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Upright grand...what an oxymoron.

[/qb][/QUOTE]Don't worry, Digitus. Your K8 is an upright grand too [/qb][/QUOTE]

hohoho, I guess I'm too busybody!

Aiyah, then just say that you are looking for a taller upright lah!

No, I am not referring to the variable touch piano. An example of what I mean is Sauter's Double Repetition action (see http://www.sauter-pianos.de/english/technique/sound/double_repetition.html).

As for pianos at E&S, if you have the patience to wait, Mr Kwan gets very interesting pianos coming through from time to time. For example, a couple of months ago he had a 15 year-old Yamaha C7 grand come in. I played on it before he started work on it and it already sounded pretty good. The cabinetry needed some work and the old ivory key tops were yellow and chipped. But these are things that can be rectified relatively easily.

Hi!Gothique,

Thanks for the info, because the sale person at Cristofori told me, they changed the key, string and the hammer except the sound board. So I thought this consider re-condition. I'm new,no nothing on piano, that why not sure should get from them. Still looking around. Now it give me a clearer picture. Thanks.

hi all,

need some help. A noob to piano. When i'm playing a particular key on my piano, there is a strange buzzing sound like "zzzz" type of sound. This is really weird and it's quite random as well. sometimes, it's fine, sometimes it's not.

the keys which has this problem seems to "fluncating" as well. sometimes, it's the middle C, sometimes, it's G.

What's wrong with my piano. I jsut had it tuned 3 weeks ago.

Thanks!

Hi scalar, I still got a piano from Christofori yesterday after some serious consideration. Had a talk with the sales person there and he managed to convince me to buy the KAWAI KS-3F with only a "good" rating for its tuning stability as compared to "excellent" for the others. Regardless it's recon or repair, I guess if its tone, action and touch can be produced in a way it ought to be, I guess it's fine for me. In addition, it comes with 5 yrs warranty. But anyway found out that the piano that I bought come with Louis Renner hammer heads (don't know good or not) from the previous owner.

Hi Scalar,

Wow, that sounds like major work to change everything except soundboard. Er... perhaps that is considered recon liao!

When I went there, I saw that most of the pianos are in quite good condition, didn't really seems like much work was done on it. Maybe now different.

Hi Soarer,

Nice to know u got a piano liao. Enjoy it man. I always love kawai pianos. How long did u take to search for it?

Hi Digitus

I heard u guys talking about the sauter piano. is it good? I'll google it later when got time.

Yeah, after hearing what u say, I will drop by Mr Kwan's place when I get back, who knows if there's something good coming along!

By the way.. anyone got piano for sale or see a good piano for sale... please tell me. Budget $10k but can flex a bit if really good... thanks!

Hi gothique, I always love kawai piano as compared to yamaha. Yamaha tone is too "loud" (no offence to yamaha lovers ya, personal preference only). Used to have a toyo piano but find that the tone is too "loud" for my liking.

It took me around a month to surf around the net and made visits to 2nd hand piano sellers. Made 2 weekend visits to christofori before i place my order yesterday.

Hi Estranged,

I assume there wasn't any 'zzz' sound before the tuning. Have you check with your tuner? If he can't solve it, you may have to look for someone who is more experience.

You will find Sauter at www.sauter-pianos.de. They are located in Spaichingen in Germany, the same town in which they started way back in 1819. Sauter is the oldest piano manufacturer still in business today.

Do they make good pianos, you ask. Well, they rank in the top tier alongside makes such as Bluthner, Steinway, Grotrian, Steingraeber, Bosendorfer, and Fazioli.

And no, you can't get one on a $10k budget, not even an upright. :p

Hi Digitus,

Sauter is out of my range then. Anyway, heard that need to have dehumidifier on all the time for European pianos. So it's out for me!

Going off for my trip, merry christmas everyone in advance.

Gothique not just European pianos. Generally, all pianos don't do very well when the RH is above 70% or below 40%. That why you need a dehumidifier in this climate. I won't agree with you that only European pianos need it. I have seen Japanese pianos that are bad too in this climate.

Have a good holiday!... pheww... already end of the year.. isn't too fast...

Recon pianos are generally in good condition however the soundboard remains unchanged which is hard for buyers to gauge whether it's really in a good condition or not. My teacher advice was to stay off recon and second hands that are older than 10 years old. that would be a safer choice but really pretty much depends on the previous owner.

Kawai music school do sell some good second hand pianos. can check it out.! =)

...and on the technician who worked on the piano. You must ask about the history of the piano, what he found, and what was done to the piano.

JC... used market is cruel.. If a used piano (less than 5 years old) badly taken care I would stay away from it even if is less than 10 years old. Importantly is that you must have a trust worthly piano technician who can give you true report on the condition of the used piano. If a 20 years old piano, regularly service where RH constantly at 50%, I dont find any reason as to why I should ignore it. Of course, provided that you like the sound and feel. Regards.

well of course Jay, it all depends on where u are looking for it. =)

Hi, i'm new and have been reading the thread that dates back to 2006 with interest. Its interesting to know there's piano/music loving community here.

I am currently in a predicament of selecting a piano for my son. I myself dont play piano (though i do play other instruments) and have followed the various advice from the various experts here and gone through a few shops and have shortlisted 3 pianos (i have yet to see the Petrof and Brodmann... will probably do so next week). They are
1. Yamaha U1/U3
2. Kawai K3/K5/K6
3. Bohemia 125/132

Of the 3, i am impressed by the K5/K6 most, though i think the Bohemia sounds warm and mellow to my liking as well.

The thing is, everyone of the shops i go to will say something not so nice about Kawai except Robert. I am beginning to wonder what's wrong with Kawai. From what i listen to when i was at robert's .... it sounds wonderfully good. I tried also the SK3 and Steinway (not sure if its A or B) ... i'd say the SK3 is quite close to Steinway though the Steinway sounds much more expansive, if you know what i mean.

The U1 is ok, but i'd prefer the sound of the U3... but might not want to stretch that far for my 4 year old.

Can someone enlighten me please? I'd prefer to buy new, but do you think if i get a new U3 or K6 is a little too much of an indulgence for a young new beginner like my 4 year old? He is showing a lot of interest to learn though.

I will check out the Petrof too... but is it worth checking?

Thanks!

it's really common for the sales person to diss other brands. i go to kawai they diss yamahas and all the china brands and well. it's the same on the other side.

For beginners a u1 or k3 is really considered very very good pianos. well my teacher told me i don't need such a good one since i'm just starting. but well that's his opinion. i tried the Kawai k3 and k5. prefer k5.

i recently bought a second hand kawai from robert's piano. service's not bad. they know what they are selling. =p

but hey getting a good new piano has good resale value in case u wish to trade it in for smth better in the future. my opinion. a K6 is too much for a young beginner personally i feel that k5 and k6 is leaning towards those traning up to perform and advanced stuff.

most importantly is that you like the piano and the sound of it. you will be the one listening to yr son play anyway. =)

Thanks for the advice.
How about Petrof? is it worth considering comparing it with Yamaha/Kawai ?

Hello guys i'm new here, also from singapore..
anyway in response to guitarman's post, Petrof is not really made with the tropical climate in mind, and under the heat and humidity, they can cause many problems. My advice is not to get a petrof.
As for the 2 japanese giants, yamaha and kawai, i won't tell you not to buy, but counter-advice is that after 1993 when the economic bubble burst, japan moved a lot of their facilities overseas, yamaha to jakarta, and kawai to china. So even new models like YUS5 and K8 claim to be "fully assembled in japan", it is assembled in japan alright, but not all parts are manufactured in japan (means they manufacture the parts in indonesia/china, ship to japan for assembly). Although the performance of such instruments are not too adversely affected, the durability is. But of course to protect their names, for grand pianos, all the parts are 100% made in japan. I mean, after i tried their uprights and grands, i feel that there is a significant rift in quality between uprights and grands.
So, what is your best bet? well i would think if you are willing to shell out 15000 for a yamaha YUS5, then why not add another 1000 or 2000 to get a german upright (maybe a ronisch or a seiler from cristofori, go to their showroom in funan or the bedok warehouse). i personally went down to try and felt that the ronisch pianos felt much more solid than the kawais..
so yeah, i know this is a long first post, but just some information that i have.