Ok. After playing > 75 pianos, > 6 stores, hearing > 5 salesmens' speals, I'm considering buying a used Yamaha G1 made in 1973. Sounds "good enuf"; the idea of seaching until I find the piano I "love" is an eternal impossibility. This price is right (< $9000). question from you more informed pianonisimos: is there something I need to be concerned about a 35 year old Yamaha G1 grand? All the Yamaha dealers tout how these pianos will hold their value, tone, & tune forever.

That sounds very expensive to me, for a G1 that is that old. Did you get the serial number and run it through Yamaha's web site to verify its age and that it was made for North America?

Our local store has a brand new GC1 and the sticker is 11k, so I'm pretty sure they could be bargained down from there.

Those claims are impossible. Although I have an affinity for that model (had one as a teenager made in '82), it would be worth maybe half that amount unless significant updating took place (action, strings). Otherwise, you may want to budget for future work if you plan on playing it a lot.

Way too much for a 1973 G1 - even if it had been completely reworked (which I doubt).

You might want to keep looking. You can do better !!

Thanks. Agreed. The owner & I haven't started negotiating yet. But, other than the price, what should I be wary of in this older Yamaha?

These early G1(s)were decent pianos but 37 years old is getting up there for an all original Asian piano. If I recall, the early G1 did not have duplex scaling and the case styling was of the later lesser quality Yamaha GH1 design as for the ferrule legs and different music rack. As terminaldegree stated as it being worth"about half that much" that is being overly generous in it's realistic value assessment.
How negociable do you think the seller is ? "You want 9K,I can offer you 3K". "What,you want me to get out!Does that mean you are not considering my offer ?

That price is really excessive. A dealer nearby had a Yamaha sale and they had a GC1 for $8995.00. They only had black. The wood colors were $9995.