Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum yamaha GC1 vs Yamaha C1 worth the extra money?

I have a upright 48' mahaogany petrof that I have beeen quite pleased with but I am thinking of trading it in for a yamaha grand or a petrof grand.

How does the yamaha grand GC1 compare to the yamaha grand C1. Is the extra money for the C1 worth the quality ? I need a piano that will maintain its quality for years. I intend to keep my next piano for a long time, but I am also on a budget.

I have C1 and I think it is worth extra money.

However, GC1 has bright sound but C1 does not. I play classical only, so you may like GC1 sound better.

The specs on a Petrof are superior to the Yamaha C series. Petrof uses a beech wood rim vs. luan (mahogany), a sand cast plate vs vacuum cast, and a better grade of spruce in the soundboard (Bohemian white in the Petrof). Larry Fine agrees, putting the Petrof as a tier 2 piano equal to Schimmel, Shigeru Kawai and the Yamaha S series. Of course, if you like a brighter sounding piano, then Yamaha would be a better choice for you, but for the $$$, Petrof every day of the week IMO.

Plus, you can get a Petrof V (5'3") for under 20K.

Play all the grands you can find in your pricepoint and give yourself time.

And I played a GC1 on a show room floor that was voiced better than an unprepped C2 right beside it. Your point is?

Look, any piano can sound crappy if it's not been properly voiced or prepped. But IMHO, these two should sound pretty close given the same attention to tuning, prep and voicing.

GC1 and C1 are essentially the same instrument, with perhaps a little better attention to construction materials and detail paid to the C1. That's not to say that the GC1 is going to wind up as a heap on your living room floor a month after you bring it home.

You do get what you pay for to an extent, and there is a reason why you can take a GC1 home for substantially less than a C1. But a GC1 could do you just fine, and may be what you need if you're shopping for a nice little grand on a budget.

A teacher friend of ours just upgraded to a Kawai RX2 after having a Yamaha GH1B (often touted to be inferior to its decendants - the GC1 and the C1) in her studio for years. It stood up well to banging as well as playing, and her only reason for the trade up is that the business is doing well, and she can afford the upgrade.

My $0.02

Jamie

Can't you get a C3 (6'1") for under 20k?

Well, actually I have no idea what the real price difference is between C1 and GC1. I thought C1 costs about $1,500 more.. And I don't think new Yamahas are voiced in the showroom... Plus, bright sound does not equal crappy sound IMO.... And C1 and RX2 are at the same price point when I was shopping for the piano.

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The GC-1 I tuned the other week was par on quality with the old G series. It was a decent piano, but not up the typical "C-1" quality. If you play well - go for the C-1. If you just dabble, get the GC-1. Do Not get the GA-1, which has an awful scale.

Or.... you could get a 6' Chinese for the same money....... the longer the piano, the better the bass and the larger Chinese are much better than the shorter ones.

The C1 has a sostenuto pedal, which the GC1 lacks, if that's important to you. I was actually in the EXACT same boat as you a month ago, and I decided on a C2, which was unexpected, but I'm glad I did. I'm also glad it has the sostenuto, because I will be learning a piece for my performer's diploma, that basically can't really be played properly without one. I don't know how often I'll use it in the future, though, but it's nice to have it. Mind you, I haven't actually got my piano yet! We made a downpayment, but have to wait till May to see when we can pay the rest. We told them that we didn't want it until we could pay for it fully.

The only thing that I'm doing that is not so good, is buying it (new) without playing it first, but my mom gave me some good advice about that. She said, "how bad can it sound?" And I was like, "compared to what I have now you mean?" And she said, "yeah." To which I replied, "Well, it can only be better." Even my tech said my piano has a yucky treble (and yes, we did try voicing). One thing I learned when shopping for a piano, is unless you really plan to buy one, it is a dangerous thing. You see I used to love my piano's shrill sound (we are talking one of the shriller Yamaha's of our time here), but after I played a C1 I was like, wow, duplex scaling really does change the way it sounds! Then I went home, and was like, I want my piano to sound like those ones! (I also wanted a piano that wasn't completely beat up, 30 years old, almost out of warranty, needing new bass strings, and knuckles, that had a sostenuto.........)

I would check to see if the GC1 has the duplex scaling because if it doesn't you might find yourself with a thinner, cleaner, sound, verses, a more "romantic" rich sound. It also depends on which you like too.

The GC1 is based on the C1 scale and yes, the GC1 does have a duplex scale.

The differences are the full sostenuto, slo-close fallboard, sculptured lid, etc.

However, there is a $4600 difference in the retail price! So, you must decide if it's really worth the difference.

Paul

Bt the way, regarding pricing versus a Petrof V, yes you can get a Petrof for under $20,000. But you can get a Yamaha 5'3" GC1 for under $13,000.

I'm an amature piano hack but here is my opinion.

I recently did exactly what Bob mentioned. I'm very pleased with my Nordiska 185 master series. We'll see how it lasts but I was impressed with the build quality (I'm not a technitian, but I am an engineer). I think some chinese factories are turning out decent pianos nowdays. Your petrof dealer may have one to try out since they are both imported by the same company - I liked the first one I played but I loved the second one and bought it. Call me crazy but I liked it better musically and action wise than the 97 lightly used C3 I could have gotten around the same price.

And I would definately look at the C2 and C3 if you like yamahas. The price difference is worth it IMHO. The used C3 I looked at was around 10k.