<html> <body> Bruce, These are cheap pianos which are sold in the shipping crate they came from China in.  The parts are loosely assembled.  Figure at least 20 hours labor to go through the all the action at least three times to get it working properly.  Insist on the customer opening the crate at least two days (if it wasn't set up on its legs) before you come to acclimate.  Plan on easing keys and working on a lot of tight action centers. OK beginner pianos when compared to the century old pianer that is falling apart in the corner.  These are essentially priced as unprepped pianos and the customer has to plan on paying the technician the going rate ~$1500.00+ to turn them into a working "instrument".  If the customer is willing to think longevity, quality etc. they would be far better off buying a better piano.  The new Petrofs offer great bang for the buck (but may need more prep then the dealer does to be as steller as they can be). I've been called in to tune a totally unprepped Steinway B by a proud owner.  When I tried to play it after tuning I stopped.  Told the owner it need a complete regulation to make it playable (everything was wrong with it, had to fix some dampers so I could tune).  The owner was flabbergasted.  The salesperson told them they were buying the best piano on the market and he never called me back.  I pity the poor kids trying to learn how to play piano on that dead Mack truck.  Not too many factories prepping their own pianos these days. Andrew Anderson At 02:05 PM 11/7/2006, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">I ran across an ad for Suzuki pianos some time ago.  I noticed recently that they are being sold by Costco.   Does anyone have any experience with these instruments??  Can you provide some insight regarding their overall quality, tone, etc?   Do we know anything about who's making them?  And, thru what process??   My experience with Costco is that they usually try to offer a "little better" product.  But, this is the first time I've ever seen full-size grand pianos available thru such a mass-marketing system.   Curious .....     -bruce   Bruce D. Rempe LaPorte City, IA  </blockquote></body> </html>