Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Selling Kawai K25 for Yamaha / Kawai Digital/Hybrid

I'm considering to sell my beloved 2003 Kawai K25 Upright (with beautiful Mahagony polish) for a high-end digital one. The Kawai K25 is in excellent condition, still in original manufactorer warranty, well maintained and tuned. I'm the only owner and the piano stays at my home at all times. Looks like new. Tone is warm and the attack is firm. I want a digital / hybrid upright that has the classic piano look and feel (touch). I want a maintenance/tuning-free piano.
I'd love your advice and thoughts on:
1) How best to sell my Kawai K25? What is the target price for this piano?
2) Which model - ideally new, quality Japanese brands- you'd recommend for a hybrid/digital piano that has the accoustic qualities and look? What is the price range of your suggested model (new)? My budget is <$8,000. This one should require no tuning / maintenance.I prefer an upright but can probably make room for a baby grand in the family room.
3) If you / any one you know might be interested in buying my Kawaii (I'm located in Washington DC metro), please let me know!

Thanks so much!

There are one or two that fit your criteria. Yamahas mainly - NU1 and AvantGrand N1 and N2 are within budget. They all have an upright's footprint (NU1 has full upright action, N1 and N2 have a Yamaha grand action). Roland LX-10F or LX-15 are upright style digitals with typical plastic hammer actions but are very good. Kawai CA-95 or CS-6 have an upright footprint also.

Yamaha AvantGrand N3 and Roland V-Piano grand are above your budget and have small grand footprints and very elaborate sound systems.

All that said, I'd advise you against this course of action! I'm selling my Yamaha N3 and have bought a new Kawai K3 upright a few days ago. I look at even the best digital as being completely dead whereas an acoustic is like a living, breathing thing. All digitals, even the best, lack resonance and sustain.

I've owned almost every digital known to man over many years and a fatigue sets in with them because they always sound the same. I'm really looking forward to the arrival of the K3. The benefit of no tuning issues is paltry reward for the lifeless, static nature of a digital.

Anyway, it's your choice. Good luck whatever you do!

Steve

Wow this is the first I've heard of someone leaving the N3 for an upright. I can totally understand, though. Someone else here returned a CA93 for an acoustic as well.

It's a trade-off. Action on the N3 is superior in a purely physical sense being a grand action and all that. But a DP (even the best) is just no longer enough for me. Despite all the effects and simulations and modelling they add these days (such as damper resonance, sympathetic resonance and all the rest of it) they are just dead things. I know I will miss certain aspects of N3 ownership. I'm prepared for that. But I don't think this is a change I'm going to regret! For late nights and quieter times I'll still have a digital in another room.

Interesting response Steve. Thanks a lot! In fact, after this post, I've done a little of research too and I'm now inclining towards keeping my accoustic piano for one, it actually has depreciated more than I thought. A local dealer said they'd buy it back for only $2,500. And two, I feel that the digital will probably mature its technology rather quickly and drop its price too. Your opinion about the stiffness of a digital piano is an interesting one. Overall, I'm happy with my accoustic, it's only that sometimes there're random resonance on notes away from its tone, even after the tuning. Any thoughts why that is the case?

Do you mean some notes on the K25 have artifacts beyond the fundamental? I think that's expected for the size.

I recently played the new Roland hp series digitals and was very impressed. Also avantgrands are nice instruments.

However, as others have said these digital pianos still lack the feedback you get from a real acoustic. As a pianist I could never consider a digital instead of an acoustic, even if it's only an upright rather than a grand.

The maintenance issue is surely irrelevant isn't it? In all my years of having owned several pianos they have never needed more than a tuning every six months which doesn't cost that much anyway. Small price to pay IMO and much less than the depreciation suffered by anything electronic.

If you really must sell the Kawai then sell it privately. You will get much more than a dealer will pay.

@steve , have you tried a ca95? The soundboard works well and the touch is lovely. ( for a dp)

how does a soundboard work in a digital, I wonder?

Copius amounts of magic and fairy dust is my guess... does work though. .. resonates through the whole unit so vibrations are felt by feet and fingers plus my ears find the sound better than any dp ive played so far...

Instead of strings and bridges, I believe there are mechanical transducers that are attached to the soundboard. These vibrate the soundboard and treat it like a large speaker, more or less. The onboard speakers are also working at the same time.