Hi everyone out there,

Many thanks for those who has contributed and made this forum a great place to share informaton.

After many month of hunting, i have finally put a deposit payment on a secondhand yahama U3M from a reputable local (malaysia) dealer who has been around for decades.

The piano serial number is M3378857, a 1981 model. The price tag is USD$3000. The piano's in good conditon, with very little work required. The piano is not used extensively.

What do you guys think? I'll need to finalise the payment soon. =) appreciate any feedbacks

LinHo1980,
Sounds nice!

-Ilikemozart

Great price if it is indeed is good condition. If it were in excellent condition, you would probably be looking @ a price in the $4000 range.

Hope you enjoy!

Where are you located in Malaysia, LinHo?

Hi victor! believe it or not, i think i saw your photo on Star newspaper last week. =) USM, music.

I got it from Euphony Musical, in Ikano Powercentre. According to them, they only import A-class piano.

I'm from ss18 in Subang jaya.

Lin Ho,
Oh man, how did you recognise my name in there??? Btw, i was out on papers again last week, Penang Heritage Trust fund raising. I am one of the singers in there.
I visited Euphony Musical few weeks ago. They have two grands there......

Man! Two photos in national news paper in one week! We have a celebrity in out midst!

So, LinHo, have you finalized your purchase? When will it be delivered?

Congrats to your 'new' piano!!

Please note that there *are* price differences between different parts of the world - what the same piano would cost here [perhaps more?] may not be relevant to your situation.

Your piano originated from South East Asia
[we call them "grey-market" in North America] and obvioulsy didn't need to be brought to a different continent first.

Hope you enjoy your chosen instrument!

norbert

Congratulations on the new piano!

Thanks guys! This is a great site. Will keep logging on frequently to check out the latest news and topics

Victor,
Hah. I've paid a litt more attention to anything to do with music ever since i started piano shopping. How could i have missed a quarter page picture on a newspaper? :p

Ha..you're a celebritiny Victor!

Axtermus,

The piano was delivered yesterday. Had to take leave from work and wait eagerly at home. Nearly pulled all my hair out! :p

Spent hours playing after the delivery! There are 2 keys that started to generate this buzzing noise when played at "ff-fff". Subsequently, even when i play softer, the buzzing noise remains. Any ideas what would be the problem?

The tuner is scheduled to visit some time this week. Should get it sorted out. I'm cautiously optimistic. 95% satisfied at the moment.

Not to worry too much. Your piano is not tuned yet after the moving. I think your tuner will be able to fix it. Like mine! Do play more to find out if there's any other "problems" so u can pin-point to the tuner.

LinHo,

Congratulations on your new piano![/b]

AnnieTan4,

You've got a new piano too? Your profile has yet to reflect that.

Got a question for your guys in Malaysia -- do you see prices of NEW pianos publically advertised (in newspapers, on TV/radio, on websites)? When you visit piano stores, are FIXED prices clearly posted on all new pianos? (Or do you have to ask for a price and negotiate a lot?)

How about Singapore, if you're familiar with the piano scene in Singapore.

Just want to get a better sense of how things are done over in your part of the world.

Thanks.

Ax,
new pianos depending on the brands, if they are the established ones, I believe the prices are fixed. For e.g. some week ago, I saw a new Ritmuller 130 on offer in the local paper for USD 2,900.00. I called them and ask if the price is neg. They said yes, and able to give another 5% on the price. Some clearance stock thing! Yamaha is one of a popular brand here. Long ago I did some price bargain, ended up getting nothing. You won't get another few bucks off even if you're very keen to buy it.
When I bought my Petrof 131 for USD 7,900.00 (between a Yamaha U1, Indonesia USD 5,000) I thought I can get more discount from a dealer in Malacca (1 hr drive from Kuala Lumpur). Everything was cheaper in Malacca than in Kuala Lumpur i.e. property, food & etc. So I thought it will be the same for piano. It turns out to be not. I ended up buying from the principal because of their long business involvement in the piano industry.

The dealer (in Malacca) mentioned that (I don’t know how true, but sounds okay to me):-
(1) if they sell below selling price and if the principal finds out they might loose their dealership rights in future. He said he doesn't mind giving me some piano accessories for free i.e. music books, additional tunings, piano covers & etc to act as further discount.
(2) The principal was trying to avoid any price war against dealer(s) within the same state or outside the state. Malaysia is small. It takes only 4 hours from KL to Singapore.
(3) According to the dealer, sales of pianos here, almost 75% are commission sales. Dealer who gives the most commission will get the deal. So to survice, they cannot give more discount. Otherwise, there is no profits.

But what surprises me was the money referrals get ranges from 5%-30% of the selling price. Wow almost 1/2 of my salary in less than few hours. ( Maybe I should quit my job and move to the referral business. NO overhead & NO risk & NO after sales service, after all the dealer will be handling it :rolleyes: , I believe.). I am 35 yrs old now and picking up piano lesson for leisure. Maybe I should work hard and hope to become a teacher one day .

I don’t know about Singapore. Many donky years back, I visited a Steinway dealer in Singapore. Not to buy one but to check out some Kawais. The prices were FIRM.
Regards

Prices are posted on top of the pianos for the most part....up to you to bargain.

For secondhand pianos, prices are posted on top of the pianos too. But they serve merely as an indicator of the order of the price. The same model manufactures from rougly the same year may have very different "Price Tags".

E.g. I've seen the price of a Kawai BL-61 from
RM8000 (that's around USD2,000) from a private seller
to RM 6000-RM8000 from secondhand dealers.

My understanding from Yamaha dealer is that Malaysia importer incurr 10-15% import tax on pianos (while singapore's import tax on piano is 5%). Most imported pianos are of B,C,D grade. Dealers can still make profit because labour cost is low in Malaysia.

My impression of the local market is that it's full of deceptions. Many phoney dealers would offer attractive deals like full 100% trade in value after 5 years, with no intention of staying in business for that long.

So to answer your question Axtremus, No, we don't usually have piano prices advertised on TV. On newspaper however, it's a daily affair to receive Ads that carries the headline "Offer, clearence, good conditioned painos going from RM2,000 (that's USD 500)."

And when you do pay them a visit, they'll show you the so called USD 500 piano in the worst possible light, and try to push a sale on other C/D class reconditoned pianos. (personally, i think they over charge by a fair margin). And there's no guarantee that you're getting what it's worth.

THe more that one knows, the harder it is to get a secondhand piano in Kuala Lumpur. =)

Just caught up with this thread.
Thanks guys!

Axtremus,

I've got my new second hand piano in end-March. It's Victor 50" with a "His Master's Voice" logo inside. It's definitely not a well-known brand. Imported from Japan. USD1570. Initially, I was a bit skeptical myself too. I scolded myself for putting down the money so fast. Now I like my piano the more I play it. It has beautiful tone...I'll post a picture when I've got a digital..

c'ya.