Hello
I am hoping to get some comments on its quality.
Thanks

I guess not a lot of love for this type of cheaper piano

shaolin, did you play it? What did you think? I tried a 5 footer and found it to be very good. Too good to be true perhaps.

We find them to be well made and when properly prepped can challenge pianos costing many times more. The factory that produces Hardman Pianos is in joint venture with Kawai Japan. Kawai Japan must believe in the quality of these pianos because pianos bearing the name Kawai are built in the same factory as Hardman pianos and sold in Asia. I don't think they would want the Kawai name on products built by a company that was not building quality products. Here in LA a number of very famous people in show business have chosen Hardman because it sounded good to them, regardless of price. I think for an entry level price point it offers a lot of value.

At what price love?

I would have responded, but my impressions of two of these were opposite. One was prepped extremely well by a tech who made it her personal project. It was very satisfying. The other did not play evenly and did not sound good. It was basically unboxed and put on the floor.

Harmdann is a case where the prospective buyer is well-served by Larry Fine's Piano Buyer price guidelines.

Take the link on the left and navigate to the price listings. You will find that Fine's price reckoned from the industry standard markup from wholesale, SMP, is far less than the company's MSRP on that piano. In fact, it's one of the most drastic haircuts that Fine gives to any manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP). In other words, the manufacturer's suggested price is grossly inflated and can create an impression to the buyer that he is getting a major discount when in fact he is getting no discount at all.

If your price is 20% or more under Fine's SMP on that piano and you find the piano satisfactory for your needs, love could be in order. If you want the most out of the piano, you probably would be wise to budget for an in-home session by a good treh after the piano settles in to get the best it can give. This could cost you another 10% or so.

I understand Glenn's argument here about the implied endorsement of the maker by its client,Kawai, but the thing is that most of these big Chinese factories that build on contract (and Beijing Hsinghai is one of the biggest) can build to many different quality levels. I think it would be wrong to assume that every piano that Hasinghai builds is of equal quality to its best. Looking at the SMP on the Hardmann grands, you arrive at a wholesale cost that is pretty low. So while I personally would not have a problem owning one for my level of use (light), I wouldn't suggest one to someone who is going to play the heck out of his piano. That said, the one I played that was prepped well was a very sweet instrument. I liked it a lot at the price.