Nord User Forum

I'm a prospective Nord piano buyer. I'm particularly interested in the Nord Grand v1 the v2 is out of my budget.
However, everywhere I read or watch reviews, I hear nothing but keyboard problems. Apparantly in the version 1, Kawai were aware of a keybed motherboard problem on the Nord grand.
I know that people tend to write about problems more than good things about keyboards, so its very difficult to get a balanced view.

Would love to know here on this forum, how many users have had problems in the first year compared to those who have had no problems?

Its not a cheap keyboard and it sounds fantastic, and the fact you can download pianos is awsome. But the problems reported worry me.

That's the caveat with online forums -- you tend to see the occasional complaint, and not the multitudes of happy people.

fWIW, I've been following this forum regularly, and I can't recall any unusual problems with that specific model. I would have no hesitations in buying a used NG1 if I was in the market.

>you tend to see the occasional complaint, and not the multitudes of happy people.<

Oh I don't know. This forum is pretty rich with hosannas from all corners, on all things Nord. Usually when someone complains about something, a whole lot of others come in to rebut the comment. I would know

Indeed, I think this forum is probably the most pro-Nord corner of the Internet you will find. There's also the question of who exactly is buying all these Nords and comprising the non-posting happy multitudes. Given the high price of the line, it seems likely that most customers are well-heeled amateurs, music studios, professional performers, or institutions.

Of that group, only the first is likely to spend significant time bantering here - and they will be the only ones who actually spent their own money on the boards. So the silence of the happy multitudes may be the silence of players who don't have any real skin in the game, and/or are users of Nords that sit in communal studios alongside other keyboards.

The reason i posted the question is, ive seen several posts of problems with the Nord grand keybed online. Several people have said within weeks or a few months they have suffered one of the following.
1. Non responsive notes
2. The sound going completel haywire on one post
3. Noisy keys clattering

In general, a non reliable key action.
Apparantly, the action is Kawai, but one of their lesser quality actions customised to Nords specification.

Its a lot of money to shell out on something if it is truly as unreliable as these reports say.

So I guess i was hoping for some Nord Grand 1 users to pipe up and say, no ive had mine years with no problems.
The lack of hearing that just makes me feel i cannot justify that money on a Nord Grand

I'm not a Grand owner, but I'm still considering one (a NG2). Even if I regularly followed the posts about Grands on this forum.

It's a simple calculation for me: There's a small chance to have annoyances with the keys, but my dealer is within an hour of driving - so no problem to get such things sorted out. If I lived in a part of the world with less availability of digital piano techs or the like, I might hesitate.

I don't think that the built-in Kawai action is of lesser quality. I played one for half an hour and esteemed the quality - although it wasn't fully to my liking: I lack fine motor skills to fully enjoy that light, refined action. 1) Key quality seems to have been a Kawai problem for quite a moment - but in general with digital pianos, not specifically for that model; 2) this key action may not be the most elaborated, but I don't see it related to the quality issues that may have occured from time to time.

And last point: I do have a Kawai VPC1 with a similar key action that I like a lot - as a second owner, with no issues.

FZiegler wrote: ↑01 Jun 2024, 13:07 (...)I do have a Kawai VPC1 with a similar key action that I like a lot - as a second owner, with no issues.

Well VPC1 with its RM3 Grand is totally in another league in terms of key action, compared to the "ES8/MP7 like" RH that Kawai provides to Nord for the Grand.

Thanks. I'm not too familiar with those different constructions - the only thing I meant to know is that the VPC1 action is between the MP7SE/Nord Grand and the MP11SE action.

So, the only thing I prove with my VPC1 is that Kawai is able to build good keyboards at all.

FZiegler wrote: ↑01 Jun 2024, 15:13 Thanks. I'm not too familiar with those different constructions - the only thing I meant to know is that the VPC1 action is between the MP7SE/Nord Grand and the MP11SE action.

The RM3-II in the VPC1 is much closer to the MP11SE than to the MP7SE/Nord Grand, maxpiano is certainly right. Some even prefer it to the GF action in the MP11(SE). Kawai's wooden actions are great indeed.