Disklavier

Carol,

I am not arguing about the fairness of service. Yamaha Corp of 
America has all right to prevent losing market share. Therefore, 
they must do something about this. Actually, other international 
companies do the same strategy, for example Nikon or Sonus Faber 
(Italian Loudspeaker company, many of their products are more 
expensive than Yamaha pianos). The difference is that they do not 
say that they make different product for US market, they just purely 
try to protect their market in US which is fine and they should do 
this. 

All your explanation is totally making sense. The questions are from 
the Yamaha side. Are they really making pianos for North America 
market? Based on my observations and facts, it is just does not make 
sense for Yamaha to make inferior products for different market, 
because those products may be used in the similar environment in US:

1. Connectors - You said that the connection for gray market pianos 
are soldered instead of using nice connectors. The argument here is 
that Yamaha does not hire electronics technicians to build their 
piano ( I was in the factory), they hire men and women who only 
finished junior high to assemble their products. Therefore, Yamaha 
needs to ensure that their workers wil not make mistakes which 
causes Yamaha a lot of monies if they keep making unnecessary 
mistake. In addition, Yamaha is very good in quality control. 
Everyday at 3 pm, they destroyed any imperfection parts at the 
parking lot. Having said this, Yamaha cannot afford doing manual 
soldering like what found in gray market piano.

2. If the wood that Yamaha uses for non American market are not 
dried as dry as what they use for American market, the pianos that 
they produce for Asia market will crack because most people who can 
afford to buy grand piano or disklavier will first airconditioner 
their house before they are willing to pay big monies for a grand or 
a disklavier. Most likely people over there prefer having cool and 
dry living space is a higher priority to playing a grand or a 
disklav in sweat.

My conclusion is that Yamaha actually makes the same quality of 
pianos for every market.

RS





--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "Carol Beigel" <thecarolb@...> 
wrote:
>
> I realize this gray market issue comes up regularly, and if I was 
not 
> concerned about the issue and how is so sadly affects the 
cusotmers who buy 
> these pianos, I would not bother to reply.  I have 30 years 
experience 
> servicing pianos and have never seen a gray market piano equal in 
> performance or tone, the same piano made for the North American 
market. 
> Let's take the geography out of the argument and stick to the 
indoor climate 
> model.  In North America, people's homes can range from about 6% 
to 90% 
> relative humidity during the year.  If you were to leave a pile of 
wood 
> outddoors for 4 years, the moisture content of the wood would be 
around 12%. 
> Should you build a piano from this pile of wood and place it in a 
home where 
> the relative humidity stayed below 10% for many weeks, the piano 
would have 
> problems from shrinking.  However, if you first kiln dried that 
wood down to 
> 5% moisture content and built your piano, it would not warp in low 
humidity.
> 
> The damage done to a gray market piano is done when there is too 
much 
> dryness.  Wood swells up in high humidity as you know because the 
pitch of 
> your piano is sharp during the summer.  When you turn on your 
furnace, the 
> pitch drips dramatically because the soundboard has shrunk, or 
flattened 
> out.  If you take your nice dried out 5% moisture soundboard, and 
expose it 
> to 80% RH, it will expand. Since it has nowhere to go, it grows 
(warps) with 
> a huge crown in the middle.  The cell structure of the wood 
compresses 
> usually near the glue lines and you can see the pressure ridges.  
Left 
> without climate control, those pressure ridges become the cracks 
in the 
> soundboard you see when the piano dries out.
> 
> Think of a piece of wood like you would holding a handfull of 
straws. 
> Moisture can only leave through the ends of the straws, and not 
the sides. 
> Wood takes on moisture very quickly, but it takes about 6 weeks 
for it to 
> leave.  Since it can only leave through the end grain of the keys, 
action 
> parts, soundboards, etc. there is flexing or warping of the wood.  
Round 
> holes become oval shaped, so any metal pins will bind.  Cloth 
bushings in 
> the keys and action parts swell.  This causes sticking keys and 
notes that 
> return slowly.  Think of a popsicle stick thrown in your front 
lawn.  It was 
> straight when you finished your popsicle, but a week later laying 
around in 
> the sun, it can be quite warped and cracked.
> 
> Over time, this changing of moisture content is very hard on 
pianos.  That 
> is why there are piano climate control systems that are helpful 
when people 
> move from Florida to Phoenix.  If you bought your piano in the 
U.S. you will 
> find under how to care for your piano, that the relative humidity 
should be 
> kept as constant as possible and probably around 42 to 50%.
> 
> Kiln drying wood is very expensive as it requires a lot of energy 
and time. 
> Why put a piano through this expensive process when your market is 
a place 
> where the inside of buildings will remain fairly constant?  If no 
one in 
> your market needs to heat up a furnace during cold, snowy weather, 
why 
> bother to add twice the cost of manufacturing?  That is why 
different 
> factories around the world produce pianos for different markets - 
because 
> they are located in different indoor climate zones.
> 
> People in Europe generally do not heat their homes as dry as North 
Americans 
> do because the temperatures outdoors were milder in winter.  I 
doubt some 
> people who live in some parts of Indonesia or Asia have ever seen 
snow.  So 
> why should they pay for a piano made from kiln dried wood?
> 
> On the other hand, people who live in most of North America will 
be sadly 
> dissappointed with a piano that was not made from kiln dried 
wood.  They 
> will have intermittent sticking keys at best.  And it they 
purchased a 
> Disklavier with electronic parts that are not UL approved, they 
will have 
> trouble finding a supplier willing to risk a product safety 
lawsuit.  The 
> world of manufacturing wood products has changed significantly in 
the past 
> 30 years.  Acid rain has been decimating spruce forests.  The 
highest 
> bidders for premium lumber often turn it into paper.  
Environmental 
> protections dictate how many vapors are allowed to evaporate off 
the finish, 
> what glues do to worker's lungs, how wood sawdust from hardwoods 
can cause 
> cancer in woodworkers, or where a manufacturer may obtain the 
leather needed 
> to cushion piano actions.  The dyes in the wool felt and cloth 
also need to 
> be considered as they can react with air pollution to cause 
premature string 
> corrosion.
> 
> You can argue forever about the fairness of servicing or the 
manufacturing 
> of pianos for different climate zones, but it comes down to 
reality 
> eventually.  If you live in North America, purchasing a gray 
market piano is 
> not in your best interest.
> 
> Carol Beigel
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "rondisklavier" <setiawansr@...>
> To: <disklavier@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 6:14 PM
> Subject: [disklavier] Re: gray market disklaviers (was owners 
manual)
> 
> 
> > Jakarata, Indonesia. They make baby grand for American market.
> >
> >
> > --- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, James Fry <groups@> wrote:
> >>
> >> rondisklavier wrote:
> >> > Carol,
> >> >
> >> > I used to have my practical training in Yamaha factory for my
> >> > internship.
> >> >
> >> > I am not a piano sellers or have anything to do with piano
> > industry,
> >> > I just do not believe that Yamaha makes pianos differently for
> >> > different market. It will cost them too much monies, in
> > addition,
> >> > Japanese manufacturing is very very automated so doing 
different
> > way
> >> > for different market is utterly impossible.
> >> >
> >>
> >> Ron - out of interest, where was the factory?
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >>
> >> James
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
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