Cheapness

[Jokeyman123]

Lately those of you insane enough to follow some of my posts about key assemblies may know-I have been doing a huge amount of research comparing 88 key assemblies, actions/mechanisms and sounds etc. being always enticed to buy the newest/bestest digital weighted workstation or stage piano to update the Fusion, or others I own and play. Why this post is called cheapness-i am seeing a disturbing trend, even with the best stage pianos/workstations that profess to be the most superior, realistic etc. That trend is...plastic. In the keyframes, in the hammer assemblies-although the hammers may be steel-I am seeing alot of these hammers surrounded by 'engineering" plastic whatever that's supposed to mean. and the assemblies are looking more complex, meaning more things that can go wrong. 2-3-4000 on a stage piano-it better not do that anytime soon.

One reason the grand piano has been so successful-the mechanism is basically a simple one with parts that can be restored, replaced or repaired. I've worked on a few acoustic pianos years ago. Aside from Yamaha and although I'm skeptical-the newest Kawai models and i think the newest Rolands many of these are Fatars-and many are specifically Fatar TP40's like the Fusions were originally. Which brings me to my reason for this post-the more I look at it, the more i like the Fusion key assembly. Aside from my own horribly defective one, the other is very playable at least at my skill level, and it keeps a basic design that looks relatively simple compared to the latest rather complex designs-which means-more parts that will eventually fail and rattle around inside-or make the action unable to be repaired and/or irreplaceable. it is encouraging me to keep my Fusions, but i am still researching. So far i am not convinced it is worth upgrading,except for a real grand piano!