Yamaha "Gray Market"

[N&B Brickman]

Folks,
	I could use a little information.  I am in the Washington, D.C., 
area and have a set of customers that have purchased from the Yamaha or 
Kawai used "Gray Market" and have been enjoying their pianos for many 
years.  I notice no problems when I service them, and yet the recent 
posts make them sound inferior.  What specifically am I missing about 
the "seasoning" that is done for the North American market?
		Norman Brickman

----Original Message Follows----
Date: Sat, 03 Jan 2004 10:17:02 -0800
From: "pianolover 88" <pianolover88@hotmail.com>
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: RE: Used Yamaha U1
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the VAST majority of these Imported pianos are indeed "Gray Market", and 
were NOT intended for sale/use in the North American market. While ALL
U1's 
are made in Japan, the pianos sold by authorized Yamaha dealers here are 
"seasoned" for the North American market. Make sure you get the serial 
number of the particular U1 or other yamaha model, then go to the
Official 
yamaka website and input the serial number. It will tell you quickly
what 
you're dealing with. Go here:
http://www.yamaha.com/pianoserials/index.asp

Good luck.

Terry

----Original Message Follows----
From: "marc and tina" <marc_and_tina@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Subject: Used Yamaha U1
Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2004 05:10:52 -0600

Hello All,

I am in the market for a home piano and the Yamaha U1 floats to the top
of 
my list.  I'm seeing a lot of refurbished U1's on the market that was 
manufactured in the 1970's.  I was wondering if someone could shed some 
light on why there are so many used U1's available from the 1970's? 
Should 
I avoid these or focus on buying a U1 built sometime later?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Christina