Gray Market Yamahas

[Brian Henselman]

Ok, your point is what?  It's a 1955 piano.  How many 9 foot grands don't
need $6,000 or more of work after 44years of use.  Yeah, for $17k they were
ripped off.  But why does this disparage "gray-market" pianos?  The dealer
is at fault here!  Japan is simply one source of used pianos.  This church
could have been just as easily ripped off with a worn out USA market Yamaha.

My point is: junk is junk (regardless where it comes from).  However, just
because it was a "Japanese" market piano, doesn't mean that it was junk just
because it came from the "gray-market".  This piano is worn out and deserves
a full scale restoration.  Steinway model D's get the works around here
after only 20 years of service, so what makes you think that a 44 year old
Yamaha wouldn't need restoration as well?

I'm trying to differentiate between old, (1950's, '60s, and '70s 2 pedal
jobs) from the nearly new 3 pedal Yamaha "gray-market" used piano that is
available today (one that may actually be a straight -A grade piano).  I
don't mind hearing about problems with old gray-market pianos.  I find this
information fascinating.  However, try to put the source of the problem into
proper perspective.  Would a USA-market Yamaha 9 foot grand be that much
better off after 44 years of hard use?  Maybe, but don't you think that
Yamaha has made a HUGE improvement in all of their products (USA market, and
Japanese), since 1955?

>From what I've heard, USA market Yamahas from this vintage were just as bad
as the gray-market pianos. (Actually, were there even any true USA market
Yamaha's from this vintage yet?  If not then, all Yamaha's from this era
were Japanese-market, so can you even call them "gray-market?")  In the case
of a 1955 vintage Yamaha concert grand, the problem does not appear to be
limited to which market the piano was originally exported (US vs Japan).

Cheers,
Brian Henselman, RPT

-----Original Message-----
From: Wimblees@AOL.COM <Wimblees@AOL.COM>
To: Pianotech@ptg.org <Pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Saturday, September 18, 1999 8:55 AM
Subject: Gray Market Yamahas


>Not to beat an old horse to death, but yesterday I had another run in with
a
>gray market Yamaha. This was a 1955 9 foot piano in a church. They church
>bought it from an outfit in Louisiana for $17,000. The only good thing
about
>it was the ivory keytops. The hammers were flat, and they had sprayed gold
>over the pin area, so the pins were corroded, and starting to slip. The
trap
>work was also falling apart.
>
>In our discussions about these instruments, besides the fact that some of
>them are falling apart, one of the other drawbacks is that the dealers
>selling these things do not want to, or don't have the ability to, prepare
>these instruments. As I said, the hammers on this one were flat, which
caused
>a lot of strings to break, and there was virtually no sound coming out of
the
>piano. Of course this church thought they were getting a bargain. The
>minister was not too happy when I told him it will cost another $6000 to
make
>it right.
>
>Willem Blees
>
>