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Thank you. Is it frowned upon to make a price offer for either of these pianos? If you were to make an offer, what would it be? It looks like the Essex has a retail price of $6400 new.

Where did you find the retail price of $6,400 ??? According to the Pianobuyer, the manufacturer's suggested retail price for a new one is $7,490.

Frowned upon or not (honestly I don't know) you are certainly entitled to make a lesser offer. All the dealer can say is "no" - or express a willingness to negotiate further. Be prepared to walk away. Try to be patient - there are many other good pianos out there.

Yup. That info is here:
http://www.pianobuyer.com/current-issue/acoustic-prices-essex.html

With a current SMP of $7,420, you might expect to see a discount of 10% or more off that amount (Steinway dealers tend not to discount as aggressively as other dealers).

There is no harm in making an offer on a piano. I suggest reading the new and used pricing information in the Piano Buyer, including the introduction to that section, for an informed perspective.

steph4, if yamaha uprights interest you, you might read the thread on this forum "Yamaha U1/U3 grey market pianos " these are the pianos you can find in many parts of the u.s. in the $4-5 k. range used, but with a warranty, and the individual who started the thread just bought a used U3, their tallest vertical piano, with a ten year warranty. lots of players are fond of the big yamaha uprights and you might consider testing a few just for comparison value with the cheaper young chang's or the (usually considerably) costlier essex's. similar sized kawai uprights would also be a valuable comparison (their prices new for many models are deliberately set below yamahas) , but used kawai's are not nearly as abundant as the yamahas.

If you can find a used Hailun HU5-P or Knabe WKV131, that would be great. They are very good pianos for the money, and they have long warranties (Hailun - 15 years, Knabe - 10 years) that can be transferred to second owners.

the information accessible for me indicates that the Knabe 'wkv' pianos is the Korean manufacturer's premier line and that model goes for more than $10 k. new. knabe also has a lower priced 'wmv' line that also seems a bit pricier than hailun. another former american brand 'weber' is also owned by Korean company now, and again they have two tiers of pianos, the premium 'albert weber' vs. plain 'weber'. it seems that hailun is in a price tier closer to young chang, while essex or knabe prices (new) are more comparable to yamaha and kawai. hailun appears to be going after a place in the market by not adopting an american or european brand name, and trying to establish their quality at lower prices than kawai and yamaha. 15 years is a fatter warranty than what the competitors offer, but their dealers obviously have to also prove how they back the warranties up.

Since you have access to new Kawai, I think the K200 or K300 would be fine. K200 is definitely not overkill as it is the entry model for the Kawai K uprights while still retaining the Millennium III action (same technology used in their grand pianos). The case is beautiful and I don't mind its short height at all: easier to put a lamp on it for reading sheet music.

If you must spend more there is always the K300 or K500.

10-year transferable warranty. Definitely higher resale value than YC or Essex one day if you need to sell it.

I made a decision on a piano, which is different than any of the ones I mentioned but it will be here later this week. Thanks for all the input!

Would you tell us what piano you end up buying?

I bought a new Kawai 506 (Ebony Satin). I think it will be good for lessons for my younger kids and I like the way it looks. I honestly did like the sound of the Essex, but we can always upgrade to something more substantial in the future. I also debated getting a new Kawai K200, but they sounded fairly similar to me and the 506 was less $.

It does look pretty good! It's made tough and has a good music desk design. Congratulations!

Good decision !! Congratulations !