Yamaha and Kawai have coined the term “Gray Market Pianos” to describe pianos that were bought “New” in another country (usually Japan)and used by the original purchaser. They were bought and imported by a distributor in the USA. Here they are usually graded A+ thru C- according to their condition. This does not apply to the pianos we sell. Ours are rebuilt with all new parts including new pin block, tuning pins, and strings. The actions are rebuilt with all new parts including hammers and shanks.
It has come to our attention that Yamaha and Kawai dealers, both locally and afar, attempting to frighten customers by making reference to “Gray Market” pianos. Customers are told that pianos that are not bought “New” or in “New Condition” cannot maintain their sound quality or be repaired in the future. They are also told that the Manufacturer will not honor the warranty on these pianos. Keep in mind that a piano is considered by the manufacturer to be “New and under Warranty” only to the “Original Owner” all others Traded, Inherited, Sold and Re-Sold are considered “Used.” Piano warranties (most manufacturers) are not transferable. Therefore the only warranty afforded to the buyer of a used piano is that provided by the seller or dealer. It is true that Yamaha doesn’t honor the warranty on these pianos. Neither does it provide a warranty on any used piano sold either by an individual or a dealer.
Concerning the question of these pianos being “Repairable or Restorable”, you should know that parts are available for your Yamaha/Kawai piano. A qualified and experienced piano technician such as Bill Miller, a third generation craftsman, can repair or restore your piano to perform and sound “Like-New.” We have no trouble securing replacement parts for our pianos.
Please see the comments made by other experienced piano technicians below:
What is a gray market piano?
Gray Market pianos, as strange as it sounds, are new and like new Kawai and Yamaha pianos that are purchased in large numbers by used Kawai and Yamaha importers and businessmen. These pianos are found in many homes and dealerships in the U.S. Their prices are attractive and therefore are considered Gray Market by the manufacturers Kawai/Yamaha. The ”authorized dealer” is forbidden by the manufacturer to sell “gray market” pianos these and therefore try to discourage prospective buyers from considering them.
There is no difference in the quality found in these pianos from the instruments sold here in America, no matter what they say. Many piano technicians have personally taken parts, and even complete actions and put them into so-called “Gray Market” pianos, and found no difference in quality.
How can you ensure the quality of these pianos?
Building pianos from the ground up for generations, we have an advantage in experience. We also have the tools, including a moisture meter to test the moisture content in the wood, and a set of tiny weights that weigh in ounces to measure the touch.
For your information about 2 1/2 ounces will depress the key when placed approximately where your fingers go. We also have a bearing gauge to measure the amount of string down/side pressure on the bridges, picture the strings on a guitar or a violin, look at the bridge, as you move it you can change the tone.
Note: At Bill Miller Piano Warehouse we meticulously measure these and other quality factors. As a third-generation piano craftsman, Bill is a tough judge.
Gray Market Piano FAQ
The below, candid FAQs should provide you with information on your piano purchase. The statements made to the contrary by Kawai and Yamaha are born of competitors defeat and nothing else. So here are the facts.
Q: “What are bootleg pianos?”
A: Bootleg pianos are pianos that are trans-shipped into a geographic region by someone other than factory who normally supplies the brand of piano specifically outlined in this document. Because the original factory does not participate in any of the profits gained in these sales they refuse to supply parts and call them “outlaws” when in fact they are simply an expression of the American Free enterprise system. It is called buying and selling, and it can be based on the Yen and the Dollar values at the time of purchase, nothing more, nothing less.
Q: “Why are they in the United States?”
A: Because there is a great demand in this country for used, Japanese-made pianos, while there is an almost non-existent availability of legitimate, U.S.-used Japanese pianos. And they do it to earn an honest buck.
Q: “How do they get here?”
A: It started about 12 years ago when a piano distributor started buying up used inventories in Japan. Most of them were shipped in by containers by businessmen who had previously been in the business of importing other Japanese products. “Bootleg” was the term applied to these products in a joint effort to curtail them by Kawai and Yamaha.
Q: “Why are there so many of them available overseas when I can’t find any here?”
A: Well, first of all it is important to understand that “overseas” refers specifically to Japan. This distinction is made because for many, many decades, Kawai and Yamaha have dominated the Japanese market with virtually no competition from competing nations or manufacturers. Conversely, Kawai and Yamaha pianos have only been sold in the U.S. since the early sixties with a tremendous amount of domestic and foreign competition.
In Japan piano study is mandatory and there are a great many more used pianos there. It stands to reason that far more Kawai and Yamaha pianos are bound to become available in Japan with the kinds of numbers they have produced through the years in Japan. Other contributors to the glut of used Kawai and Yamaha pianos available in Japan include:
1) . . . the resistance to buying a used anything in Japan by Japanese families. Unlike in other areas, the selection and purchase of a family piano is one of the most vital purchases a Japanese family makes — far too important to condescend to buying a used one.
2) . . . Selling a used piano to a Japanese family is difficult While Americans might welcome these discounts, Japanese families often don’t consider it an option. They will buy a new piano before a child is born, and even in cases where the Japanese Family has no furniture, they will buy a new piano for the expected child.
3) . . . trading up. Their success with and dedication to musical studies as a country is far greater than almost anywhere in the world which leads to more trade ups, even if it requires dedicating more space in their small homes than most Americans would ever consider allocating in their living rooms.
4) . . . universities. Unlike in the U.S., practice rooms in Japanese conservatories are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The fierce competition amongst the students along with the limited number of practice rooms available require the practice pianos to be used up to 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These pianos get traded in every one to two years for identical new ones. This process keeps the university’s maintenance down and also helps in the recruiting of new students (with the promise of there being new pianos in the practice rooms). The same thing is taking place in the U.S.
There are few takers for these pianos in Japan, despite the efforts to sell them by reducing their costs to a fraction of a new one. So they get a makeover and get shipped to a market where they can be sold more easily — the U.S. Pianos are sold door to door in Japan, and pianos are sold – not bought!
Q: “Who buys them?”
A: Most often it is the piano stores who do buy them, and for a long time that included Kawai and Yamaha dealers. Kawai and Yamaha are powerful names in the marketplace which represent a large portion of all new pianos sold in the U.S. The standards by which Kawai and Yamaha determine who is granted a dealership limits the number of candidates out there. (There is only one in a particular geographical area) Since it is difficult for a piano store to attract customers into their showroom without the promise of having one of these brands available, “bootleg” pianos become attractive to these dealers.
Compounding this, the availability of legitimate, used Kawai and Yamaha pianos is so scarce that competing dealers are almost forced to carry “bootleg” pianos — even if their business ethics might have encouraged otherwise. Both Yamaha and Kawai put pressure on their dealer networks to buy allocations of new instruments. Yamaha and Kawai strongly resent these pianos and will not even sell spare parts for them.
Q: “How are they different?”
A: For starters, the pianos that are coming in from Japan were designed and manufactured for use in the world wide market. Any statement to the effect that pianos are extremely environmentally-sensitive instruments and in many cases are not capable providing trouble-free service once shipped into a geographic region other than the one for which it was designed is false.
When Yamaha first began importing pianos to the United States, back in the early 1960′s, their engineers were unaware of the level of dryness that existed in certain parts in this country. As a result, some of those pianos suffered loose tuning pins within the first of couple of years.
This caused alarm to both Yamaha and Kawai started making specific models in air conditioned rooms and paid a lot of attention to the proper methods of manufacture. This took place over a period of no more than six or seven years. But now, if you attempt to order a leg, or a string for a model of piano that was not imported into the USA by Yamaha or Kawai in the first place they refuse to back up the product or even sell you a part, they deny any warranty, and inform potential customers that these are badly damaged pianos that will fall apart, don’t buy one. Well, if you bought a used one, you wouldn’t be buying a new one would you. It’s sales hype.
The simple fact is that each and every Yamaha and Kawai piano that comes off the assembly line in Hamamatsu, Japan is built to the same and exacting specifications. They are shipped in sequential serial number order to the company headquarters in the country from whence came the order.
Let it be perfectly clear, all of these pianos are created equal! That holds true whether the piano is new or used. Why the truth is distorted by so many is a total mystery. It only confuses the buying public and casts doubt on the veracity of these two fine manufacturers of world class pianos.
And that’s a fact.
The rule of thumb: If a piano sounds good, looks good, and plays well, and the dealer selling it has a clean record with the Better Business Bureau in your community, buy that piano, and enjoy it for years to come.
Thanks to Dave Carlson of ConcerTek for his research.
