Bohemian

The bobbling hammer issue is contained in the lower registers (1st, 2nd, and 3rd to lesser degree). I didn't notice it right away. I had the piano (GP-300) about 4 years before it became noticeable to my ears. And then I looked on this forum and saw that others were having the same issue. So I called Casio. Casio first sent replacement felts. That changed nothing. Then Casio sent a new keyboard unit. Unfortunately, the unit had the same issue but with different keys, but not nearly so loud. Finally, a more qualified technician came who seemed genuinely interested in solving the problem. He lowered all hammers from 1/2" to 1/32" of wrist rail. I believe that helped some. He didn't know what else to do and saw the problem as inherent in the construction of this instrument. He said for the price, it's a very good instrument, but if the bobbling became louder and more noticeable or widespread throughout the keyboard, then there's a serious problem with the instrument. I think it might also be more noticeable under certain humidity conditions. When I'm not playing, I keep the lid closed. It might mean that the keyboard needs to be regulated now and then, making sure the hammers are equally spaced from the rail. I went to a showroom that had the GP-500. I don't know how long it had been there, but I tested it for bobbling hammers. It did have the issue in some of its keys/hammers in the lower registers. Like I said previously, despite this fault, I still enjoy playing my piano. Overall, the Casio Grand Hybrid is integrated very well with its various components. I do wish Casio would take a serious look at this issue, though. I think it's overlooked by players, and it probably has a lot to do with the manner and sensitivity in which they perform. Note: I've attached a short video that illustrates a bobbling hammer prior to getting the new keyboard unit and prior to the last tech person Casio sent me who adjusted the distance between the hammer and the rail. You might need to adjust the volume on your device to fully appreciate the difference. bobbling hammer C2_7sec.mp4

This is apparently a problem with these instruments (but I don't know how common it is - see earlier posts "rattling", "clunking" noises etc.), but it doesn't appear to be fixable, even though one of the posts says "fixed". as I've communicated with these players. It can be best described as "hammer bobbling". If you look inside the piano, you can see how the hammer bobbles more on certain keys, resulting in the extended mechanical sound. Casio seriously tried to help me with this issue. Casio even provided a new keyboard unit, but alas the problem continued, only with different keys /hammers causing the same bobbling. I've learned to live with it by accepting it as an unfixable problem and have more or less learned how to ignore it in most situations. The last tech person Casio sent me was a very knowledgeable piano tech in both acoustic and electric pianos. In the end, though, he wasn't able to determine how to fix it (and he tried). It is only bothersome when I'm playing a waltz (Satie's Gymnopédies, for example) when a few of the bass keys stand alone due to a quick lift off the key, then I notice the intruding mechanical, bobble noise. Other than this situation, it's generally not noticeable. If you become fixated with that mechanical noise, it'll interfere with your performance and enjoyment. I still love the piano. It just has this flaw. I wish I could say it's fixable.

I wish Casio had some instructional videos on how to achieve common "hidden" features, such as how to adjust concert play volume. Too often the instructions force you to navigate by flipping forward and back to pages several times just to determine how to achieve a single feature, and then when you finally think you get there, you're hearing the Listening version and not the Play-along version without obvious instructions on how to toggle to Play-along version, which is the desired outcome.

Yes. That worked. Thank you! However, is there a way to control the volume of the playback separately from what I play on the piano? The volume of the concert play overwhelms what I perform on the piano. I would like the concert play to be more in the background and my piano performance more in the foreground.

I follow the instructions in the manual page EN-52 "Loading USB Flash Drive Data into Digital Piano Memory" 1. Insert the USB flash drive into the Digital Piano's USB flash drive port. 2. Press the SETTING button. 3. Use the up/down arrow buttons to select "USB FLASH" and then press ENTER BUTTON. 4. USE the up/down arrow buttons to select "Load" and then press the ENTER button. 5. Use the up/down arrow buttons to select a USB flash drive data number. However, I never get to step 5. Instead, after following step 3, the display reads, "Mounting Media" which takes me directly to step 4 in which the display reads, Load. When I press ENTER after Load appears, the display reads, ERROR No file ... Press Exit. I try pressing up/down and left/right arrows but nothing else displays. This is where it all ends.

Yeah, I did that and got the result. When I renamed the files, renaming the extensions LSN and PLY as WAV while on my laptop, the WAV version will play a listening version with piano and a play version without piano. So that tells me the downloads are good, The next step was to download the files again from Casio's Music Library and going through the process of placing the LSN and PLY versions on my flash drive. But when it comes down to the piano recognizing the files that would allow me to play along using with the music, I cannot. The display reads REC WAIT and when pressing > I get the "NO FILE" display. I've gone through this twice. As noted previously, when I inserted the flash drive into the piano's port and recorded a short piece, I was successful in recording and playback of the recording back on my laptop.

I was able to record myself on the piano and playback on my laptop using the flash drive. However, I wasn't able to get the piano to recognize the file I downloaded from the Casio music library and thus unable to load the file that I placed in the flash drive's CP folder. This is the message displayed on the piano after pressing ENTER to LOAD file: ERROR ... NO FILE ... PRESS EXIT

Yes, I tried that. After seeing the display with "REC WAIT ..." for several minutes, and then pressing > , the display reads, "Mounting Media" and then returns to "REC WAIT ..." and nothing else occurs in the display and the REC button continues to flash. I then give up and press the exit button and pull the flash drive out of the piano.

Following instructions on page EN-37 of the manual, the process to record gets stuck at REC WAIT .. After 10 minutes without progressing, I have to assume that something isn't right. As a reminder, I attempted formatting the 32 GB flash drive yesterday and went through the formatting process again today, but both times never received the "Complete" message on the piano's display. However, when I removed the flash drive and inserted into my laptop, I did have a CP folder and a DATA folder. Please advise.

Thanks. I got the password issue resolved. However, I'm still stuck! I got the LSN and PLY files into a CP directory (after following the directions on page EN-50) and uploaded them into my flash drive but I can't play them on the piano so that I can utilize the concert play feature. When I insert the flash drive into the piano, the flash drive display reads "No file."

I have a GP-300 and for the first time I'm trying to download files from the music library. So I downloaded the file from the music library, and now I'm required to enter a password. What password? I don't see anything related to this in the manual or within the online info. Can anybody help?

I have found that the pedals respond to the type of footwear I'm wearing. I cannot play my GP-300 in ordinary shoes without getting the squeaky pedal noise. I'm assuming it has something to do with weight and how the weight is distributed in ordinary shoes. The only footwear I can wear without squeaky pedal noise are Giesswein slippers (I am not associated with the company. It just happens to be the footwear that works for me).

I'll message you that info.

Following up on Mike Martin's link to the dealer in Minneapolis, this is the text reply I received from them when I inquired about the GP-510: "Thanks for your inquiry about the Casio GP-510. We are Casio dealers but do not stock the GP-510. We can certainly special-order this unit for you. We do carry a REALLY (her caps) nice selection of Kawai Hybrids and would also suggest looking at some of these as well as the Casio." Schmitt Music could not locate any GP310 or GP510 (or the older GP-300 or GP-500) models in any of their Minnesota locations. However, the independent Mankato location did have a GP-300. While I allow that some of this is the result of the supply-chain disruption due to the pandemic, based on the text response above, Casio has some catching up to do. Meanwhile, let's hope the science will prevail against the vaccination hesitancy that's still out there, and we can get through this pandemic with a return to normalcy and even build back better!

I'm posting here because the question is as relevant then as it is now to others who are seeking: "Where to buy a Grand Hybrid?" I did not think any of the replies were all that helpful to those still searching. My posts offer concrete help to the seeker (two websites), while I also alert the seeker of the grand hybrid of the possible challenges in seeking a store with the grand hybrid in his or her area.