Yamaha C110

pianolad23 · Post by **pianolad23** » 02 Jun 2005, 19:45

Can anyone tell me if a Yamaha C110A is good enough to take me to grade 8? i played one in a shop yesterday and i was pretty impressed with the sound and action, any advice would be appreciated.

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 02 Jun 2005, 20:45

There are many folk out there who have gone up to G8 on upright pianos a lot worst that a new Yamaha C110 I have a client who did on a Vert over damper.

You just have to adapt your playing to the pianos limits as to the piano standing up to the dally pounding of a G8 student it will suffer, I have a few clients who have P112 that are not fearing well at all strings braking and one C109 the bushings in the keys have worn out after 3 years but that is all they could afford at the time

Barrie,

pianolad23 · Post by **pianolad23** » 02 Jun 2005, 22:36

Thanks Barrie,

i am 2 grades away from 8 yet but to be honest a C110A is all i can afford at the moment, a C113T would be pushing it slightly, is there really much difference between the two instruments apart from the obvious casing design? i played a P112 in the shop aswell i could hear straight away that the sound was much better than the C110 but then again i played a 5K yamaha (cant rememeber the model) and it was hard to tell the difference from that and the C110!! im guessin the C110 is a well made piano.

Chris

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 03 Jun 2005, 07:51

First of all they are made in different factories the C range is their entry level pianos and are a little more inconstant in tone and regulating but a good tuner can bring it to speed. The P range not only have a better bass but a much better top treble they are more constant However, they do let out the odd Friday piano.

The new prices have now come in and most of the P range has gone up but the C110 has remained the same, in your case a good tuner who is comfortable with regulating and toning is a must, to keep the piano at its optimum level of performance.

There are a lot of 25 year old secondhand pianos in that price range that may work for you

go to go

Barrie,

pianolad23 · Post by **pianolad23** » 03 Jun 2005, 23:05

Dear Barrie,

Thanks for your advice, i have ended buying a C110A today from Dawsons in Chester, got it for a good price and i really like the piano, they said they will regulate, tune and voice it before it goes out to me, will voicing be required regularly on this piano, do they use different hammers to the P range?

Chris

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 04 Jun 2005, 07:08

Yes, the hammers are different from those fitted to the rest of the range. They are distinguishable by the lack of underfelting (usually of a different colour) The piano is made at the Chinese Pearl-River factory and is none the worse for that. Batch uniformity is better amongst C110 pianos than the P-range. It is one of the true bagains in the piano world at the moment, even at list price.

Voicing may be required again at some point, but it would be better to get the piano delivered first then tuned and voiced in your room as room acoustics have a huge influence on sound. Of course this will cost the dealer more money than just doing the work in his workshop, and if you've paid a really low price for the piano then there will probably be precious little profit in the deal for the dealer to enable him to do an in-house service.

Worth an ask though. If he won't come out to you, never mind! Use some of the money you've saved to get your local accredited tuner to voice it in situ!

PG

pianolad23 · Post by **pianolad23** » 04 Jun 2005, 17:07

Thanks for that info pianoguy, you really are a knowledgable bunch on here! The piano will be tuned before despatch and then retuned at my house 6 weeks after delivery by my local tuner, paid for by the shop. I did actually notice that the hammers on the C110 didnt have much underfelt if none at all as they look much smaller! does this mean they will wear out quicker? the piano wont be gettin a thrashing anyway!

i know what you mean about it being a bargain, as soon as i played it i was really impressed with the tone and action, they had a kemble in the shop for £1995 same size as the C110A but not a patch on it for tone or action.

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 10 Jun 2005, 07:14

Sounds like you're getting good service *and* a good price!

The Kemble to which you refer was probably a Studio model. It's very similar to the C110 but built in the UK. How it can be done for the price with UK labour costs I have no idea, although there are obvious compromises made. The veneer is of basic quality, there is no practice pedal and the tone is generally harsher. This is purely down to voicing, and a few hours spent on the piano can make the world of difference, so it's not a bad instrument. The action feel was probably also down to its set-up, as the componentry is identical!

The C110 is prettier and shiny black as well! The hammer quality means that hammer life may well be slightly shorter than a heavier underfelted hammer, but we're still talking many many years of use. 50 years plus with light useage?

Who knows!?

Have fun with your new piano!

PG

pianolad23 · Post by **pianolad23** » 29 Jul 2005, 23:29

I have since sent the C110 back to the shop as my original problem of a few buzzy notes could not be fixed by the tech and bought a 2nd hand U1 from the same shop for £2500 i think its an early 80's model! It was side by side with a brand new U1 and the older one sounded ten times better! maybe i have actually found the piano i am going to keep !!