<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> Friends, This seems like the answer to me (see below).  If other manufacturers can make pianos in eastern hemisphere countries that have no problems here, couldn't Yamaha do the same?  And of course some Yamaha pianos are made in Japan for the American market and do just fine.  Why not make them *all* that way?  Would it cost significantly more or something? We already know that there are problems with some American-made pianos of certain vintages also -- Teflon bushings and vertigris in Steinways, breaking flange cords in Yamaha, hard Corfam in Baldwins, etc.  Wouldn't it be best on the part of Yamaha just to let piano technicians and potential owners know that the gray market Yamahas are likely to be problematic and let it at that?  Refusing to sell parts for any reason that I can think of isn't likely to do any good when it comes to public relations. Regards, Clyde HazenBannister@cs.com wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE>It seems with technology the way it is,you could build a multi-country piano.(Especially Yamaha)</blockquote> </html>