[pianotech] Grey Market Yamaha/Kawai

[David Renaud]

      I have had to juice a dozen grey market yamahas with ca glue, seen a plethora of sound board cracks, seen a soundboard peeling off the rim(U3) , seen frames coming apart. I have almost never had  To deal with these same problems on a Yamaha "built for this market" I have also  Seen some intestine plastic parts, flanges, plastic damper levers etc. on Asian yamahas beyond anything I have seen on north American yamahas.

      I am of the opinion that most sites I have seen saying they are ok are connected to people  selling them. One seller of grey market yamahas here produced a sticker "certified for north American climate" they put in all these pianos. They can say anything hey want, I still end up stuck trying to fix them.......lots of them.....lots of problems.

       PLUS , Yamaha will not sell parts for them. They do want the Serial number before they will fill out an order.......good luck with that complication in the future.


                                      David Renaud
                                       RPT
                                      Ottawa, Canada.

                                      

Sent from my iPad

On 2012-08-30, at 9:16 AM, Jim Ialeggio <jim at grandpianosolutions.com> wrote:

> The Grey Market is new to me...it is a price point that reflects some of my current client's attitude towards spending money, even though some of them have plenty of bucks they are sitting on.
> 
> I Did some research last night on what grey market means, and I must say, that the info that seems the most credible,  matches my original gut instinct.  That is, with the exception of the very first yamaha introductions to the US in the early 70's, that the line about RH levels at the fabrication being inappropriate to RH levels in this country (wherever in this country's wildly varying climate you mean) is more about protecting piano sales for new dealers (and of course the manufacturer) rather than a degrading functionality issue.
> 
> This especially as all manufacturers worldwide, including Kawai, (with the exception Yamaha I think) only run one RH level at their plants manufacturing for worldwide distribution.  RH control is an end user's concern, to dealt with as you would a new US made or anywhere made instrument.
> 
> So, my question for those of you who have been around here longer than I, and have seen more of the "in-the-field" track record on these pianos is, particularly in the Northeast, but not exclusively, what is your experience about the actual functionality of these post 1970's grey market yamaha/kawais. Do the RH concerns create function issues beyond normal in service RH effects we would expect to see in any piano, or is it mostly or all manufacturer/ new piano sales inspired fear mongering.
> 
> Jim Ialeggio
> 
> -- 
> Jim Ialeggio    
> jim at grandpianosolutions.com
> 978 425-9026
> Shirley Center, MA
>