Piano

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Christ thats expensive.... I suppose "thats Japan".

[Markie 0]

I was looking at some Yamaha grands last week while I was in Sapporo. Just out of curiousity, not really looking to buy. However, I thought it was funny that the models that I saw which were also available in Hong Kong were more expensive in Japan than in Hong Kong!

[Ocean11 0]

Funny ... NOT

[sunrise 0]

what kind of price difference? Might be cheaper in Tokyo, but perhaps not much... Of course if you went to a Yamaha shop everything there is marked up and can be got cheaper elsewhere.....

[Markie 0]

The prices were generally about 15% more expensive there than in Hong Kong. It wasn't a Yamaha shop, but I remember the prices were also pretty high up at the Yamaha shop I visited in Ginza last year but I can't remember what they were compared to the shops I saw in Sapporo.

Also, in Hong Kong, when people buy Yamahas, they usually go to the Hong Kong sole agent instead of other smaller retail outlets. The other retailers usually sell other brands or 2nd hand models. Do you mean that in Japan people usually buy from other retailers? Do they also give the same service and warranty guarantees?

[Ocean11 0]

It arrived today and I must say, the house feels much better furnished with a handsome black upright in the parlour.

 

It came with a summer cover, a winter cover, and a metro gnome. The summer cover is a sort of anti-macassar doily which is OK for when H11 plays his risu-odori tunes, but I will have to take it off to play blues piano as it really doesn't go.

 

I hear that H11's teacher is a young thing with starched stand-up collars on her perfectly ironed blouses so I rather fancy going along for a lesson or two (in my flipflops of course).

[sunrise 0]

O11, no doubt about it, pianos make great pieces of furniture. I bet you now feel a bit on the distinguished side. Have fun with it! And don't forget to get some cigarette burns on the keys to make for authentic blues playing. When I was still living at home in my teen years we got rid of the childhood piano, which was a german import (upright) with lovely carved woodwork to get something that would hold its tuning. Someone bought it, telling us they were going to paint it white and use it merely as a visual decoration for housing magazines or some such thing (it certainly wasn't playable without a major overhaul that would have cost more than just buying another one).

 

Markie, I've never bought a piano in Japan, so I don't know the scene re distributors, but the guy I was renting from was importing and selling New York Steinway concert grands and he told me the yakuza had been giving him a hard time cos they didn't want him to be the sole distributor, but I think he somehow won out (probably cos he knew the NYS guys personally and trained as a technician with them in NY). Personally I hate the way the techs set up the yamahas here - and many other brands too, they tend to set the sound up to be brilliant and glassy, with not a lot of soul. I don't know why they do that....

[veronica 2]

All this talk has got me thinking about getting one too. A bit pricey though. Maybe an keyboard might be the way to go.

[Ocean11 0]

We thought about an electronic piano but;

- They're nearly as big as a normal piano

- They aren't nearly so nice to play

- They still cost a lot

- And they have low resale value (because they break)