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Thanks Joseph, you had me going there for a moment.

Naturally, I've been keeping a cloth over the lyre so people can't see my embarrassing missing pedal problem.

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I'm enjoying my first few days with the C3. The tuning is moving very very slightly out; my 'climate' is quite a lot different to the warehouse where it came from. The tuner's coming for the first time in about 10 days. The thing that really strikes me about the piano (apart from the fact that it lo...

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Pianocat, I feel for you... None of these locations are ideal. Upstairs - well, apart from the issue of your students using the stairs this might work well if you have a spare bedroom you can convert. It's very unlikely there would be any problem with floor strength in a house built within the last ...

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I refinished a Leslie tone cabinet for a Hammond organ a few years ago. I stripped the original finish with careful applications of Nitromors and darkened the colour somewhat with stain to match the colour of the organ, then french polished it. I bought this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Furniture-R...

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Thanks Joe. It's a gorgeous bloody piano. The dealer has been in the business for 35 years and he comes highly recommended. I'll bore you all some more about it when it arrives. Meantime I'm going to deliberately forget everything the nay-sayers told me and think about what I'm going to achieve with...

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NewAge, No, I'm sure you haven't missed something. And I've taken on board everything I've read here and in many other forums, and everything I've heard elsewhere from professionals and punters alike. This includes being told that all grey import Yamahas are rubbish; that all Japanese-market Yamahas...

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Barrie - see my other thread "Yamaha C3 v. Kawai KG-2". I went for the C3, gawd help me.

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Well I've just come back from a final trip and for better or worse I'm about to be the new owner of a Yamaha C3. Yes it's old - but it's in pretty good nick. As far as we can tell it has not been worked on at all, and the dealer has done nothing to it apart from tuning it. With my limited knowledge ...

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Interesting, Barrie. Well anyway such a decision is now out of my hands because the dealer supplying my new piano is taking the Collard away next week. (yes, I've ordered my new piano)

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Thanks guys. Yes - of course it's obvious once somebody points it out to me - all those pins are near one edge of the block. As I said, the piano is going to be scrapped, even though I really hate the whole disposable society thing. There's a Collard grand on eBay at the moment that's the doppelgang...

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Exactly, Joe. The fact that 'my' dealer is not trying to tell me his piano is 'refurbished' 'reconditioned' 'serviced' etc. is a point in his favour to my mind. I like this Yamaha - the rest is up to me and my conscience... I could walk away from the KG-2 without a second thought. Mind you, if I cou...

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Point taken, but to be fair I don't actually know it hasn't had any work done to it. All I know is that the dealer isn't claiming that it's refurbished. I just had a reply to a message I sent to another well-known dealer about a (somewhat younger) C3 for sale on eBay for £1,500 more than I'm contemp...

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Joe, I'm not expecting miracles warranty-wise - I know it's an old piano. But the dealer has to back up his confidence in the instrument - and it's not just the length of the warranty, what he's promising to cover during that period matters.

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As I 'enjoy' the last few days with my old Collard grand before it goes to landfill I'm curious about the particular way in which the tuning has fallen apart. To my knowledge the piano hasn't been tuned for at least 5 years and there are loads of pins that are so loose the strings won't hold at all....

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You're right about that - and I will be going over the warranty terms with them.

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I'm going to visit the dealer one more time on Saturday, expecting to make a final decision on the day. Apart from the obvious (getting my head examined) can anyone suggest any physical/visual checks to carry out that I might not have thought of?

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Actually Joe they're both 40 years old. Your opinion is noted - and I think you're right. I'm going to take the Yamaha.

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It does indeed, Joe. I'm looking at a C3 that's 1972 and I'm trying to do the 'due diligence' before putting my hard-earned on the table. I think it was originally Japanese-market supplied.

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Barrie,

Just to be clear - you're saying there was no C3 in 1972, yes?

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I'm probably not being very clear (typical of me). If I was buying a piano for 'fun and relaxation' only, I'd want the lightest action 'cos it's easier to play the way my hands are right now. But, since I'm determined to go back to lessons, take exams etc. I'm wondering if should choose a firmer tou...

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Point taken. Chances are the only time I will be playing other pianos (when it will matter) is when I take grade exams.

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Thanks for your thoughts. Do you have any comment about the question of firmer touch being a good idea?

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My piano search has narrowed down to two pianos, both from the same dealer. As I said elsewhere, I adored the C3 - but the KG-2 was pretty nice too. What I didn't like so much was the slightly heavier touch on the Kawai. They're both old-ish (mid '70s) and both low-mileage ex-domestic use. The Kawai...

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Since I'm no longer talking about Young Chang, I'm gonna move to a new thread...http://www.piano-tuners.org/piano-forum ... =3&t=10958

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I just followed a link to the Roberts Pianos site, where they say the C3 was made from 1979.

http://www.robertspianos.com/top-makes/ ... yamaha-c3/

That's wrong, isn't it? I hope so. The C3 my nose is hanging over has a serial number that puts it in 1972/3.

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Well you're right - I do have my heart set on another grand. I will admit though that, when I played the uprights, I was astonished by a used Yamaha U3 - I really hadn't realised uprights could be that nice. If my 'grand' scheme really falls through a good used U3 might be my second choice, perhaps ...

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By way of an update for anyone who cares: as previously mentioned, your comments persuaded me not to bother looking at the Young Chang. Yesterday, I went to another dealer, with a wide range of used grands, on a fact-finding trip to narrow my choices. Inevitably, I ended up falling in love with a pa...

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How does the marking actually break down? Is it basically the same throughout the grades?

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I'm glad I came across this thread. In a few weeks time I'll have a decent piano again and I'll be re-learning after many years. Sight reading was always my problem. I passed grades 1-3 (as a child 40+ years ago) easily; scraped through 4 by the skin of my teeth getting bascially 0 on sight reading ...

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I have thought about UV film. There are two windows and two sets of patio doors in the room, so it would be a sizeable cost to do. I'll look at it again if I end up with a piano that looks good enough to warrant it. As Silverwood says, a white sheet would be cheaper! My 'scrapper' Collard grand is a...

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Thanks for that answer. You're saying that all finishes, old and new, are similarly at risk from the sun? Where my piano lives (and its replacement will live) I can just about avoid any direct sunlight on it but as I say the room is very bright.

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Many older pianos I've looked at have suffered from fading. I was wondering if modern polyester finishes are any more resilient to UV? 'Ebony' - i.e. black - seems to be the colour of choice for cheap new grands. Presumably this is the cheapest finish to do, because the grain of the underlying wood ...

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This fascinates me. The reasons why digitals should suffer this lack of dynamic range is a subject for a different thread (on a different forum on a different web site!) but my speculation is that it's the control data from the keyboard. Compact Disc has a usable dynamic range of over 90dB, which is...

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a 20 year old Yamaha G1 for £3900 plus commissions and transport and a tuners say 2 days prep set you back just over 5k that's what I be looking at,what would that cost in a showroom. Exactly £6,000 including prep, delivery, stool, warranty and first tuning apparently: http://www.besbrodepianos.co....

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Joe, I'm very sorry if my comments have rubbed you up the wrong way. I appreciate all the posts and what I've read has - as I indicated - made me think twice about this piano (and about Young Changs in general). Thus the forum has been a valuable help, although it's always humbling to discover one w...

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OK, I'm getting the message. Young Chang pianos are all bad. Nobody in their right mind would accept one at any price. They're an offence to the noble art of piano making. Maybe that's why this example is scratched. Maybe a piano tech got so fed up with trying to make it play right he did a Basil Fa...

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Colin, Really interesting to hear a piano teacher's view on digital pianos. I know I remarked in a previous post that I believed some digitals are approved for exams, but this was only meant to be a comment on the quality of the 'action' on current generation instruments. But in terms of the basics ...

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Joe, Thank you for your frank view. No I haven't seen the piano yet; it's a long way away and I'm trying to learn what I can about the deal before deciding whether I should make the journey or not (actually the dealer has offered to deliver it to me 'on approval' if I pay the delivery costs in the e...

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The dealer is Besbrode in Leeds. You can see the piano on their website. This morning they sent me a comprehensive set of high-res images showing the damage, which looks to me like (a) the piano has been kept in a room with other equipment that's been banged up against it and (b) something has been ...

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Sounds like that piano teacher hasn't played a digital recently. Current Yamahas are really good - I played a Yamaha Arius YDP-something in a store the other day and was astonished. The tone is really good but at your stage that isn't even particularly important. What matters is the touch and the Ya...

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I'm interested in this piano which is being offered by a dealer with significant damage to the casework - all cosmetic, but ugly. What I'm trying to figure out is what the piano would be worth with a perfect case. The serial number G083728 suggests it's around 1994 (pre-Pramberger). Obviously I have...

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I went to visit a player piano today; I'm not really a player piano tech but the owner couldn't find anyone better to look at it. I went just to inspect it and get an idea of the condition, warning the owner that repair work might require a specialist. Right away, I've got a mystery to solve, and a ...

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Very reassuring to read the Steinway man saying just what I'd heard and what I always thought must be the case...now try telling all this to a prospective buyer...

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The wet-behind-the-ears guy replies: a loose rib or whatever causing a buzz or similar noise is obviously a big deal and whether it's fixed beautifully or crudely it needs to be fixed. However, my understanding is that, at least for 'ordinary' pianos, a split in the soundboard doesn't make as much d...

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...so let me just get this right, Gill. You're saying that you don't really like Wurlitzer pianos very much, is that the gist of it? I mean, there's really no need to beat around the bush like this - just say what you mean.

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Thanks guys, this is all most illuminating and - I think - encouraging. I'd better find out if I'm any good at tuning, then. The immediate problem is that my newly-acquired grand is in such a state that it fails all Mr. Reblitz's pre-conditions for tuning. Perhaps I'll have to test my repairing and ...

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Mr. ignorant-about-real-pianos says: isn't it probably that the pedal mechanism is out of adjustment and isn't lifting the dampers properly? There'll be turn-able stuff in the trapwork if you take the lower front cover off, that can take up the lost motion (slack). Just so long as you don't adjust i...

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pianoguy, At risk of getting seriously off-topic here, the best you can say about an A100 is that it's as good as a B3, not better. The late Alan Young did a genius job on the A100, convincing a reluctant Laurens Hammond that you could build a self-contained version of the 3 series at an affordable ...

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now seriously guys, I am interested to know what the market is like for piano tuners and technicians in the UK in 2005. If anyone has any hard facts I'd really like to hear them....

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Indeed, indeed. Mind you, I'm more of a Rhodes man, myself. Crept up on an 88 Suitcase with stereo vibrato on a concert stage while the roadies weren't looking when I was 13 and never fell out of love. Jimmy Smith for Hammond, Joe Sample for Rhodes...

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