John posted a great FAQ list on grey pianos. If you're out there John, what was the source? There are some fairly big assumptions and statements made, if they are accurate, I'd like to use and quote them, knowing the source will help me justify the statement I intend to make. We have a similar market here in Australia, the gradings seem to all be A+ though despite huge variations in quality. Thanks Mark Bolsius ---------- From: JCCORDOGAN@AOL.COM To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: Re: grey market? Date: Tue, 4 May 1999 5:33 PM This is the most thorough and accurate explanation of bootleg/gray market pianos I've ever seen. --John FAQ'S ABOUT "GRAY MARKET" OR "BOOTLEG" JAPANESE PIANOS Q: "What are bootleg pianos?" A: Bootleg pianos are pianos that are transshipped into a geographic region other than the one for which the piano was specifically designed and manufactured. Q: "Why are they in the United States?" A: Because there is a great demand in this country for used, Japanese-made pianos, while there is an almost non- existent availability of legitimate, U.S.-used Japanese pianos. Q: "How do they get here?" A: It started about 10-12 years ago as an experiment in getting rid of excess inventories in Japan. Most of them are shipped in by companies that had previously been in the business of importing other Japanese products. Bootlegging has gained in popularity as the Kawai and Yamaha names have become the brands of choice. Q: "Why are there so many of them available overseas when I can't find any here?" A: Well, first of all it is important to understand that "overseas" refers specifically to Japan. This distinction is made because for many, many decades, Kawai and Yamaha have dominated the Japanese market with virtually no competition from competing nations or manufacturers. Conversely, Kawai and Yamaha pianos have only been sold in the U.S. since the early sixties with a tremendous amount domestic and foreign competition. It stands to reason that far more Kawai and Yamaha pianos are bound to become available in Japan with the kinds of numbers they have produced through the years in Japan.. Other contributors to the glut of used Kawai and Yamaha pianos available in Japan include: 1) . . . the resistance to buying a used piano in Japan by Japanese families. Unlike in other areas, the selection and purchase of a family piano is one of the most vital purchases a Japanese family makes -- far too important to condescend to buying a used one. 2) . . . damaged pianos. If selling a used piano to a Japanese family is difficult, try selling a damaged one. While Americans might welcome these discounts, Japanese families often don't consider it an option. 3) . . . trading up. Their success with and dedication to musical studies as a country is far greater than almost anywhere in the world which leads to more trade ups, even if it requires dedicating more space in their small homes than most Americans would ever consider allocating in their living rooms. 4) . . . universities. Unlike in the U.S., practice rooms in Japanese conservatories are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The fierce competition amongst the students along with the limited number of practice rooms available require the practice pianos to be used up to 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This kind of wear is exponentially greater than a residentially-used piano. These pianos get traded in every five to ten years for identical new ones. This process keeps the university's maintenance down and also helps in the recruiting of new students (with the promise of there being new pianos in the practice rooms). There are few takers for these pianos in Japan, despite the efforts to sell them by reducing their costs to a fraction of a new one. So they get a makeover and get shipped to a market where they can be sold more easily -- the U.S. Q: "Who buys them?" A: Most often it is the piano stores who are not Kawai or Yamaha dealers. Kawai and Yamaha are powerful names in the marketplace who represent a large portion of all new pianos sold in the U.S. The standards by which Kawai and Yamaha use to determine who is granted a dealership limits the number of candidates out there. Since it is difficult for a piano store to attract customers into their showroom without the promise of having one of these brands available, bootlegged pianos become attractive to these dealers. Compounding this, the availability of legitimate, used Kawai and Yamaha pianos is so scarce that competing dealers are almost forced to carry bootleg pianos -- even if their business ethics might have encouraged otherwise. Q: "Why don't I want one?" A: It is important to realize that by purchasing a bootlegged piano, you are not buying the same quality instrument that a new Kawai or Yamaha would offer, for half the price. Technological advancements and dedication to quality have continued to improve Japanese pianos to reach new levels in musicality and durability. You are also not buying the same quality instrument as if you would have purchased a legitimate, U.S.-destined Kawai or Yamaha, on account of construction differences and due to the likelihood of greater wear and tear, depending on the environment from which the instrument came. Q: How are they different?" A: For starters, the pianos that are coming in from Japan were specifically designed and manufactured for use in Japan's own domestic market/climate. Pianos are extremely environmentally-sensitive instruments and in many cases are not capable providing trouble-free service once shipped into a geographic region other than the one for which it was designed. The wood that is used for the soundboards, rims, pin blocks, actions and other case parts is specifically dried down to 5% moisture content in the pianos that are destined for anywhere outside Japan or Hawaii. Pianos designated specifically for Japan or Hawaii are only dried down to 22% moisture content -- a significantly shorter kiln time, thus a great cost savings. Japan and Hawaii are the only two markets where Kawai and Yamaha can be certain their pianos will exist in significant levels of year-round humidity, therefore they can forego the additional costly drying time that would be needed for all other markets. The 5% moisture content pianos are suitable for all other regions including areas as dry as the Arizona deserts. The effects of improperly seasoned wood are certainly not limited to pianos; however their effects are often far more profound and critical on pianos than on say, furniture. Most wooden products don't have the need to be, nor the luxury of being, kiln dried. There is no other product that is required to withstand 40-60,000 pounds of constant pressure while allowing many of its 10,000 parts to move within 1/1000ths of an inch to each other. When tolerances like these are disturbed, the problems can grow from ill-fitting and warped case parts, to intermittent buzzes, squeaks and rattles, to cracked or separated soundboards, bridges, pin blocks, and rims. You should also be aware that many of these pianos have been reconditioned or rebuilt and/or refinished or touched up. Q: "But the dealer said he will guarantee it for many years . . . " A: Of course there will be a warranty offered, but you will never know the extent of the warranty until an expensive repair is needed -- a pretty risky endeavor for such a large purchase. Any warranty offered is coming from the dealer, not the manufacturer, regardless of the age of the piano. The fact that the dealer knows the potential hazards of these pianos yet continues to offer them should be the first clue as to the extent of the warranty. Furthermore, many of the repairs would constitute an entire rebuild or refinish job in order to match the standards of the original craftsmanship. Cosmetic repairs such as repairing a bubbled or cracked veneer are especially challenging, considering that there are strict governmental regulations against the spraying of polyester in the U.S. (Polyester is the durable material responsible for the glass-like finish found on Japanese pianos -- much unlike the lacquers used on American products.) Q: "The dealer said it was traded in to him . . . " A: . . . or that it was bought from an estate sale or a little old lady . . . anything besides the less-appealing truth. It is unlawful for the dealer to misrepresent where the piano came from, yet this frequently occurs because the dealer certainly doesn't want to tell you it came from a Japanese conservatory -- that is if he even knows where or how it was used in Japan. It is more likely that you will here a story about how the piano was traded in to the dealer for whatever reason or that they purchased it privately (thus limiting his liability to have known its prior history in case its origin is discovered ex post facto). The idea of asking the dealer to produce a proof of origin is futile, because any dealer who is going to carry these instruments, might not hesitate fabricating an invoice showing a favorable background. Q: "How do I know if the piano I'm looking at is a bootleg?" A: For starters, if the instrument in question is a two pedal piano, it is almost a dead giveaway it came from the Japanese domestic market, as Kawais and Yamahas sold in the U.S. for the past 30 thirty years have had three pedals. That does not mean, however, that a three pedal piano is immune from being a bootleg. The endless faxes and e-mails U.S. dealers receive listing the serial numbers of available bootleg pianos often show a column titled "number of pedals", geared toward the dealers whose customers erroneously believe that three pedal units are "safe". Additionally, if the piano in question is coming from a dealer who does not have the Kawai or Yamaha dealership in their area, that is also a sign of a bootleg, as these dealers have continuous access to "the real thing" and are less likely to jeopardize their reputation with these questionable products. Final word of caution: Bootlegged Japanese pianos are available to any dealer who wants them in the U.S. at prices no different from one another. Dealers with high standards typically stay far away from them for many reasons -- not just because of the questionable longevity of the pianos. The manner in which these pianos are gathered abroad, bought and sold, and distributed is undesirable to say the least. One of the columns in the above-mentioned e-mails and faxes received by dealers citing availability is titled "Grade", as in "B+", "A-" or worse yet "C" or "D". Such whimsical lettering is the primary means by which tens of thousands of dollars change hands. Importers and resellers of these pianos are often buying these instruments sight unseen, from this "grade" scale that has no international or common standard. If you have any question as to the potential dilemmas and horrors that can be introduced by a wholesaler purchasing sight unseen from abroad, let alone a reseller and subsequent merchant and (heaven forbid) end- user purchasing the same piano sight unseen, please consult qualified piano technicians (preferably Piano Technician Guild certified) to gain some insight. There is an adage in the piano world that "the more severe a problem, the less likely a layperson or even a player can detect it".. If the price sounds too good to be true (meaning significantly under market value for other similar used pianos), it probably is.
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