Yamaha C3/Petrof

[JIMRPT]

In a message dated 4/26/98 4:50:20 PM, Dave wrote:

<<Petrofs, and have found them to be well built, great sounding pianos with a
warm, round tone and bell like clarity and sustain in the treble.>>

Dave I have had very limited exposure to the Petrof grand and none to the
Petrof vertical, if they make one.  All of my exposure has been on older
models over 6/8 years old which were made in the old E. Germany.  These pianos
were the exact opposite of your description.  Two of these pianos I looked at
for clients considering purchase and passed my negative reaction on to them,
neither bought the instruments. (One bought a Kawai and one bought a Yamaha.)
  The other three instruments were privately owned and the calls went from
simple tuning/service calls to bills in the neighborhood of 600 each. 
  While the basic design of the Petrof 'of this vintage' was acceptable the
workmanship and material/part construction/selection was atrocious.  This is
not a condemnation of all Petrofs and certainly not a comment on the current
production, which I have heard is a rather nice instrument.  
  There was a short period of time where some of the wholesalers were selling
Petrof concert grands for aprox 9,000 and this price was for a new, crated
piano.  There was, and is, a reason for this low price on those particular
pianos.
  I think it safe to assume that infusion of capital into Petrof has solved a
lot of problems in workmanship and material or there would not be as many good
opinions expressed of the current production models.
  Basically with Petrof, as with any piano, if a customer likes the way it
looks, likes the way it plays, likes the way it sounds, and is satisfied with
the agreed price they should get a local, reputable, technician to look at it
and give their opinion as "to this particular instrument". 
(Richard G's comment about a "properly prepped Petrof" is a good one, as each
of the Petrofs that I put a little work into were at least acceptable when I
finished but.......they were far from world class.)
Just another slant and my opinion.
Jim Bryant (FL)
ps....Caleb if you like the sound, etc. of the C3 and can get it for that
price do so.