Gray Market Pianos/the tally

[Jeannie Grassi]

Hi Dave,
I have seen many gray market Yamahas and Kawais over the years.  There
used to be a store in Seattle that sold only gray market pianos!  A few
have been without problems, but most suffer from loose tuning pins after
a few years.  Many have been touched up cosmetically, so they look good
at first and then later begin to fall apart.  I tune one that was white
first....then black, and now it looks like a Dalmatian.  

The problem with many of these pianos is that it is hard to know what
they have been through, and even harder to predict what will happen.  

Jeannie Grassi, RPT
Associate Editor, Piano Technicians Journal
mailto:jgrassi@silverlink.net 

--bumper sticker

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Dave Davis
Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2003 2:41 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Gray Market Pianos/the tally


List,
So far the Yamaha gray market survey results are:
Western Washington,no problems reported
Southeastern U.S., no problems reported
Las Vegas area, lots of problems (not specified)
Phoenix area, lots of problems (not specified)
Unspecific areas, various pinblock problems in the
1960's 

Hoping more evidence comes forward soon.

You are welcome to e-mail me privately should you not
want to publicly reveal evidence you have observed.  

I, too, want to have an educated answer so as to
provide honest answers to my clients.

Dave Davis
Renton, WA

--- HazenBannister@cs.com wrote:
> Hi list,
>   I agree with this totally,and cannot understand
> how these pianos can just
> fall apart, as I read about on this list,unless it's
> outside on a porch.I 
> service many of these instruments,and have yet to
> see any problems.I'm not 
> disputing these claims,but am just trying to educate
> myself as to,be fair to 
> my customer when questions come up concerning these
> instruments.
> Best,
> Hazen Bannister
> 


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