I'm currently looking for new Yamaha GB1 in AZ.
The lowest quote I could get is $8500 + tax (free delivery and tuning)...

As I browsed and checked some topics posted by others, some bought the exact same model w/ $7700 including tax, delivery and tuning.

So I guess the dealer price that I got was not that good deal.

Can anybody suggest how I can approach the dealer?? What should I do? Is $8500 + tax (It will be about $9200.00 still good deal?

Wow, what kind of tax rate do you guys have? I'd be willing to bet this is about the average deal. I know of a dealer in a not too distant large city that sells them for over $10k, plus delivery. On the other side, I'm sure some dealer, somewhere, would sell one for under $8,500.00. Of course, there are some very good, not so well known pianos for for $$$$ less. Good luck.

Thank you for your reply...

We are in Arizona... And sales tax here is about 7.5~8 % I would say... It all differs from product... So I'm not soooo sure exact sales tax..

Well, I saw one msg back in Feb. that somebody posted a msg that he/she bought it w/ $7700 including tax, delivery and tuning.. I sent a private msg asking if he/she can tell me the store information..
But, no reply yet...

Thank you!

Consider yourself lucky to get a quote for that piano at that price. Yamaha has a "lowest advertised" price, for that model, I think it's over the 8500 number. However, if you are there in person and ready to purchase, you can make a deal.

A lot of claims of really low prices, with taxes and delivery are rarely ever witnessed by anyone on the actual invoice. Point is, once people buy something, they always claim they paid less for it and natrually it's worth more.

In truth, your piano price could have been lower, perhaps the service end of that price will surface over the next couple of years as being lower as well. I'll give you a good price on anything that essentially is dropped shipped without any recourse after you sign for the package. Do you want that kind of service? Probably not.

Feel good about your purchase, I have that exact model on the floor with the exact price you paid for it. I trust you'll receive the service that should accompany your sale in the first year or so.

As far as going back to your dealer for a better deal, after the sale? How would like any dealer to call you after the sale and say they needed more money? Otherwise...what? They only wayI recommend that you bring this up with the dealer is if you really want to trade up to perhaps a C1, and get the dealer to bend over on the price.

If you have not purchased yet, I suggest you visit the dealer in person with an already written check for $7700.00 to include everything (delivery, tax, tuning). If he accepts your check, you should be happy. If not, you'll know why, he'll make you a counter offer.

I also recommend you purchase before April 1, 2006.

Here in Kennewick, WA the price of GB1 is $9750 plus 8.3% tax. I was a diehard for this model not until I played it. I was wanting a Yamaha grand , just because it was a YAMAHA and that it was just a GRAND piano. I was very dissapointed with the sound production and touch. A U3 upright which is half the price produced a much richer trebel and thundering bass for its size. I would consider that you look around more not unless they are willing to have it traded in for a C1 or C2 n the future.

BTW that price is very good considering everything else.

ivrier,

Good ear - The GB1 is not a great piano, IMHO. I would rather play on some of the Korean product, personally, especially the Sohmer and Knabe. They may be more money than this model of Yamaha, but then, they are more piano.

Have you played any other pianos in your comparisons? If so, what have you enjoyed?

Rich,

I'm not sure who you are directing the question to but I'll be happy to answer. I bought a Perzina 6'1 grand which I fell in love with the second I put my fingers on the keys. This instrument eminates a beautiful tone and touch. I've heard that their uprights are also very polished. I've own a Baldwin upright from the 70's and needed an upgrade. I could not afford a C3 Yamaha and settled with this. I am very, very happy with it though.

Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestion!!
I well understood your points...
I played Kawai GM10 and Yamaha GB1 only.... I liked Yamaha better somehow... Touch on Kawai was not that good...
My husband and I were debating between those two.
I felt so bad and I just looked for a grand piano without considering sound and tone..
We wanted a grand piano but can't afford anything over than baby grand....

I'll try other upright Yamaha and start all over....But...
We wanted a grand piano so bad...

There are new baby grand pianos out there within your budget. Young Chang, Carl Ebel and Pearl Rivers, all Asian made instruments have an acceptable tone and touch. I used to own a 5 foot Carl Ebel which stayed at home for only 2 days. I was not impressed with its tone. Appreciation of tone and feel is very subjective. A renowned pianist may go for Bosenforer, S2 Yamahas and Steinways which is way beyond my own budget. Casual pianists like myself are happy with low-end pianos which still produce wonderful tones and touch. I personally hae a 6'1 concert Perzina which I LOOOOOOOVVVVVEEEEE!!

Good luck on your hunt and let us know.

regards

I am also a casual pianist and looking for a piano to buy. What do you think of an upright Perzina for 6K? I felt in love with this piano but I never heard of this brand before until I began shopping. I have a limited budget and want to make sure I get the best with my money. I think I may be able to find a Baldwin or a slightly used Yamaha … please advice.

You might just consider an upright piano of higher quality than a baby grand of poor quality.

You may be better served and the tone and action might hold better for the long run.

$6 to $8 thousand can get a very nice upright.

Kawai and Yamaha are making two grades of pianos and both that you mentioned are on the low end of yamaha/kawai quality.

I bought my brand new Yamaha GB1 two monthes ago with totally $7,700. It came in a box. I bought it from the biggest Yamaha dealer in the North America. The dealer is very busy. Its piano installation men deliver and install about 7-9 pianos every day. A tuner used a Pocket PC when he tuned the piano. Is it good or bad?

qcharlie,

It doesn't speak well of the dealer if he delivers a budget piano like the GB1 in a crate! There are issues with ANY piano upon uncrating that simply aren't possible to address in the home at delivery.

If you play well, you will find issues with playability - regulation, voicing, etc. Make sure the dealer addresses this to your satisfaction. If you don't play, consider hiring an independent tech. to look over the piano for you.

Good Luck,

qcharlie

It would be helpful to hear the whole story about how you came to purchase the piano. It would help you in getting your answer about whether you did good or bad.

A few ways to look at this:

1. The "bottom line" view -- are you happy with the piano right now? If you are happy with your piano, you've done good.

2. The "value" view -- sure, your piano come out of a crate and have not received "preparation" before delivery. While this is somewhat common in some parts of Asia, this seems not to be the norm in North America. But you did get it for, say, $1500 less than the other guy who paid $8500+tax=$9200 for a piano that has been taken out of a crate and (we assume) received some preparation. $1500 can buy 1.5 days of a piano technician's time to "prepare" your piano, on your turf and tailored to your requests, if you want a "better/higher performing" piano and don't mind paying the money. It's near certainty that the dealer who sold that $8500+tax piano did NOT spend anywhere near $1500's worth of a technician time to prepare that piano before delivery. (I just cannot imagine any dealer spending that much on "prep" on any piano at this price range.) In this view, you've come out ahead.

3. Now the skepticism -- is that "largest dealer in North America" you bought from legit? Does it has one or more "brick and mortar" retail stores selling new Yamaha? Was your purchase legit? Sometimes, if the price is "too low", people start speculating whether you've bought a "grey market" piano or from a non-authorized dealer (i.e., one who does not have a formal agreement with the Yamaha distributor in the US to represent/sell new Yamaha pianos) who just import crates upon crates of pianos from, say, Asia, and sell one to you? If this is the case, then you might want to look into just how "solid" your warranty is, on whether the warranty would be backed by the factory/distributor. Depends on who you talk to, some will say warranty is very important, some will say it's very unlikely that a new piano would need warranty work. Whether to chance it, that depends on the individual.

Regardless, if you do not play, and would like to use this piano as a practising/learning tool, then the idea of inviting a pianist friend over to play the piano or hiring a piano tech to to spot/correct any problem is a good one, assuming you are willing to spend some $$$ to hire a piano technician to correct any problems that might be there. If you're already sure you don't want to spend any more money on the piano, then just keep it positive and be happy that you paid a lower price than the other guy, and enjoy.

My local competitor (Yamaha) talks to me in regular basis. Today we were talking about this particular thread.
We believe that as much as this Forum had helped the piano industry, also damages the piano business.
Helping consumers find a reasonable price, it is absolutely fair. On the other hand is damaging to the industry when prices are recklessly quoted on line.
In general the mark-up in the piano industry is fairly low, when is taking in consideration the cost of the goods and by comparison to many other industries such as computers, electric appliances etc.
This Forum by now had already built a level of credibility and some consumers get frustrated thinking it is common to get certain price for a piano.
There should be a way in order to moderate price issues.
Just like when somebody uses obscene language.

The market *does*.

So go, check the market.....

Norbert

Well, this is logical and old news.
Nonetheless we cannot deny the internet had already added a whole new dimension to the industry. For good or for bad?

I have my suspicion on how legit the price is, but the way I look at it, the faster the whole industry move towards transparent pricing, the better. The Internet will push you there anyway, doesn't really matter whether it's this website or other websites that do the pushing.

A "suspiciously low" price can wreak havoc only if there's no other credible data point to show that the "suspiciously low" price is an anomaly. If every one shows his real prices, then people can better tell whether a "low" price is "suspiciously low" or not.

Take a row of numbers:

6, 7, 6, 7, 5, 7, 7, 2, 6, 6, 7, 5, 6, 7

Immediately you see that "2" is "suspiciously low," and you would proceed with caution when some one quote you this number when you can see the other numbers are in the 5~7 range.

But if the row of numbers look like:

x, x, x, x, 5, x, x, 2, x, x, x, x, x, 7

and you have no idea what those x's are, then when you're quoted the number "2", you don't know whether "2" is "suspeciously low" or "7" is "cut-throat high." You just don't know where the norm is. That's where the number "2" can do some damage and make the "7" look worse than it really is.

So my response to any worry about "reckless" online price quoting is simple -- counter it with abundant quotings of REAL prices, and let the truth set you free.

Unfortunately, if this site didn't exist, pricing could be found elsewhere. I always research before spending money. I'm not looking for the lowest price, but the best features for the money. The cheapest price is usually more expensive in the long run. Prep on an inexpensive piano is usually confined to a pitch raise, ease sticky keys, and quickly fix anything that absolutely needs fixing. Action regulation is rarely done, same for voicing. A quick prep is all the stores have money for, and that's all the techs get paid for.

Good post Ax.

We've been here many times. In the past, the plurality opinion seems to have gravitated toward full disclosure of all circumstances if you are going to reveal a price you paid.

Simply putting out a screaming headline: HEY, I JUST BOUGHT MY NEW STEINBRENNER FOR 8,000 BUCKS is a guaranteed way of earning a sceptical and usually hostile reaction. Saying something like that is a form of troll behavior.

Eliminating all discussion of price would drive a lot of good people away. It would eliminate one of the good features of this forum. But if you are going to talk about price paid, please also give the circumstances, such as how long a piano had been on the floor, or whether it had a ding, or in this case was it just out of the crate. qcharlie revealed exactly what he needed to say. The piano had no prep. That accounts in part for the larger discount he received. I'm sorry if this information gives some dealers indigestion, but it is a step toward transparency in pricing.

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Think that whatever price or discount is negotiated has little bearing on the prep work that is done (or not done) by many dealers.
One is better off paying a tech out of pocket to do it at home to ensure that the work is actually done.

In case of new Yamaha, do dealers voice/prep them for the showroom display?

According to Larry Fine's book, new Steinways undergo major repair when dealers receive them from the factory, new M&Hs get major voicing due to amature voicing done in the factory, but it says Yamaha needs no work. If it needs no work, why would anyone work on them?

Can any Yamaha dealer have anything to say on this??? I am really curious!