I have a plan to learn and buy a piano for me and also for my 7 yrs old son, and after I searching around, I have been considering 3 pianos.

- 37 years old Yamaha U3G (serial number ~ 1,270,000) with 3 years services warranty ($2750), the dealer said they just import this refurbish piano from Japan.

- Brand new Yamaha JX113 (made in Indonesia) with 3 years services warranty ($2700)

- Brand New Rittmuler (made in China) with 10 years services warranty ($2700)

Because this is my first time buying an acoustic piano I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on which one they would choose and why - maybe based on the build quality and maintenance which I dont know much about.I would be grateful for any help.

Thanks

Welcome to the forum, LJ!

I'd be leery of the used U3. Search the archives for "grey market" or "gray market" piano as the subject of the thread, and you will find hours of reading pleasure about the pros and cons of these pianos. Bottom line: at 37 years old, everything is contingent on what exactly was done during the "refurbishing" process. Sometimes not much is done at all, and you could be saddled with a piano with lots of problems and looking at major maintenance in the near future. At the very least you would need to have it inspected by an independent technician.

I would recommend buying "The Piano Book" by Larry Fine or "The Idiot's Guide to Buying an Acoustic Piano" by Marty and Jennifer Flinn. The latter book is less technical and geared more to the first time buyer, so you may find it more helpful. You should also buy the 2008-2009 annual supplement to Piano Book, as that shows list prices for new pianos and will be helpful when it comes to negotiating on price.

LJ I wonder about your location because I don't see a brand new JX113 on the Yamaha USA website. I may be mistaken. If you are not in North America you may have some trouble finding the guide books mentioned above.

Is the same dealer offering all these? If at all possible visit a second dealer for comparison. Is that JX113 really a brand new Yamaha? Because Yamaha typically offers a ten year warranty. If it is used then the warranty being offered might be through the dealer. In that case you would want to know more about the dealer, does it have a good reputation? Or is it going out of business?

I would very much question the fact that the dealer claims the piano was refurbished recently in Japan. Why send it there or receive it from there supposedly, refurbished? And then, charge such a meager price for it? My antenna goes up on that one...

I've tuned some of the Yamaha's made in Indonesia. So far, I've not encountered any problems with any of these.

Yes, Yamaha does typically give a 10 year warranty so, I would question the dealer further and get other opinions as well.

Good advice above. Follow it.

Thanks for your friendly advises, currently I'm stay in Jakarta Indonesia.
Yamaha JX113 is one of new models from Yamaha Piano Indonesia, there are many new piano model from here begin with prefix J such as JU, JX and JT .
I've got information from different dealer, the dealer for U3 is from local piano store, for JX113 is from Yamaha authorized dealer, and Ritmuller is from Ritmuller authorized dealer.

just a few minutes ago, my coleague call me and he said there is a 2nd hand U1F piano with serial number 1500000, he said that this piano is made in Indonesia,

http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/product/piano/product/oceania/acoustic/upright/lxlu_s/lxlu_s.html

but I have doubt about this serial number, because based information from this site,
http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/Cont...D410010,00.html
Yamaha Indonesia piano serial number start from 1700000.
I'm wondering when the 1st time U1F series are built.

Call Yamaha Corporation in Japan or Yamaha Corporation in America and ask them. That might be the best way.