I've been lurking here for the past few months, soaking up information, piano shopping, and generally spending most of my waking hours devouring everything I could about grand pianos. I'm an old guy, just trying to get back on the train I jumped off of at 10 years old. I'm certainly not new to music as I've sang and played guitar for 45 years but I'm definitely new to the discipline of piano practice. Thankfully there is mountains of encouragement here and no distain for the neophyte. Strong opinions yes...but generally seasoned with grace and that's encouraging.
I had determined early on that I'm too old to jump from piano to piano and so I wanted to buy the best piano I could afford, and besides, life is just too short to practice on an instrument that doesn't keep calling you back for more! After considering my budget and then getting into the C3 or RX-3 debate with myself, I settled on a 5 year old RX-3. Like new, barely played, in a satin ebony finish. I really thought I wanted a glossy piano but after spending a day with this one I'm very happy I went satin. It's very classy looking but a little difficult to wipe the fingerprints off. It rode 450 miles via piano mover to my Home on Feb 23rd and while it arrived it perfect condition with it's freshly buffed out case, it needs a good tuning and as it continues to settle in gets a little worse. The dampers on a dozen lower keys don't damp well but I was told that things shift in transit and it may just be a pedal adjustment. The sound is really wonderful and the action is heavier than a C3 but lighter feeling with each passing day. I'm extremely happy with my choice. I was expecting to see the BLAK decal inside the case with a 2010 as I think they started about that time. The salesperson said it IS a BLAK but I've not been able to find out what might have changed from 2010 until now. I'm sure Kawai Don would know.
Anyway, forgive the long first post but I wanted to say how much I appreciate all the great information on this site. I sincerely feel like I'm not alone in my journey!
(Not sure how to post photos yet)
Phil
