One of my daughters and family live in the States, presently in Phoenix while her husband studies there. I'm visiting them from Australia arriving Sat. 5th March.

I want to buy and have virtually immediately available a Yamaha P155 plus decent wheeled gig bag, pedal and earphones. Google is not much help for Phoenix web-savvy (or any other) music stores, and I don't know which chains are prompt and reliable for delivery.

Also, about $1000 seems to be about standard for the piano alone from the chains. Should I expect a main street Phoenix shop to match this? How much seems reasonable for the package?

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Guitar Center should be your best bet. I think you'll find phone number etc. from google if you put the name of that store in. It may be cheaper to order online because of tax for one thing but if you emailed a few shops (same day music is in nevada i think) and make an offer based on past sale prices at online stores (try 960 for the p155) you might be able to get it for that and probably for the 1000 you mention with no added amount. It comes with a pedal by the way, not just a little plastic one that is. The stand intended for this model is about 100. but will ensure the piano is at the right height which X-stands don't do (they all seem to put it a few inches too high even at their lowest level) ---of course the biggest online store is probably musician's friend.

Look at the URL below. Notice the part about beating any price. It's pretty much true, they will if you can find a web page with a better price. They have computers in the store to verify. I would call them first about stock. the web page says "50 parking spaces" which is very small for a GC.
http://gc.guitarcenter.com/locations/store.cfm?store=152

The other big chain music stor is "sam ash" and I see they have a location on Glendale AZ. Not far away

But do expect to pay local taxes on top of advertised price. I don't know the rate there but figure something under 10%

But if you absolutely must have it and don't have time to shop why not order it in advance from a US on-line seller and have to shipped to the location you will be staying at. two day shipping is not all that expensive.

Wheeled flight cases that will survive being checked as airline baggage are never cheap. They can cost half as much as a P155. What you might do is keep the piano in its factory box and have it shipped home. Try googling for a "ups store" If you shipping it in the factory box, it would need another box to go over it. UPS Stores can handle that.

The P155 will be easy to find but good wheeled flight cases may not be stocked in the smaller stores. You may have to order it. But a soft wheeled gig bag is not so hard to find but they don't work for shipping in anything but your own car.

Thanks to you both for good advice. California must be the friendly state!

I've had excellent service from Sam Ash and will pick up a P155 on arrival in Glendale for $950.

Re stand, maybe a fold-up, table-style (ie not X shaped) metal one would be more practical for moving, as well as cheaper? What do you think?

A soft, wheeled gig bag is all I need. I'm going to leave the piano in the States with my daughter for her children. An SKB KB88 seems to be the best I can find, but is about $160.

Finally, any ideas on reasonable headphones up to $100 that cut out ambient noise and sound OK ?

Thanks again
.

For my P155 I bought last May a QuikLok T20 stand (goes down to 21.75"):
http://www.amazon.com/Quik-T-20BK-Keyboard-stands-displays/dp/B0049B3GAC

and a Kaces KKP15KB bag:
http://www.kraftmusic.com/catalog/accessories/keyboardcases/index.asp?product=2091

Hope it all works out!

Hi pelf,
I just bought a Roland FP4 and found some very favourable 'reviews' of the Kaces 88-NOTE SLIM #XKP-15KB case.

Has yours arrived yet, and if it has, what do you think of it?

And where did you order it from?

Thanks,
drutgat

Hey Swagman,

I lived in Phoenix until last summer. The Guitar Center on West Peoria Ave. has a very small selection of keyboards.

There is a Sam Ash about two miles away on West Cactus (technically in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb) that has a much better keyboard and digital piano selection.

The prices at both of these are usually pretty close to what you find online but you may save on tax (about 8%) if you can find a place online with free shipping.

By the way if you need any sheet music or books, Central Music on Central Ave and Camelback in Phoenix is great. They focus on selling sheet music and books plus some small accessories like metronomes, reeds, guitar strings. They don't sell instruments. It is by far the best music store that I have been in.


Peace,
Daniel

Maybe, but with a population of 40 million there is a high chance that a random person from the western US will be from California.

I've had excellent service from Sam Ash and will pick up a P155 on arrival in Glendale for $950.



If the piano will be set up only once, the box it comes in will be a good enough shipping case and one set up why would anyone take it down and put in in the case again. You need to practice every day. I assume it would remain setup. In that case the (over priced) matching Yamaha LP140 stand is really the best stand you can get for the P155.

If the plan is to move it around then get a folding stand and a MUCH better case. The P155 is but build for moving. It uses a 5/8" thick "engineered wood" chassis base that gives it a solid feel but also makes in heavy and not as strong as the lighter metal chassis CP series pianos like the CP33, which is designed to be moved frequently

Hi, drutgat--Sorry for the delay in replying. I'd considered the XKP bag but chose the KKP since nylon is supposed to be a stronger material than polyester, and also the wheels appeared to be attached more firmly on the KKP. I ordered it from

http://www.godirectmusic.com/ace-kaces-keyboard-porter-88-note-p-27862.html

and received very prompt service, a good price and free shipping!

I have to say that I have not actually used the bag. I think it will work well when I do need it. I have seen another KKP in use by someone else.

In the end I dealt with Sam Ash on West Cactus at Glendale (near where family are living), having ordered with Sam Ash centrally and changed a couple of items in store with no fuss from them. They had everything in store in 48 hours. Good to deal with.

My daughter and son-in-law plan on a couple of moves during the life of the piano so we got the steel folding table-type stand which works well for about $60 and a good style of soft wheeled bag with internal side-stiffener panels for about twice that, if I remember correctly. The bag is easier to move than the bulky packing carton.

All up with taxes and a pair of reasonable $60 speakers I came out about $200 richer than if I'd bought just the piano in Australia.

Thanks again to all for good advice and Daniel's heads up on the more or less local music store.

$60? Can yo really find anything that is better than the internal speaker for only $60. Did you leave a zero off? What did you get?

Chris
I'm now back in Australia and have forgotten the brand and model. They were recommended by store staff and reduced a bit in price.
The main purpose was to allow practice without waking small children. However I thought they were a bit better than the built-in ones but didn't set out to critically compare them, and I'm not an audiophile.