Exception or rule?

[Elian Degen]

Tony et all

>The Yamaha pianos made in Indonesia are in my opinion potentially better
>than those made in Japan.

I have been tuning Yamaha pianos in Venezuela since I have memory. Until
very recently they were all Japaneese, Never had any problem with them.

Recently (around 1997-8) we received Yamaha pianos from Djakarta (Indonesia)
I agree with you about the cabinet, but I had very bad experience with their
manufacturing. A very high percentage of them were very poorly assembled.
Worse of all, many had loose tuning pins.  Now I do not recomend any of
these pianos any more

Elian Degen
Piano Tuner and Technician
Caracas, Venezuela  degen@telcel.net.ve
Phone 58-2-748547/ 58-14-9222981 Fax 58-2-748547



>But firstly realise that Indonesia I think, only makes two models at the
>cheaper end of the scale.  Then it appears that all working parts are
>Japanese, however, what I like is the better quality cabinets.  These
>Indonesian cabinets are made of local laminated materials and not MDF or
>CHIPWOOD with green glue.
>Sure, initially they require a little more work but, at the price it seems
>better value than the cheaper pianos made in country of origin as then they
>realy have to cut the costs of materials
>
>
>>
>>I have been dissappointed by the overall quality of the lower end pianos
>>from both Kawai and Yamaha over the past few years. The pianos are being
>>pumped out at a price and they seem to cut corners wherever they
>>can........but by the same token their mid-range and high end pianos are
>>still very good....probably more along the lines of what you are
>remembering
>>in some of their older models.
>
>The way I see it is simple, pianos regardless of price are supposed to last
>for a long time.  Look at the cheaper pianos made by Yamaha.  There are two
>types, normal and tropical.  Tropical they use waterproof adhesives and the
>hammer heads are stapled. Normal they use white glue and the hammer heads
>are not stapled. The cheaper Indonesian piano is Tropical.  Kawai,
reciently
>I inspected a top of the range Kawai upright that had  water dripping on
the
>top.  The top had swollen CHIPWOOD WITH GREEN GLUE.  No comment.
>
>Tony  caute@accessnt.com.au
>
>>
>
>
>