I've come across a Yamaha CP80 on Craigslist, asking price is $1800. What is a good value on one of these pianos? At this point in the instrument's age, will there be more mechanical headaches than it's worth spending money on? I've heard these often have troubles keeping tune because of being constantly moved and man-handled on tour.

you might have to search on net to see how other people selling it for. it's a really old electronic piano with acoustic action, and Yamaha don't even have a current comparable product like that anymore.

A general rule when shopping for used
digital pianos is that, provided it's in
perfect condition--test all 88 keys with
and without the rt. pedal, offer about half
the asking price, and the seller should
grab for that, because: any piano is
difficult to sell because the number of
players in the population is small; there's
no warranty, and you can get similar new digitals
with full warranty for less than the asking
price; there's no place the seller can unload
it fast, because a piano dealer won't buy
it and a pawn shop will give him almost nothing
for it; no one is going to line up to
buy a used digital piano, and the seller is
going to have a hard time selling it; you're
probably going to be the only one who's
going to offer him anything for it.

The one for sale has the balanced outputs, and according to the seller, "everything works." He's sent me a few pictures, and the inside looks really clean, there are a few tears in the outside tolex. I'm going to go play it tomorrow.

Got back from playing the cp80. There is a little "hesitancy" in the first few mm of the key depression, and fast moving notes are not quite so clear, but overall it's a really cool instrument. The inside is in excellent shape, and everything seems to work, aside from a little bit of pot noise on a few of the controls.

The outside is rough and would need to be refinished in order to not look like a war relic. It does not come with a case.

Can anyone give me a fair price to offer? He is asking $1800.

Reposted from PF:

I didn't see your post in the DP section. I used to own a CP70B myself. They are great pianos. I used to tune my own pretty easily. Buy a wrench and a tuner. You're not going to get your RPT there and tune it all the time like your home grand.

I sold mine about five years ago. CP80's are rarer and command a higher price. Is it a CP80M(midi)? If so, that's even rarer still and would be worth $1,800.

If you are motivated you could recover the piano yourself. The piano itself is heavy and is its own case (built-in handles, tolex covering) so probably only pro groups that had paid roadies would put them in huge, custom flight cases.