I was told something about "Program Pianos". The dealer told me that every year Yamaha let some professional pianists, for example some professors in a college, played brand new pianos for 3, 6 months, maybe a year, and the pianos were sent back to Yamaha dealers. When a dealer sells this kind of piano, it is called "Program Piano". The price is much cheaper than a brand new one. It really depends on how long the piano is played.

Any comments on this? good or bad?

Thanks

I don't know about Yamaha's "program" specifically, but it is not out of the realm of possibility that a dealer supplied a specific event, special client, institution...whatever..with instruments and these instruments were sold to the dealer at a discount, and the dealer is passing the discount along to the consumer.

The negative here might be a finish on the piano that is no longer factory fresh.

In order to know if what you're getting is a deal, you'll have to compare the price to a brand new, out-of-the-box piano. Theoretically, a piano like this could be a nice buy.

Feelings about the college sales seem to range from lukewarm to outright negative. Try searching the archives for "college" in the subject, and you'll find a number of interesting threads, including this one:

college sales revisited

In theory, these kinds of programs sound great; colleges get free use of pianos and consumers get good deals on a barely-used piano. But in reality the situation is usually not so bright. In the first place, some of those pianos get heavy use, are not well-maintained, and are not in the best of shape by the time they are sold to the consumer. In the second place, the prices are seldom any great bargain. I've heard of people paying close to full retail at college sales, so they ended up being even worse off than if they had done their homework and negotiated for a new piano.

A lot of these sales also tend to be high pressure events, with salespeople uttering dire warnings about how This Is Absolutely Your Last Chance to Get Such a Great Deal and that you need to make a decision right that very minute. Even if there WERE bargains to be had, I'm not sure it would be worth it if I had to rush my shopping and decide right then and there.

Hope that helps...

I wasn't clear about this being a college sale piano vs. one that had been placed in a college for a specified amount of time, and then returned to the dealership for resale.

The true college sale, where a number of instruments that have been loaned to a school, along with other inventory that has not been at the school, are sold in one weekend....well, you might get a deal, and then again, you might not.
And Monica is 100% correct. Any of these that I have experienced are normally done with high pressure tactics. This isn't always true, but is true more often than not.

There are a lot of other situations, though, where a small group of instruments are loaned for a brief period of time to support certain artistic or educational efforts, and the pianos should come back to the dealer very gently used. Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I played in a small chamber festival where the pianos(2 or 3 grands)were loaned by a local dealer, and he sold them off at the end of the summer season. Now--in this case--whoever got these instruments probably got a good deal. That's a completely different thing from a "college sale".

The term "program pianos" sounds a lot like it's been borrowed from the automobile industry...program cars? And I wonder if what the dealer really means isn't something along the lines I've suggested with the chamber festival.

Get the serial #, and see how old the instrument really is. That will tell you how long it was in the program.

Cutie cat (trossed)
That is it. That is exactly what I am talking about. Yes absolutely I will check the serial # before I buy it.

Thank you Monica too. Actually I checked the threads already. Here is what I learned

College Pianos = Abused Pianos

Thank you both of you anyway!!!!!

Thanks for noticing my cat! Several of cats allow me to reside in their home, and in gratitude I try to provide regular meals, lots of cozy places to bed down, and generally do whatever they tell me to.

Good luck with your search.

Just ask the dealer to be a little less cryptic about where the piano was, how long, etc. and get the serial #!

personally, nothing beats that "new car smell!!"

A little harder shopping, and some polished negotiating skills might get you that same piano darn near the "abused" price; and it WILL be new which means you also get that "new car smell"!!

I hate to let the cat out of the bag, but most of the pianos at college sales are new and were never used there. Think about it. I've heard of dealers selling 50 to 100 pianos at these events. They may have loaned a few pianos to the school, but nowhere near that many. What the customer is really getting is a new piano at its regular (probably fair) price.

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OR a new piano at an overinflated price that the customer was told was a never to be repeated deal, Graybeard.

The other advice here is sound. Check the serial number online or call another dealer to check out its age. If it is older than was presented.... skip it.

Good Luck,

"over inflated", "never to be repeated"! Where did you learn these terms, Rich?