'Grey Market' Yamahas- again

[John Woodrow]

In a message dated 7/26/98 10:14:37 PM, John.Woodrow@aus.dupont.com wrote:

<<2. that the 'grey market' U1's, U3's, and
C3's were originally built to a lower quality.>>

Jim Bryant replied:
>>
 These thingees might well be "seasoned for the market" but which US market
are they seasoned for? The South East Coast (Georgia, Florida South
Carolina,Alambama, Lousiana which are all hot and very humid year round)?
The East Coast of Texas (hot, humid and stormy)? 
West Texas (hot, dry, dusty)? The Plains States (windy, hot, kinda humid
summers, dry cold winters)?    While instruments might be tailored to a
specific climate would we not use a piano that was built for New York in
Florida?  What percentage of instruments would be built for each of the
numerous climate zones in the US?
  While climate specific construction might be desirable, from a practical
standpoint it is almost wasted effort in a Country as large as the US where
the climate varies so much from littoral zone to the low desert to the high
desert to the mountanous areas of the East coast and the Mountain ranges of
the West Coast, not to mention the great Plains States.  Saying you build a
climate specific piano might sound nice from a practical standpoint but.......
one piano shipped to LA might go to any of these zones, so it winds up as
an exercise of dubious value. Doesn't it?
<<

Jim,
I rang a senior marketing person in Yamaha today (not in the US) to get
their input.  They said quote "we used to import the wet pianos, then we
changed to the dry pianos, now I think we changed again, but I'm not to
certain whether we are bringing in the wet or dry ones at the moment.......
 Anyhow, it doesn't make any difference",unquote.

>>
  As Del said, in the early days there were problems with some of the
Yamahas imported to the US, but in my opinion the problems of that era had
little to do with specific climatological conditions and more to do with
specific construction practices across the line.  In any event the company
responded promptly and decisively and thereby gained the excellent
reputation they enjoy today and this perversely contributes to the value of
these "grey market" thingees.
  As for "originally built to a lower quality."; anyone who holds this
opinion is not very well versed in Japanese  pride of ownership.  There may
be a difference in materials selected for different destinations but I can
place no credence in this "lower quality" assertion.
<<

When I put the question of "lower quality" to the Yamaha marketing person,
the reaction was exactly what I had expected.  Basically the response was
that Yamaha pride themselves on their brand reputation and would NEVER do
ANYTHING to jeopardise that image.  They would never consider putting their
name on a second class quality piano designed "to only last a couple of
years" in the Japanese school system and be junked as is commonly stated on
the Net.  

The above points by Jim and the Yamaha rep jive with what I would expect to
be the case.  The totally illogical notion that Yamaha would stick second
class pianos in front of all their future Japanese customers is what got me
started on discovering the facts on this topic.  

Regards,
John Woodrow

Email:		Woodroj@syvax.email.dupont.com
Telephone:	61-2-99236103
Fax:		61-2-99236099