Grey Market pianos

[Brian Henselman]

Hi Tom!

What if your client is looking at a privately owned piano, the price is
right, the piano is gorgeous, and the owner has 5 other people scheduled to
look at it if your client drags their feet?  We don't always have the serial
number in advance of an inspection, and calling Yamaha only works during
their business hours.  E-mail can take quite a while too.

I called Bill Brandon, last week and posed the same question to him ("How
can we tell for sure if a piano is or is NOT a gray-market?").  He said that
Yamaha is working on putting  up a serial number cross-reference guide for
technicians on the Yamaha web-site.  Again this will only work if we have
prior access to the serial number, or internet access during the inspection.

I too am looking for "tips" in spotting gray-market pianos (i.e. Wim Blees'
tip about the H before the serial number on Japanese market U-1's).  Perhaps
the best resource for us would be carry a hard-copy printout of Yamaha's
cross-reference guide (if and when Yamaha finishes it).  It's just a
thought.

Lookin' forward to the Christmas, PTG chapter dinner!  See ya there.
-Brian Henselman


-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas D. Seay, III <t.seay@mail.utexas.edu>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Tuesday, September 21, 1999 9:48 AM
Subject: Re: Grey Market pianos


>>No, I'd like to see a post telling us how to advise dealers and
>>prospective buyers just how they - or even how we - can tell a grey
>>market piano!  Let's hear it.
>>
>>--Wally Wilson, RPT
>>
>>
>
>Wally,
>
>That's easy. Since most of these grey market pianos are manufactured
>either by Yamaha or Kawai , get the serial number and call or e-mail
>the manufacturer. They can tell you immediately.
>
>Tom
>
>
>Tom Seay
>Piano Tech Office
>School of Music
>The University of Texas at Austin
>(512) 232-2072
>mailto:t.seay@mail.utexas.edu
>
>
>