All About Choosing and Buying Pianos
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Just to add to the confusion
..there is also Yamaha U1 that is assembled in Indonesia or is it that tropicalise for local mkt..I cant remember the model no..but its U1XX. Its on display at Yamaha @ Frontier. Pricing is lower as well. -
Mum_2Gals:
If you see a 10 years old U1 at $3.8K, I think you should grab it!
Hmmm, Brand new U1 on sale now at $8600, and a 10yrs U1 selling online now at $3800....Read that many bought 20-30yrs U1 also at around 3-4K .......So it seems like the depreciation highest if sell after 10yrs, but after that not much further depreciation???? why...... :? :?
My requirement when shopping for a resale: a reputable brand piano, ideally only 7 to 8 years old. If I remembered correctly, was quoted $3k for a 20 years old U1. Went to Robert piano and was quoted $6K for a 9 years old Kawai (model # I can't remember).
Very hard to find a relatively new piano. If there's one, it is priced too closely to a brand new set (dealer's profit margin). If got lobang, I think the ideal case is to buy directly from another household whose child is upgrading piano, at least no issue with climate (not imported from Japan, suitable for Singapore climate) and not too heavily utilised (I don't want to buy from a piano school) and need not pay a mark up for dealer's margin. -
If you can get over the brand stigma, there is this made-in-China Hailun brand that is supposedly not bad. One of my friends got the HL 125 for around $3.8K and she was pretty happy about it.
There is actually a local mum who has a blog on the same piano here => http://piano-diary.blogspot.com/
You can ask her for her opinion. -
U1 from Japan is fully assembled there (quite a few of the 2ndhand dealers here will source for these as the prices they fetch will be higher). Some of the local ones are made in Indonesia.
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I am considering to buy either a Kawai K3 or a Yamaha U1 for my 6 year old daughter.
Any advise would much be appreciated. -
Personally, I think both are equally matched in terms of quality. Generally Yamaha has a brighter sound and Kawai a more mellow one. So depends what you want to "live" with in the next 10-15 yrs (or perhaps even longer?). Yamaha MAY have a slightly better resale value as it is still a more popular brand. Try out both with your daughter and go with your instinct. Ask your daughter as she’ll be the one playing on it. But whichever one you go for, it’ll still be a good choice.
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georgewong22:
I owned a Kawai K5 once and I'm now learning on a Yammie U1 at YMS. Personally I prefer the sound of a Kawai. Being a novice, requested the sales-rep to play a classical song and was blown away.I am considering to buy either a Kawai K3 or a Yamaha U1 for my 6 year old daughter.
Any advise would much be appreciated.
What I liked about Yammie is that their sales reps are not pushy and they publish their prices outright so the visibility is there. They also have periodic sales offer round the year.
Some people will go Plaza Sing to try out Yammie and immediately to Centrepoint for Kawai and compare for themselves which is their preference. Happy shopping
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markfch:
We did exactly that! Except we went on more than just one trip and two places to try out the pianos before finally deciding on Kawai.
Some people will go Plaza Sing to try out Yammie and immediately to Centrepoint for Kawai and compare for themselves which is their preference. Happy shopping
Personal preference - Kawai's mellow tone sounds better for classical music while Yamaha is brighter and more cheerful, thereby more suitable for contemporary pieces. You can get the sales staff to play 2 different pieces on the same piano and feel them for yourself before making a decision.
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it is my personal opinion that it is better to get the exam grade and second hand unit
if the kids eventually grow tired of it, you don’t lose much money when you re-sell it as second hand unit - compared with having bought a brand new one
we got a second hand Yamaha U2 10 years ago - fully Japan made (in those years it was 100% Japanese made) and the sound is very very good till these days and it has been trouble free
if we were to sell it - we won’t lose money
no we won’t sell unless it is an upgrade to a grand -
verykiasu2010:
I didn't know yammie got a U2. I thought it's only U1, U3 & YU5.we got a second hand Yamaha U2 10 years ago - fully Japan made (in those years it was 100% Japanese made) and the sound is very very good till these days and it has been trouble free
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