Grey Market pianos

[Don Mannino]

Carol,

The best definition I can give for gray market pianos is:

A piano made outside of the United States which has been imported to the US separately from the manufacturer's own distribution channels.

Some are school pianos from the Yamaha and Kawai music schools in Japan, others are simply pianos which have been purchased overseas and are being resold in the US.  At various times there have been gray market Steinway (Hamburg), Bechstein, Bösendorfer, you name it.  Currently we are seeing a lot of used Japanese pianos coming to the US.

There is no regular pattern of reconditioning or not - some pianos are completely as-is, scratched, beat up, etc. Others are rebuilt, restrung, or reconditioned to some degree.

I hope this helps.

Don Mannino RPT

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org 
> [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf
> Of Carol R. Beigel
> Sent: Monday, September 20, 1999 7:40 PM
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Grey Market pianos
> 
> 
> Sorry to ask this, but I just spent two hours looking for 
> something in my
> Pianotech archives and can't find it.  I really need this to 
> explain to a
> dealer exactly just what these pianos are.
> 
> Someone gave a description of Grey or Gray market pianos - 
> maybe Jim Harvey?
> or Don Manino?  and are these U1 and U3 uprights really from 
> the Japanese
> school system?
> 
> Please email my privately if you all are tired of hearing about this!
> 
> Carol Beigel
> Greenbelt, Maryland
> 
>