Grey market pianos are not only the Yamaha brand, but any pianos brought into this country designed to be sold in a foreign market. In Yamaha's case, Japanese people don't buy used goods - they trade up and buy new pianos. Therefore, there is a tremondous supply of used Japanese pianos, both Yamaha and Kawai, sitting in Japan with no market. Americans will buy anything used if they think the price is right. There are few used Japanese pianos (designed for the North American climate) in the US where there is a tremendous market for used pianos. Anyone can set up a piano store, buy a cargo container of these used, grey market pianos, and say they have Yamaha or Kawai pianos for sale. The American public now sees two different stores with the same brand advertised in the window, and can't tell the difference. Here in our neighborhood, the grey market dealer is 3 blocks from the "official" Yamaha Dealer. If for instance the Yamaha dealer is selling new U1 (professional model studio piano) pianos for $6200, and the grey market U1s are priced at $3000, and a brand new P22 (really nice console piano) may sell for $3700. A good technician should not tell people how to spend their money, but be able to make a statement about "value". New Yamaha pianos come with a warranty, are delightful to play, hold a solid tuning and will give a family a lifetime of fairly trouble-free service. It can also be pointed out, that in any consumer purchase of this nature, one either spends the money up front on quality, or eventually spends it on service and repair fees as well as suffers the aggravation and remorse. Since the Washington DC area is very transient and cosmopolitan, I get to see a lot of foreign-made pianos. People buy pianos in their hometowns, or on foreign service assignments, and bring them along to DC. I can't say I have ever seen one work right during the winter, or be problem free. Yes, they do have that "mellow" melodios sound (sometimes) but somewhere, they are falling apart or won't hold a tuning or regulation. I will admit to being more of a piano pediatrician these past 12 years, and my conclusion is you get what you pay for! Most Americans would not teach their kids to ride on a bicycle with flat tires, but it is unbelievable what they come up with for their children to "just learn" to play the piano. The local "asian" children come home from school, are supervised by a parent or grandparent, do their homework, practice on their new piano, and take karate lessons. The "american" children come home from school, are supervised by a nanny or housekeeper, watch cartoons on TV, and maybe or maybe not practice their piano lessons on some used, crummy spinet or such, and their parents wonder why they aren't move interested in music! Even when I was a kid, my elementary school had a full-time gym teacher. We had a music teacher come for an hour once a week to teach us singing, and a band teacher that came for an hour once a week. Somehow, I don't think much has changed. It's a question of values. Carol Beigel >From: Cameron Jacobi <harlip58@yahoo.com> >Reply-To: pianotech@ptg.org >To: pianotech@ptg.org >Subject: Re: Re: grey market pianos >Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 16:50:13 -0700 (PDT) > > >Thank you, Jim. Now, is Yamaha aware of and/or in >control of where these are pianos are being sold, or >is this operation completely out of their hands or >control, or is that another grey area?--I'm just >curious. > > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger. >http://im.yahoo.com/ _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.
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