...which does not mean that I will pay this amount for an answer!

Hi!

Would you happen to know anything about Kawai AT14 Anytime's charasteristics as an acoustic piano, and about its silencing mechanism and sampling? (I have an opportunity to buy one for 5 200 $ CDN. It is 14 years old. The lady took beginner's lessons for 2 first years, has been sitting there doing nothing since.) (The piano, not the lady... I guess!) :-P

Thanks,

Luc

Hello Luc,

I'm afraid I do not have a great deal of information about this model. Moreover, Kawai Japan is currently on vacation for the New Year holidays, so it's not possible for me to ask anyone.

However, a brief Google search suggest that this instrument was produced for the Japanese market only, so I assume the instrument for sale is a gray market import.

Here is a link to a second hand piano store selling an AT-14:

http://piano-alba.com/piano/kawai/kawai-at-14/

Note that 198,000 JPY is approximately 2300 CAD.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
James
x

Hi Kawai James,

I wonder how a Japanese Kawai ended in Montreal... I guess that the silencing system was worth a premium on the base price; but the technology must be outdated after 15 years.

Thanks for the info, and a happy New Year to you!

Luc

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The same way many thousands of domestic Japanese pianos end up in countries all over the world, every year. Lot's of used piano dealers are selling grey pianos. It's almost rivalling numbers of pianos sold through authorised dealers.



The silencing system may have had nothing to do with this piano being selected for import to Canada. But yes, a 15 year old digital system is not going to wow anybody. Most people don't even use the silent feature of their acoustic piano. I have one on my Yamaha U3 and I never use it. The real piano is just so much nicer. If I need to play quietly, I use the practice pedal. If I need to play silently, I use a software piano on my PC and a MIDI keyboard. My advice: don't get too carried away with this silent practice system.

I agree. The Kawai silent system uses absolutely ancient sounds that by modern digital piano standards are excruciatingly awful. And silent uprights have a change to the feel of the action when the silent system is in use due to the bar that has to be deployed to stop the hammers contacting the strings. You'd never use it.

The piano will be in North America like all the others...previously owned in Japan possibly in a private home but much more likely in a music school. It is my understanding the Japanese have a cultural approach to second hand things that we wouldn't recognise. They don't like buying stuff other people have used.

The ex-music school pianos are often restored to look like new but are totally clapped out inside unless a very experienced and scrupulous company have also attended to the inside (good ones are out there that have had a lot of work done to them). But unless you really know pianos you wouldn't be able to tell a good one from a bad one because on the outside even the poor ones look like new (repainted and new polyester coating, new key tops, the sides of the keys are bleached to get rid of the dirty look of old wooden keys etc). It's a minefield to buy grey market so tread carefully and do not buy without playing first! But I would say a few of the grey market ones are astoundingly good but you need knowledge and some luck to find one.