<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4134.600" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT><FONT size=2>At first I thought that all = grey market Yamahas were old school pianos. While in Japan last month, I had the = opportunity to talk to a lot of Japanese techs. A few things I found interesting.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Most Japanese tehnicians work for a store (usually = Yamaha). They are under <STRONG>big pressure</STRONG> to sell pianos as well as = service them. I was told by one of them that when the piano gets to be 25 or 30 = years old, they have to sell a new one. They do take the ''old'' piano as a = trade-in, but the given value is (are you ready for this) $0.00. They just haul it = back to the store as a favor to the owners. Then of course, it is sold to a = broker that has the mandate to have the piano out of the country = a.s.a.p.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>So I see competition between Yamaha Japan, Yamaha = U.S. and Yamaha Canada. But all under the dark image of ''Grey market'' or as = they say in Canada ''Wet pianos''. This market will continue to flourish as long as = there is pressure to have 30 years old pianos replaced in Japan.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Now I don't recommend these in Canada because I've = seen pianos loose their playability because of our really dry winters, but it's = really hard to enlighten the prospective buyer who goes shopping for a Yamaha and = gets to select between a new and a gray one.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>But just try to imagine how piano sales would do if = we were to adopt such a policy for old klunkers here in North = America...</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Marcel Carey, RPT<BR>(819) 564-0447<BR><A href="mailto:mcpiano@globetrotter.net">mcpiano@globetrotter.net</A></FO= NT></DIV></BODY></HTML>