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43-537: Koichi Kawai, the company founder, was born in Hamamatsu, Japan in 1886. His neighbor, Torakusu Yamaha , a watchmaker and reed organ builder, took him in as an apprentice. Kawai became a member of the research and development team that introduced pianos to Japan. Yamaha died in 1916, and in the 1920s the piano industry faltered in Japan. New management took over control of Yamaha's company, Nippon Gakki Co. (later renamed

86-476: A Spectrum 5 . Also, James Iha of The Smashing Pumpkins played a K-2L , which can be seen in the music video for Rocket as well as the inside of the Pisces Iscariot CD jewel case. Ben Waugh (Scott Campbell), singer & guitarist for Apparition, The Sillies, and Scott Campbell Group played a modified ET-200 onstage and for studio recordings until it was stolen in 1985. Many Teisco guitars had

129-589: A drum synthesizer based on the K4 engine, was produced in 1989-1990. Kawai produces a line of electronic organs under the name "Dreamatone". Kawai also owns Lowrey organs . Kawai previously offered the MORE series, a home organ product line applying the high-end technology of their theater models, T-50 and T-30 . The MORE series was merged into "Dreamatone" family in fall 1979. The company also manufactures MIDI controllers. The company has built guitars and basses in

172-460: A company consultant until his death in 2006 at 84. Shigeru Kawai's son, Hirotaka Kawai, was appointed president in 1989. He integrated advanced robotics into the manufacturing process, established Kawai manufacturing facilities around the globe, and oversaw the introduction of several new series of grand, upright and digital pianos. The Kawai Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company distributes acoustic and digital pianos to over 80 countries. Since

215-472: A medical equipment store. In 1886, at the age of 35, Torakusu moved to Hamamatsu to repair medical equipment as a career. However, since Hamamatsu was a small town back then, Torakusu could not make a living repairing medical equipment, so he also repaired watches and served as a rickshaw man for a hospital director. A local primary school, Jinjou Elementary School (now Hamamatsu City Motoshiro Elementary School) asked him to fix their broken reed organ , as

258-414: A new composite material that combined ABS with carbon fiber . The new material (dubbed ABS-Carbon) increased the strength of Kawai action parts, reducing their weight, which made the overall action operate faster (very important for control when playing repeated notes or trills). The addition of carbon fiber also increased the stiffness of ABS-Carbon action parts, allowing the action to produce more power for

301-737: A piano action, where exacting tolerances must be maintained to ensure stable piano touch. So they gradually replaced selected wooden action parts with ABS parts that they believed would remain more stable, particularly over time as their pianos age. According to Kawai, scientific tests conducted by Professor Abdul Sadat at California Polytechnic University in 1998 found Kawai's ABS action parts to be stronger than comparable wooden parts and far less susceptible to shrinking and swelling due to humidity. Kawai advertises that its use of composite parts makes its piano actions more stable and consistent than those made by other manufacturers. In 2002, Kawai introduced its Millennium III grand piano action with ABS-Carbon,

344-503: A primitive tailed bridge in their extended tail bridges with limited timbre when used in an extended technique . When the strings are attacked behind the bridge, a 3rd bridge sound is created. This is one of the reasons these guitars became popular again during the 90s among many noise artists as a cheaper alternative for the Fender Jaguar or Jazzmaster , which were beginning to attract collector interest. Teisco also produced

387-680: A reputation for long-term, stable performance even in heavy use. In 1996, Kawai introduced the RX Series grand pianos featuring the Ultra-Responsive ABS Action. The RX Series continued to evolve with the introduction of the Millennium III Action with ABS-Carbon in 2004. In 2009, the RX BLAK Series debuted with a new Acoustic Resonant Solid Spruce soundboard and the addition of Phenolic Stabilizers on

430-702: A single pickup, volume and tone controls and a rudimentary bridge/tailpiece. Teisco also produced numerous models of guitar and bass amplifiers which were often sold under the Checkmate brand name, but also named Teisco or Silvertone as well as Beltone and Melody. In the 1950s, early amplifier models were very basic 5-10 watt tube/valve designs. During the 1960s, more advanced and powerful models were offered, such as Checkmate 25 , Checkmate 50 , and Checkmate 100 featuring dual channels, reverb and tremolo effects. Teisco also made solid-state (transistor-based) models, some designed no less radically than their guitars of

473-622: A six-string bass called TB-64 (or ET-320 ) in 1964, similar to the Fender Bass VI which was itself an uncommon instrument. Teisco six-string bass followed an unusual body shape that was used on one of their guitars. It had an off-set body shape similar to a Jazzmaster , but with an extended top horn, a 'monkey handle' cutout on the left-facing side of the bridge and a Fender -style headstock with an oversized scroll. This instrument, as well as its regular-scale guitar equivalent, can be heard extensively on Blonde Redhead 's early albums of

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516-500: A tone or phase inversion switch, along with as many as five tone and volume knobs gave a wide variety of sounds yet were easily switched while playing. After Kawai bought Teisco in 1967, they started to produce all the Teisco guitars, as well as their own brand, Apollo . Hound Dog Taylor famously used a variety of these Kawai-era Teiscos, which he bought at his local Sears department store. Jim Reid of The Jesus and Mary Chain used

559-528: A unique pickup design exclusive to the Del Rey series. This design consisted of a large rectangular chrome pickup with black plastic holding the four poles in one place. Other designs may vary, but are all easily distinguishable and unique among subsequent bass designs. Teisco made a short scale bass under the Heit Deluxe name. With a scale length of 23.5", it was a student or beginner instrument. It featured

602-716: Is hybrid in the sense that it does employ additive synthesis for waveform generation, but these waveforms are static and cannot be modulated as in a true additive synthesizer; instead, waveshaping is done using a low-pass filter, therefore characterizing this machine as a subtractive synthesizer. Uniquely for their price range, all instruments feature aftertouch . Kawai also manufactured rack versions of most of these instruments, Kawai Q-80 MIDI sequencer (1988), and an external MIDI programming device, MM-16 MIDI Mixer (MIDI processor with slider controllers). Later developments resulted in Kawai Spectra KC10 (1990) based on

645-581: The K5000 , an advanced additive synthesizer that greatly improved on the K5 and is now regarded as one of Kawai's very best instruments. It was manufactured in three versions: K5000S, which had 16 knobs for real-time control and an arpeggiator , K5000W which added a sequencer but lacked both the knobs and the arpeggiator, and the K5000R, a rack version with an arpeggiator, but no sequencer and no knobs. A Knobs Macro Box

688-694: The Medal of Honor with Green Ribbon. Torakusu also served as a director of Hamamatsu Railway (later the Enshu Railway Okuyama Line), the local railway in the Hamamatsu area. In 1911, Torakusu was elected to the Hamamatsu City Council and appointed as the Vice Chairman of the council. Torakusu taught instrument making to an apprentice named Koichi Kawai, who was 11 years old at the time, during his early career as

731-472: The United Kingdom . In 2018, the brand "Teisco" was relaunched –along with former guitar company Harmony – by Singaporean music company BandLab Technologies to produce effects units . The brand name "Teisco" was established in 1948, and sometimes incorrectly explained as an acronym of Tokyo Electric Instrument and Sound Company . However, the exact name of company establishing and producing

774-759: The Yamaha Corporation ), and began to diversify its production line. This led Kawai to leave Nippon Gakki in 1927 and found the Kawai Musical Instrument Research Laboratory. After Koichi Kawai's death in 1955, his son, Shigeru Kawai became company president at 33 and expanded production facilities. In 1980, he opened the Ryuyo Grand Piano Factory. Shigeru Kawai was president of the Kawai company from 1955 to 1989, chairman from 1990 until 2002, and

817-466: The 1970s, Kawai has pioneered the use of alternative materials to improve the consistency and stability of piano performance. In 1971, the company began to use acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), a composite material, for parts of its piano actions to overcome the problems associated with the use of wood. Kawai design engineers reasoned that the tendency of wood to shrink and swell significantly with changes in humidity made it less than ideal for use in

860-450: The 90s, where they used its wide range to switch between bass and guitar melodies in the course of single songs. Also, 2 or 4-pickup baritone guitars (27 3/4 inch scale) with a tremolo, known as Demian or Orlando VN-2 or VN-4 ca.1964 manufactured by FujiGen , are often referred as Teisco models. However the formal relations between Teisco and these models are not enough verified yet. Teisco basses are easily identified through

903-461: The K series: Kawai K1 , K1m, K1mkII , K3 (SSM2044-based filters), K4 and K5 . These machines follow different synthesis approaches. The K4 use subtractive synthesis based on sampled waveforms, the K1 and K5 are additive synthesizers. The K1 is one of the first popular synthesizers that has no filter whatsoever; all sounds are made by stacking wave samples and applying frequency modulation . The K3

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946-425: The K4 engine, along with a group of original multitimbral instruments, including Kawai PH-50 Pop Keyboard and its half-rack version PHm , and XS-1 sound module (1989), and a group of General MIDI (GM) compatible instruments including Kawai KC20 GM Sound Keyboard (early 1990s), GMega sound module (early 1990s) as an update of previous XS-1, and K11 (1993) based on GMega and K1, etc. In 1996 Kawai released

989-715: The Minister of Education asked the president of Nippon Gakki to look into the administration system and working conditions of musical instruments in schools. In the same year, Nippon Gakki sold nearly 250 organs to several schools in Japan. With this success, the company looked into the production of pianos, harmonicas , and xylophones . In 1899, Torakusu made a five-month tour to the United States , visiting W.W. Kimball and Company , Mason and Hamlin , and Steinway and Sons . In 1900, Torakusu and Nippon Gakki produced its first upright piano . In March 1902, Torakusu received

1032-446: The Teisco brand was not that name, and rather, they had frequently renamed their company. The company was founded in 1946 by renowned Hawaiian and Spanish guitarist Atsuwo Kaneko and electrical engineer Doryu Matsuda. The company was originally called Aoi Onpa Kenkyujo (roughly: Hollyhock Soundwave or Electricity Laboratories). In 1956, the company name was changed to Nippon Onpa Kogyo Co. , and changed to Teisco Co. in 1964. In 1967,

1075-557: The arrival of the Meiji Restoration in 1868, and Torakusu saw many opportunities as the era brought Westernization and the introduction of new technologies to Japan. In 1871, Torakusu went to Nagasaki and started studying watchmaking under the guidance of an English engineer. After a few years of training, Torakusu became an expert in watchmaking and later became interested in medical equipment. Torakusu then moved to Osaka to study medical equipment, where he lived behind

1118-520: The best pianos in the world and are used in concerts and piano competitions all over the world alongside pianos manufactured by companies like Bösendorfer, Steinway, Yamaha and Fazioli. The Shigeru Kawai SK-EX full concert grand piano was introduced in 2001, and chosen as the official piano of the 2002 International Tchaikovsky Competition . In 2013, Kawai introduced the GX BLAK Performance Series line of grand pianos. In Japanese,

1161-407: The brand name Teisco . These instruments were all analog and included the models: 60F , 110F , 100F , 100P , SX-210 , SX-240 , and SX-400 . At some point, Kawai stopped using the "Teisco" brand, so some of these products can be found labelled either Teisco or Kawai. During the second half of the 1980s, Kawai developed and released a number of digital synthesizers. The most known of these are

1204-514: The company was acquired by Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (河合楽器製作所; Kawai Gakki Seisakusho), who discontinued the Teisco brand name for guitars in 1969 (1977 in Japan), but continued to use it for electronic keyboards until the 1980s. Teisco guitars were imported to the United States since 1959 or early 1960, and then re-badged as "Teisco Del Rey" after 1964. From 1948 to

1247-614: The early 1960s Teisco products often, like many Japanese products of the period, shared several designs with American and Western European products of the time including Hagström and EKO . However, in the early 1960s Teisco products became increasingly unique. Teisco guitars became notable for unusual body shapes, such as the May Queen design resembling an artist's palette, or other unusual features such as having four pickups (most guitars have two or three). The vast amount of controls; typically an individual switch for each pickup, plus

1290-399: The following models: Kawai digital pianos are divided into 6 classes - CA series, CN series, KDP series, ES series, MP series, and DG series. The current Kawai Digital Piano product line consists of the following models (as of April 2023): The current Kawai Hybrid Piano product line consists of the following models: Kawai started manufacturing synthesizers at the start of the 1980s under

1333-504: The founder of the company Nippon Gakki. When Kawai grew up, founded a company named Kawai Musical Instruments which soon became rivals with Nippon Gakki. Yamaha died of an illness in Tokyo on 8 August 1916 at the age of 65 years. Following his death, Vice President Chiyomaru Amano took over as the CEO of Nippon Gakki. In 1987, 100 years after the first reed organ built by Yamaha, the company

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1376-423: The governor of Shizuoka Prefecture . In March 1888, Torakusu used an abandoned Hamamatsu Temple to make organs with the help of carpenters and cabinet makers . In 1887, Torakusu founded Nippon Gakki Co Ltd. and used a drawing of a Chinese phoenix holding a tuning fork in its beak as the company's logo. After founding the company, Torakusu set up a manufacturing plant with modern assembly lines . In 1889,

1419-525: The hammers that further enhanced the precision of the hammer strike for improved tone and consistency. The RX BLAK Series pianos also incorporated many cosmetic changes. In 1999, Kawai introduced the Shigeru Kawai grand piano series. These pianos are handmade by highly skilled technicians in a separate facility of Ryuyo Grand Piano Factory in Hamamatsu . Shigeru Kawai pianos are recognized as one of

1462-403: The help of a colleague from the medical equipment work. In 1887, two months after the project started, Torakusu and his colleague produced the first Japanese-made reed organ . After receiving negative comments, Torakusu moved closer to the music department of Tokyo . To get the organ to the university, he was forced to carry it over a distance of 250 kilometres (160 mi). After presenting

1505-423: The instrument to the university, professors at the university said the instrument was badly conceived. Torakusu was then allowed to attend lectures about different theories of music at the university for a month. Back in Hamamatsu, Torakusu built the second organ in the remaining two months of the year. It was rated as "good as those from abroad". Shortly after, he received an order for seven organs, including that for

1548-516: The past. The F-series from approximately late 1970 to 1990 have a neck thru guitar design. Torakusu Yamaha Torakusu Yamaha ( 山葉 寅楠 , Yamaha Torakusu , 20 April 1851 – 8 August 1916) was a Japanese businessman and entrepreneur known as the founder of the Yamaha Corporation . Yamaha was the first Japanese manufacturer of the reed organ and established Nippon Gakki Co Ltd in Hamamatsu to produce organs and other musical instruments including pianos and harmonicas . Nippon Gakki

1591-572: The player with less effort. Kawai contends that these advances in materials and design help its Millennium III action respond more accurately to the player's intentions with greater consistency over time. Kawai grand pianos have evolved steadily over the decades from the Model 500/600 built in the 1960s and 1970s, to the KG Series in the 1980s and early 1990s that became popular among teachers and institutions. During these years, Kawai grand pianos earned

1634-557: The time. The Sound Port 60 (60 watts/RMS) and Sound Port 120 (120 watts/RMS) amplifiers from the late 1960s were copies of Fender 's silverfaced Vibro Champ and Twin Reverb . Teisco also produced a range of synthesizers, with models including the 60F, 110F, 100F, 100P, SX-210, SX-240, and SX-400. Bands such as Hot Chip (UK), Pure Reason Revolution (UK), and Goose (Belgium) are known to use Teisco synthesizers. Teisco marketed drum sets in limited sizes and configurations during

1677-407: The town was small and they did not have anyone who was qualified to fix one. Accepting the offer, Torakusu soon discovered the cause of the problem, which was two broken springs, and studied the springs with the intent of producing them himself. Torakusu also received financial help from Toyasaku Fukushima, the director of Hamamatsu Hospital. Torakusu then started the project in a one-room workshop with

1720-760: The word kuro (black) suggests wisdom, experience and nobility. Improvements include a stretcher-overlap integrated design (SOLID) and Konsei Katagi blended rim design for improved tone projection. In 2015, Kawai introduced the GL Series line of grand pianos. The current Kawai Grand Piano product line consists of the following models: Kawai upright pianos are divided into four classes - K Series Professional, Designer Series, Institutional Series and Continental Series. Kawai K Series Professional Uprights range in height from 114 to 134 cm (45 to 53 in). All have Kawai's Millennium III Upright Action with ABS-Carbon. The current Kawai Upright Piano product line consists of

1763-856: Was later renamed the Yamaha Corporation in his honor. Torakusu Yamaha was born on 20 April 1851 in Wakayama , Kii Province , the third son of Konosuke Yamaha, a low-ranking samurai of the Kishu-Tokugawa family, the ruling family of the Kishu Domain . Torakusu's father was an astronomer for the Kishu clan, who gave Torakusu access to books about astronomy . As a result, Torakusu became fascinated with machines and technology, in addition to his interests in martial arts and kendo . In his twenties, Japanese society changed rapidly with

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1806-420: Was renamed Yamaha Corporation in honor of its founder. Teisco Teisco was a Japanese musical instrument manufacturing company from 1948 until 1967, when the brand "Teisco" was acquired by Kawai (河合楽器製作所; Kawai Gakki Seisakusho). The company produced guitars as well as synthesizers , microphones , guitar amplifiers and drum kits . Teisco products were widely exported to the United States and

1849-419: Was sold separately for use with the W and R models. Kawai originally planned to release K5000X, which would combine the features of the S and W models with a 76-key keyboard and enhanced memory, but this was cancelled in the late '90s due to bad sales. Shortly thereafter the company stopped producing synthesizers. The Kawai R-100 and R50 drum machines were both manufactured from around 1987. The Kawai XD-5 ,

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