Sorry if this double-posts. It appeared to go to kam544 instead of pianotech. >John, > >Thanks for the gray-market info. However this site appears to be a rehash >of "Kawai's" stealth-campaign against gray-market pianos. In fact, it even >includes the "link" back to Kawai's web-site! > >The original question was "how can we tell for sure whether a piano was a >gray-market ?" The only thing that this page told us to look for in >identifying a "gray-market" piano was 2 pedals, instead of 3 pedals. While >this is true, we really need more help identifying those gray-market pianos >manufactured after Kawai and Yamaha stopped making 2 pedal jobs (i.e. late >1980's and all 1990's). If you have any other specific identifiable clues >to help us identify gray-markets, (especially the more modern ones), then >please share them with us. > >BTW: While I don't dispute the problems associated with much older >"gray-market" pianos (ie 1950's and'60's Japanese pianos that fell apart >here), I still doubt that the modern gray-market pianos are as bad as that >web-site claims, or Kawai wouldn't still be shipping used Japanese-market >Kawai pianos to the USA. Has anyone else here found evidence of the >"catastrophic" claims that this site makes on the newer generation (1980's >and '90's) "gray-market" pianos here in the US? > >Although it is true that these pianos may not have been here long enough to >exhibit catastrophic problems, isn't also true that if they were brough here >early enough in their lifespan that they don't have as many of the problems >associated with the Japanese climate? For example, one of my biggest >complaints about old 2 pedal gray-market pianos is the condition of their >strings. RUST-city! Their soundboards look horrible too from compressions >ridges. > >On the other hand, if I have an Asian client (one who I personally know that >doesn't use much A/C, so no over-generalizations here, ok) who wants to buy >an almost new "straight-A" grade gray-market piano, (for quite a bit less than >half of the new retail price I might add), and the piano passes all >inspections (especially adequate crown, downbearing, and pin-torque), then >why am I supposed to "trash the piano" and fail the inspection just because >of this "rumor" campaign? Come on guys, Japan and Hawai aren't the only >humid places on earth! Austin, Texas is a river town. Have you ever seen >what living in a river town does to new Steinway soundboards??? Compression >ridges that look like broken dried pasta noodles! > >If on the other hand, I can find a steady supply of used (sometimes nearly >new) pianos that were designed for humid climates (ie Japanese >gray-markets), and I have a client that won't pay for a new piano, and >doesn't use A/C anyway, don't you think that a nearly new 3-pedal >"gray-market" Yamaha or Kawai might just be the best possible solution? > >Yeh, and Japan's snow is supposed to be different than everyone elses too... > >Fact guys, I want facts. > >-Brian Henselman, RPT > >-----Original Message----- >From: kam544@flash.net <kam544@flash.net> >To: musicmasters@worldnet.att.net <musicmasters@worldnet.att.net> >Date: Tuesday, September 21, 1999 9:55 PM >Subject: Re: Grey Market Pianos > > >> Try again without the quotation marks, Brian. >> >>>Sorry John, but the hyperlinks listed below were dead. Please post >another >>>link when you get the page on-line. >>> >>>-Brian Henselman >> >>"http://www.cordogans.com/bootlegs.htm" >> >> >> >
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