Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Yamaha G2 1995 , $10500 ? is this a good deal

Hi, we (a family of four) are in the process of choosing out grand piano for our family (I play non-professionally though , had 10 years of music school education back in Russia, and my daughter who is 7y.o is an advanced piano student as well)

Came across an instrument I liked recently for sale by private owner, Yamaha G2 1995, selling for $10,500, first owner,
purchased instrument in Toronto

I evaluated this instrument with the help of our knowledgeable technician/piano tuner.

He reported no problems with it, very well maintained (owner is a tuner and former piano teacher as well) crispy bright sound yet not overwhelmingly bright, good even touch.
But I am worried about it being played on so much. It was owned by a musical family, dad - piano tuner and mom is a pianist, as well as their prodigy daughter who is now 14 I guess and at Julliard...

Is it good that I am going to be taking a piano home with so much history?

Also, the serial number on the Yamaha doesn't check out, on Yamaha web site when I enter this number it says it's not made for North American Market.
Can it be one of these gray market pianos? how can this be if it's 1995 year production.

The seller is asking $10500 for it (don't know if it makes a big price difference but it has humidity control and also muter for these late evening practices) and I don't know if it's the good price for it.
Was it made in Japan?


Anyone can help me understand whether I am getting the good price?

Any advice?
I see so much conflicting information about prices...
Please help.

I'm guessing this piano was "well loved". This is a tricky one. You are talking about a 17 year old piano, probably very well used (but also probably very well cared for), with a serial number that doesn't check out.

Is it local so you, your family and your tech can check it out in person?

Price doesn't seem too bad, but it is a buyer's market, so I would try to bring it down some.

Godd luck!

yes, it's local, and I played it and technician made his ruling that it is a solid instrument with no problems.
NO work needed on it.

Unless the sellers brought it in from overseas, they can hardly be first owners can they? Not that it matters that much whether the piano has had one or 2 owners, but what is the real story? IF they are first owners, can they show the original purchase documentation?

I would not call this piano well loved, I would call it heavily used. Bringing a young person to a Julliard entry level means a LOT of playing. I don't think that the price is an incredibly good deal for a piano going on 20 years old that has been heavily played. G2s are OK but they are not exquisitely special. I think you can do better if you keep your eyes open. It's a buyers' market.

I guess putting "well loved" in quotes was too subtle. But the fact the seller disclosed it was used by the whole family speaks volumes.

Perhaps the seller THINKS he's the first owner and is not being shady. If he was up to no good, he wouldn't likely disclose it was used by the whole family.

Just my 2 pennies.

Nice that it has a muffler bar installed, pretty rare on grands as it's a tricky thing to make work properly. I would check all the notes chromatically, regardless, while the muffler is engaged trust to verify it's working OK. You don't want to have to pay someone to fix it after the fact.

In terms of the age, I am fairly certain Yamaha didn't make the G2 past 1992. You might want to check the serial number against this website: http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/cda/contentdetail/text_withcatmenu_sc/0,6381,cntid=12173&ctid=410010&vnm=live&aflg=y,00.html

Of course, I am only familiar with what Yamaha produces for the USA.

If the tech gives it a clean bill of health, I imagine it will be a great instrument for your purposes. The first things to go on a heavily played instrument are hammers & strings, as well as key bushings.. if those are all fine, then I don't think it was played as heavily as you imagine.


In terms of Grey Market (as far as us in the United States know the term to mean) - the term applies to pianos built for distribution to places other than the USA. Regardless of age.

I am even more puzzled than I was now.
The owner says he has no original papers, bought it in Toronto
Serial number E5220588
Can I at least verify the year for this instrument?
Could it be the gray market piano from way older than 1995?

Looks like a 1993 model... http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/Text_WithCatMenu_XC.html?CNTID=12173

Good luck...

Rick

My local dealer has a G2 a good bit older than that which has been extensively renovated recently. It looks to me to be like-new condition. He's asking less than half of the price you mentioned, but it is about twice as old. Still, that seems a lot to pay.

I think you can do better.

Take care,

Steve

I also have an option to buy a 5'8 1996 Kawai GE-3 (not GE-30), totally clean, not played almost at all, great condition, one owner. I can get it around $7k. This instrument checked out by my technician as well, mint condition.
anyone has a feedback about this price and instrument?

This yamaha owner doesn't want to come an inch off his price.

$10500 firm.

I told him, this is not the 1995 as advertised but 1993 and I am still interested and he is like "so what?"

I don't understand this market.

And I haven't seen many other yamaha grands for sale recently by private owners

The G2 that I played recently was a 1978 (purportedly). So a good bit older but not really all that much. For around $5000, delivered. I thought that was quite reasonable (and really enjoyed playing it) but would not have even looked twice at one price $10,500.

As best I can figure it out, dealers who sell new pianos seem only interested in selling used ones if they can make a far, far higher profit than on a new instrument. Or something like that, go figure.

Well, if it's a piano you really like, make your best offer and leave your number. Have the owner call you if they change their mind.

Not everyone likes to haggle (I certainly don't)-- but some are more aware of market pricing than others. If it stays unsold for a period of time, the seller may change their mind.

It's not unusual to buy a new piano that has been in a store for a year or two prior to sale-- that's not a serious discrepancy in my opinion (compared to some we see here, where the piano is 30 years old when it is being advertised as 10...).

I will keep looking I guess,

I offered him $9300 and he wouldn't budge.

The thing is that this whole search takes time from kids/family etc, sadly

I was very heartily discouraged by my own piano shopping efforts and would have reverted to simply renting a decent upright piano indefinitely if a generous family member had not stepped forward to augment my budget substantially. In the end we settled on a new, Chinese-built Hallet, Davis 5'5" grand for not much more than the price of that 25-year-old G2. If it had been entirely my own money I probably would have gone with the Yamaha purely to save a few dollar, although it was my second choice tone-wise.

Don't write him off just yet - If you leave your information, you might find that he'll call you inside of a month. 9300 is a very fair price for that instrument, and most people will ofer him thousands less than that.