Thanks Paul, and thanks Terry for your detailed reply. I just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something, that it wasn't some sort of one-off special or unusual piano. One of the things that mystifies me most about this work is the sheer variety of pianos, and for example, the myriad little things, like the disparate ways verticals open from the top. Appreciate your help guys, Gary From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Terry Farrell Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2009 10:45 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Yamaha M1? Rough value measured how? $$? Or musical value? I presume dollar value. If that is true, IMHO, once a piano is 40+ years old, it matters little what the model is - even the importance of the manufacturer is generally diminished. And especially in a smaller piano - a console. What matters most is condition - and more-so cosmetic appearance that functional condition (wish that wasn't the case, but for most folks looks talk). My opinion of your description of the appearance and functioning condition of the piano is at least very good. In midwest prices, in a private sale, I'd give a range of $600 at the low end to $1,500 at the high end. I find it not uncommon to see some very nice little pianos go for as little as $500 or $600. And as an example, my son's piano teacher sold her excellent condition 1984 Yamaha P-22 a few years ago for $2K (the P-22 studio upright being quite a bit more instrument than the console). And of course a Dealer would add $1K to those prices if s/he were selling the piano in their store. Hope this helps. Terry Farrell On Sep 17, 2009, at 9:27 AM, Amadeus Piano wrote: Hello all, a customer asked me for a rough value on her piano. It's a small Yamaha console piano and I measured it at 41 in. but I'm pretty sure it's a model M1-looks just like all the M1s I can find pics of online though they are all shown as 42 in. models. The only relevant marking I found was on the bottom board and it was a small handwritten, "M1A7." At least, I'm pretty sure it's an A, but it could be an "O" or "0." The fallboard, knee panel, and sides are marked, "7-10-1." It has the "Made in Japan" label on the back and another label that has been torn off. And the serial number where you'd expect it. It's otherwise unmarked-(i.e., no obvious M1 stencil on the plate or elsewhere). The serial number puts it at 1968 according to Yamaha's site. It's in really good shape. It's satin walnut. Though it hadn't been tuned in many years with the exception of a few bass notes it was only about -6 cents flat across the board. The FAC inharmonicity scale according to my Accutuner was pretty smooth: 5.8/6.1/6 It's a nice sounding little piano if a little twangy at the breaks. I'm trying to come up with a ballpark value but I want to make sure I'm not comparing apples to oranges. And this is my first M1. But I'm worried it might be significantly different than a standard M1. I want to be sure. Is this an M1 variant? Am I reading a model number there or is it something else? And if so, anything unusual about it? I've read that Yamaha made some one-off variants in the past that were in some cases better quality instruments, in other cases, just slightly different. Thanks in advance for any help, Gary -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090917/ce1ba666/attachment.htm>
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