award-winning Millennium III action, which is a synthetic non-wood action featuring ABS carbon-fiber-reinforced action components, extended length keysticks for greater touch control, mahogany hammers, and concert-length key buttons. Another highlight of this action is the inclusion of Kawai’s exclusive NEOTEX key surfaces. NEOTEX is a composite material with moisture-absorbing qualities for greater control regardless of playing situation.

The Millennium III action is the exact same action that originated in Kawai’s handmade Shigeru Kawai series of pianos and has now found its way to every Kawai grand piano and some upright pianos. To put it simply, this is a professional-level piano action that consistently satisfies and impresses even the most discerning pianists, and the abs-carbon technology ensures long-term stability.

Tone

Despite its versatile size measuring in at 6’2”, the GX-3 sounds like an even larger grand, with plenty of power, projection, sustain, and an all-around outstanding tone. This makes the GX-3 ideal for even the most advanced teaching applications that call for a wide variety of repertoire and styles, and perfectly up for the challenges provided by small and mid-sized recital halls.

The GX series pianos feature treble bridges that are vertically laminated with 13 layers of maple and mahogany with a solid maple cap that facilitate a huge transfer of sound and energy from the strings to the soundboard. The bridges in the bass section are made of high-quality beech and hard maple. The overall tonal makeup is definitely on the darker side of the spectrum, with a clear treble and powerful bass register rounding out the piano’s distinct tone. The GX-3 also features solid brass agraffes for even string spacing resulting in long-term consistency of tone, as well as dual-duplex scaling.

Hammers

While the GL uses hammer mouldings of Maple, the GX upgrades the Maple to the more premium Mahogany. Second, only to ultra-exclusive walnut, mahogany is regarded as the best material for piano hammers. Mahogany is capable of a faster keystroke over maple and thus the hammer spends less time against the strings meaning less potential for tonal distortion.

As compared to maple hammers which are typically found in other pianos of this price point, mahogany hammers produce a faster keystroke and faster rebound from the strings, meaning more energy remaining in the strings for enhanced tone production. The GX-3 impresses here yet again.

Soundboard

You’ll only find AAA solid spruce in GX Series soundboards. Soundboards are tapered for maximum energy transfer, which is not a common practice on non-handcrafted pianos. At a commanding 1.33 meters squared of soundboard area, the soundboard generates a ton of power.

Rim/Cabinet

A huge upgrade over the previous generation RX3 is the inclusion of Kawai’s new Konsei Katagi rim. This new rim configuration utilizes a blend of distinctive hardwoods to achieve a much more dynamic spectrum of tone than what Kawai’s institutional grand pianos were capable of in the past.

Kawai also makes use of their Convergence for Optimum Reflected Energy (CORE), which essentially is the way in which the rim, plate (V-Pro), and beams are conjoined in a way more conducive to activating the entire structure of the instrument.

Another upgrade is the Stretcher Over-Lap Integrated Design, or SOLID for short. This is in reference to the pinblock and stretcher bar being fused into a single unit for greater strength. An extra thick stretcher bar, multi-laminated keyslip, and keybed (steel reinforced)also speak to this unified effort to maximize stability, as does the soft fall fallboard.