Young Chang any good?Advice needed for nervous first timers!

[Lulu]

My husband and I have been looking for a piano for a while now. We're both musicians but not pianists, so we know what kind of sound we want, but in terms of quality/value for money, we have no idea! We've found a U 131 refurbished Young Chang which is about 15 years old. After having been mistreated by violin dealers before, I'm very cautious about this whole business and would really appreciate any advice before we take the plunge. Is it worth looking around for a second hand Yamaha for a bit more money? or is Young Chang better value for money? Thanks in advance......

[Barrie Heaton]

Young Chang tend to have a quite light touch and are very bright in tone the build quality is not that bad not as good as a Yamaha if your are concerned get a tuner to give the piano the once over most retailers are very happy for tuners to look at pianos

At the end of the day if the price fits and you are happy with the tone then go for it

Barrie,

[Lulu]

Thanks for your advice. We've just been back to the shop with a very brilliant pianist friend of ours to get a second opinion. We hadn't tried any of the Yamaha's on our first visit so this time we did, and at first, the newer ones didn't really capture us, but we then tried one from '82 and we've fallen a little in love with it. It really made the Young Chang sound like a toy piano in a big black box. It was the one of cheaper U-3's he had there, but for us, it was leagues ahead of the others. Is it worth an extra 1,000 pounds for an instrument of that quality? If we hadn't compared the YC to the Yamaha we would have been happy with it and of course you could go on forever and ever, justifying the extra expense! Is there anything we should know about U-3's before we make an offer?

[AnonymousBloke]

Second Hand U3s are almost always an excellent buy IMHO. I would still suggest getting a tuner to check the piano out. I often see good pianists playing a piano and saying it's a lovely instrument, but overlooking some obvious structural faults. (bring on the old "i can drive a car but cant fix one" example!)

The 2 main things i always find it worth checking thoroughly on a U3 are the tuning pins and the loops - Yamaha have used a variety of different loop chords and some seems to perish quicker than others - im sure piano guy could tell us the different types of loop chord and the dates each was used!

[PianoGuy]

Yamaha have used a variety of different loop chords and some seems to perish quicker than others - im sure piano guy could tell us the different types of loop chord and the dates each was used!

What d'ya take me for.... A total Yamaha Anorak?

Go for a post 4,000,000 serial one!

PG