grey market?

[Jeannie Grassi]

Hi Jay,
I have a client with a CA-40 Kawai, nice piano.  He bought it from a
local Kawai dealer.  I also have two clients with CS-40 uprights, also
very nice.  The dealer told me that he ordered these at NAMM.  They
were intended for the German market (all wooden parts) but nothing
prohibited him from ordering them.  So he decided to get a few.  They
are definitely NOT grey market pianos.

Not all grey market pianos have just two pedals, as someone mentioned.
The newer ones coming out of Japan all have three pedals, and yet they
still qualify for that category.

Jeannie Grassi, RPT
mailto:jgrassi@silverlink.net
Bainbridge Island, WA


> -----Original Message-----
> >Jay Mercier wrote:
> > >
> > > I don't completely understand the term "grey market
> pianos."  Is it
> > > referring to any piano sold from a wholesale warehouse?
> I was recently
> > > asked to find a "decent piano" for an older lady who
> wanted to donate it
> >to
> > > the local retirement home.  To make a long story short, I
> ended up with
> >a
> > > 1990 Kawai CA-40 Grand, purchased through a local dealer
> who purchased
> >it
> > > from a dealer in Chicago.  It was listed with hundreds of
> pianos out of
> >the
> > > Chicago dealer, but shipped from California.  Took 3
> weeks to ship to
> >the
> > > local dealer  - they didn't touch it - and immediately
> delivered it to
> >the
> > > retirement home.  I was a bit nervous but to my amazement
> this "A"
> >listing
> > > of a piano impressed me.  Absolutely flawless for about
> $11,000.  It
> >needed
> > > no regulation and I told the home that the tuning could
> wait for a
> >month.
> > > The local dealer mentioned that he too was surprised on
> the condition
> >and
> > > said it arrived in better shape than some of his new YC's
> and Webbers.
> >This
> > > piano had not one flaw that I could see -------
> Now.......is this a grey
> > > market piano?
> > >
> > > Jay Mercier
> > > Piano Technician
> > > Glenwood, MN
> > >