<div dir="ltr">Bruce,<div>If indeed your environment is "very kind" you may not have much to worry about. </div><div>What do I see in Billerica, MA, about 25 miles inland? Soundboards that develop cracks during their first winter stateside. Very low pin torque.</div>
<div>One customer bought a Yamaha C5 that was rebuilt by one of the import outfits, in TN or KY I think. Pin torque was monstrous in July just after he bought it; bridges and soundboard developed cracks as soon as the heat came on in the Fall, and pinblock torque took a sudden dive.</div>
<div>These pianos were not outfitted with Dampp-Chaser systems, despite my warnings to the proud new owners.</div><div>Are some of the grey market pianos OK? Yes, but the failure rate is unacceptably high.</div><div>Patrick Draine<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 5:07 AM, Bruce Browning - The Piano Tuner <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:justpianos@our.net.au">justpianos@our.net.au</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
David,<br>
With respect to the "grey market" pianos, people on this list keep saying<br>
"coming apart", or "falling apart". Where are the specifics, as in my 10 -<br>
12 years of servicing these in this country I have only seen minor<br>
problems which can easily be rectified, such as well worn key bushings,<br>
and the inevitable hammer butt loops (and aren't these problems common to<br>
locally supplied models as well?). Admittedly the environment I work in is<br>
very kind, but what should we be looking for? </blockquote></div></div></div>