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This is a new one for me. I got a call tonight from an obvious price shopper because he said he would call back in a week and would not leave a name. Anyway he told me he had a baby grand last tuned about 4 years ago. When asked about the brand he said it was a Story & Clark with a Yamaha harp. The Pierce Atlas says that Yamaha made some grands for Story & Clark in the mid 70's. If this is so is it a Yamaha or a Story & Clark ? How good or bad are these pianos.

Jimbob,

Yes, Yamaha made some small grands for Story and Clark. I believe they were G-1s (around 5' 3") or in that size range. They were some of the nicest pianos Story and Clark ever made....:-)

They are Yamahas. I never worked on one, but I've moved a few.

On a similar note, Kawai also made some pianos that Baldwin marketed as Howards. Again, they were some of the nicer pianos ever to bear the Howard name(which some people would say isn't saying a helluva lot).

They were made at a time when both Japanese makers were trying to overcome a negative perception by the American public. They were both pretty solid little pianos. Certainly better than other Story and Clarks and Howards that I've seen.

Hope this helps.

I have serviced the Story-Clark/Yamaha as well as Everett/Yamaha. Dave is right, nice pianos but with the Yamaha of that period watch the pinblock. Mahagony and tended to get soft.

I see many Kawai/Howard and they seem to be OK too. I saw many of the from the Kawai factory in the early 70's with rust furballs on the plate bolts. The strings were covered with a wax paper that read "designed to keep piano strings off rust." You read it right, not rust off piano strings but piano strings off rust.

Seemed like every one of those would have at least 1 dead or buzzing bass string in the last octave, usually C or D.