Imported used pianos

[Gregory Torres]

List:

I worked for a dealer in St Pete, Fl.,  that bought truckloads of these
pianos from a wholesaler in Japan. They were, as we say, different "grades"
of pianos that were in use in schools, etc.

We never experienced any of the problems with these pianos like them falling
apart from drying out or anything remotely related to humidity or dryness. I
think because the Florida climate is "tropical" enough that drying out just
was not a problem. But I do believe that it would be a BIG mistake to send
one of these instruments anywhere it will experience great seasonal changes
like extreme cold and dryness to hot and humid.

Amazingly, some of these pianos were very nice and didn't even need a floor
tuning after coming a few thousand miles by boat and container truck.

If anything, the only negative was working for the store and not being able
to convince them to spend just a little more on the repairs and prep needed
to bring some of the lesser "grade"  pianos up to a higher level of
performance. It was a shame to see some of these instruments go out the door
with the customer thinking they got a great deal on a "used" Yamaha or Kawai
when they really got a piano which really needed to be re-built or at least
re-conditioned.

Regards,
Greg Torres


-----Original Message-----
From: JIMRPT <JIMRPT@aol.com>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Sunday, December 07, 1997 10:17 AM
Subject: Re: Re: Imported used pianos


but if a
>piano made for the NA market spends its first few years in FL, or TX, or
CA,
>and then is taken to the Midwest or the plains in Canada I believe it will
>exhibit the same characteristics as those imported from the Domestic
Japanese
>market, IMHO.