Need some tips on this one. Had an upright and moved away from town into a triple decker and the upright wouldn't make it. we left it behind and now miss it. we saw a williams sonata digi 88 at local guitar center for 599 originally 1200 but have never heard of this model. anyone out there have any insight? any help would be great. thank you.

I just posted some info in a couple other threads (the Yamaha DGX-500 thread and the Off-Brand Digital Pianos thread) about this one.

I've owned a Williams Sonata 88 Digital Console for a year and I absolutely love it. Feel free to email or post--I'll be glad to give more info!

I've never heard of this keyboard before, but something smells fishy to me. After searching the web, the only references I could find were on guitar center affiliated sites. I couldn't find a company web site either. I wonder if this is a guitar center brand? Either way, you're probably buying someone else's technology. Highly unlikely that Williams (if there even is such a company) builds the thing.

Do any of you dealers have any more info on this?

I kind of thought the same thing--like maybe a larger name company is making them under the sur-name "Williams"? I don't know. I just bought mine based on the sound and features, and the price for my budget at the time.

I'd love more info if anyone has some.

Just an update in case anyone is interested. I emailed Musician's Friend Support to ask them about the Williams Sonata 88 manufacturer. This was their reply:

"Thank you for your inquiry. These are manufactured by Williams Sonata and distributed by Kaysound."

Kaysound also distributes Casio and some other known brands. Here is a link to the piano on their site:
http://www.efkaymusic.com/html/kay8800.html

I'd go a little more upscale if you can afford it. 32 notes of polyphony is pretty skimpy for piano alone, to say nothing of accompaniment. Internal speaker/amp is likely to be poor (although much the same can be said for most stage pianos that include them.)

I've tried the Williams at GC. I didn't like the sound, the keys felt too short and too mushy, plus one of the keys on the display model was broken, which didn't make me feel too good about its reliability. The fact that at least one member (Ami) has had good experience gives it some credibility. Still, I personally would prefer the Yamaha P60 ($150-200 more) as a minimum starting point, if only because I know it's a solid product.

The Williams may be the digital analog of the Chinese acoustic piano - not much credibility at the moment, but could be an up & coming player as time goes on. Who knows.