MADE FOR AUSTRALIAN CONDITIONS
GREY MARKET PIANOS
During the last ten years the piano industry has been exposed to a new story about the production of pianos.
This story comes from Yamaha Worldwide. It is the "we make pianos for different climatic conditions" statement put into writing some years ago by the then Managing director of Yamaha Music Australia
This statement causes a lot of confusion in the market place, and well meaning people take the statement in good faith and believe it or are influenced by it.
In the early 21st Century Yamaha used to have glossy laminated signs on their pianos stating "made for Australian conditions"
Even though it dosent take an expert to say "what are Australian conditions" most people say to me "are your Yamaha pianos made for Australian conditions?"
I ask them to tell me what dose that mean? Is it Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney Melbourne Adelaide Hobart Perth Darwin? They all have different climatic conditions? In fact if you look up Google for atmospheric conditions in Japan it says "cold and dry in the North in Kokkaido, wet and humid in the South in Kyushu"
Even so, Most people dont think that Yamaha would deliberately lie. Well it is not for me to suggest that Yamaha would do that, however I will put the case against and let the public decide.
Through the University of Adelaide some years ago we wrote to Yamaha Australia asking for certain part numbers.These part numbers were varied and mostly wooden parts (therefore following on that argument could be affected by climatic change)
We gave certain serial numbers from stock I have imported into Australia and therefore not made for Australian conditions, stock that we knew to be
imported by Yamaha Australia and then we made up serial numbers to make up the sample.
Yamaha Australia wrote back with some pages of stock numbers for us.
I went to my friend in the factory at Hammamatsu Yamaha's headquarters and large manufacturing plant and gave him the same questions.
He provided me with some pages of stock numbers for us.
We were not surprised to find that the numbers matched.
So in other words, if the stock numbers matched, how would you know where they were going, and to what area of what Country etc, so the laminated signs in colour on the Yamaha pianos being sold in the market place saying "made for Australian conditions" was misleading.
I took this information to the Consumer Affairs office in Parramatta, also with old owners manuals of Yamaha pianos when I used to sell them new, brochures, current and older ones with no mention of "made for certain conditions" and asked that they make Yamaha take these misleading signs of the piano.
This has been done. I have noticed that on a small part of the soundboard on one of the grand pianos I recently inspected in a Yamaha shop, there is a marking "seasoned for Australian conditions". In 300 yrs of building pianos, no one has ever made a claim as to make pianos for certain conditions, not Kawai, not Steinway, not Schimmell, not Bosendofer.
Grey Market
Now there is brochure handed out from time to time showing "grey market pianos" and a picture of a beautiful Yamaha piano alongside another picture of a Grey coloured Yamaha piano. Once again it tries to make the case for the Yamaha pianos made for Australian conditions.
Why would Yamaha go to so much trouble?
Here is the answer.
1.Yamaha has made world class pianos since Mr Yamaha won gold awards at the 1905 music show in Chicago
2. Those products will last for many many years, top quality models for more than 100yrs
3. So they are still very high quality when they are still young, and in this business 30-40yrs is young.
4. THE PRICE Why are they so cheap when compared to the same new model Yamaha?
a. They are second hand from an era when the piano was cheaper anyway
b. The price charged overseas by the Multi national companies reflects a price that has a larger margin in the middle than the retail profit, so cheaper to buy in Japan, cheaper because they are not reflective of current retail prices, and cheaper because of the large margin in the middle put on by the importer.
IN SUMMARY
1.Yamaha make great pianos
2. Yamaha pianos last a long time and in great playing condition
3. Yamaha prices of pianos sold in Japan are substantially lower than the rest of the World
4. Yamaha are losing market share to their own great pianos
5. Great Yamaha used pianos are sometime only 25% the price of the same model new in market places outside of Japan.
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