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hihi snoopycar,

I dunno about the reason why the sales people did that,
but I feel it's just wrong for the sales person to be untruthful about such facts. Afterall, in such cases they ought to provide the correct stats, and it's up for the customers to decide if the deal is good enough for them. =/

To be blunt, it's like they are tearing down their own customers' confidence in them. If they can lie about this, who knows what other stuff they might be hiding? How can anyone trust them with their after services with their piano in the future too?

Sorry if I sound a bit harsh over this....
I just cannot stand dishonesty =(
And I still want my piano~! *sad*

hi hi

i've been lied before too, told me 2yrs.
after buying, i found more than 5yrs ..

tell the truth lah !
some shops even display the age and infomation.
when to cristofori before huh?

best option is always buy new, no doubts, smell fresh, peace of mind. 2nd piano, some ppl scare got spirit inside from old house .. hehehe

2nd piano how to trust seller? by being smarter yourself lor.
print out serial no/ yr table, buy a pierce altas of all piano serial no.

being smart means know what to look for and what to listen for.
if don't know, can always engage someone to help you.

PM me lor, i recommend you some really honest shops.
they even educate you to help yourself

Hi all

I'm new here and this is my 1st post.

My 6 year old girl had started learning piano for 6 months and her Yamaha teacher has been advising us to get a real piano for her as her fingers are weak. She's been practising on a keyboard. So for the past few months we have been shopping for piano. Due to tight budget ($4-5k), I'm now considering Hailun H125 but still want to be sure before making the payment. I know little about piano so would appreciate advise.

Bihua, notice that you've the same piano, is there any funny sound from the keys? Any problems that I should take note? Tx

Snoopycar, Digitus and experts, have you all tried playing on this piano? Any comments?

I realised my girl have sharp ears, can differentiate better sound, eg we tried Kawai, she prefered K5 to K3 etc. At one point we almost go for K5 ($9k+) but pulled back. Told her too expensive.

So far we tried many but the ones that impressed us other than Kawai are:

Yamaha U1
Hailun H125
Weber (christofori) ht 131 (selling abt 4K, 3 mth old show room pc)

She likes all 3, no special preference. Hailun touch is heavier than Yamaha. Will it be too heavy for a 6 year old beginner? Between Hailun & Weber, which one should I choose?

We are thinking of stretching for U1 (monthly instalment of $300+ for 24 mths), is it necessary?

Should my girl give up few years down the road, we still have 2 younger kids that may be interested (haha). For Hailun, the most we loose $3.6k, or can trade in at half price within 5 years and get new one. For U1, few years later say we loose half, so abt $4k+. So money term, loose about the same. Am I thinking correctly?

We are not considering 2nd hand as we know nothing about parts, wear & tear, so play safe with new one.

Thanks in advance for any advise.

All of them sound like good choices. Thinking in terms of depreciation is a right view. Most of the depreciation takes place in the first 3-5 years, to around half of its original value.

My main advice is to get at least a full upright (not a console or spinet), which you are already doing.

Kawai and Yamaha are generally seen to be of a higher tier viz Hailun (China) and Weber (Young Chang). The main reason (to me at least) appears to be more because of the reputation for reliability. (Yamaha build quality is quite legendary. My 30-year old Yamaha U1 is still in excellent shape with minimal fuss, and lasted me to LTCL!)

However you have to pay for this reliability, and whether it's worth it depends on you. Pianos would generally last at least good 5-10 years (more likely 20-30 years or longer), which is why most dealers seem comfortable offering a warranty of that period.

Indeed, most pianos last longer than people's interests. (It's similar to a pet that way.) So do think about how long you intend to keep this piano.

A secondary issue also relates to how well you like the sound. Your child will be practicing (often badly) repetitive or very simple songs repeatedly, and if you find say the treble grating or the bass overpowering, your own enthusiasm (which is important to a young child) will be affected.

Finally, don't worry about how heavy the touch is. You will be surprised how fast the student will get used to it.

Given these considerations, I would personally pick a piano with a sound that you and your child would be enthusiastic about. Pianos last a long time. Practice makes the most difference. Whether it is a Hailun, Weber, Kawai, or Yamaha (and each have their own fans) would depend on your ears and your child's fingers.

I forgot to add - do make a trip down to Gramercy in Tanjong Katong as well to try the Bohemia and Wilhelm Tell pianos - I like the touch, and find them to be reasonably good value. The sound would be somewhat different from the rest.

Hi fj_s

thanks for yr advice.

Now you mentioned bass, we'll be placing the new piano in one of the bedroom, not very big room, will overpowering bass be very loud n ear piercing there? Think Hailun has very strong bass.

Hard to tell. Lots of things affect the tone, including the size of the room, height of the roof, distance from wall, type of flooring, and the number of soft objects in the room, and the ambient noise. Also, many people find the treble more annoying than the bass (particularly in a small room with resonant frequencies.).

If you add enough soft objects (e.g. carpets, tapestries, curtains) and place the piano a little distance from the wall, it should reduce the sound going out of the room, but you may have to experiment. Anyway it's unlikely the bass would be overpowering to people outside the room.

thanks..this shows that i really don't know piano..ha ha..

have u tried hailun and weber before?

Hailun yes, Weber no (though the showroom's nearby so I could pop in and try during lunchtime tomorrow.)

I thought the Hailun grand (I think it was the 178) was reasonably good - decent sound and action, particularly at the price. I thought the Kawai RX-2/3 was better, but the price is also much higher.

But I haven't tried the Hailun upright. And to be frank, a grand action is very different from an upright, so take my words with a pinch of salt.

I think HaiLun125 is great value for money piano !!
Can consider 'cos the tone n touch is quite nice.

If you can stretch your dollar and you're sure your daughter will go all the way, go for the U1. It has a wonderful tone and a long playing life.
It may be a personal bias, but I've always preferred Yamaha to Kawai. Yamahas generally have a high resale value as well :P

fj_s, why u say no to weber? BTW, the weber 131 is only available at Funan Christofori.

Think the lady at PianoMaster said Hailun 125 is actually an upright grand, sounds like dvd quality..

read somewhere that a good sounded piano can actually encourage children to engage more, that's why I don wan to anyhow buy..

Or since I'm coming out cash to buy Hailun, might as well pay for Kawai K5 and the balance by instalment..stretchin further n further...ha ha..siow ah... (Kawai's rule for credit card instalment is 40% cash, 60% instalment). Wonder why Kawai can't get 100% instalment like Yamaha???

perhaps its like car, 100% financing, owner suffers if sell off after a few yrs, why? Got to top up cash to the bank.

Taking up loan, hmmmm, consider first lor, because it adds financial burden. somemore need to add monthly teaching fees, exams fees. Come'on la, pearlriver piano also can learn till grade 8 or diploma level, buying K5 or new U1 is no garantee for student's grade - just a thought lor.

Key too heavy, too light, can ask technician to solve.

Finding a good, motivted, focused teacher is most important thatn anything else. Sometime you get to find them, other times they find you. if no fate, can't find at all.

Parents are also important, need to motivate child, control their tv time, organise school homework, allocate practise time, get involved ... and stuff like that.

So, buying a piano is not like buy a dvd player, just put the movie in and play.

One items good to invest is buying the Alfred CD series music book from gramercy.

Oh no - not another damn Hailun thread!!

Norbert

Sorry, I said I have not tried Weber, not no to Weber. Since it's next to my office, I will drop by to try it today. That being said, most of the pianos nowadays have reached an acceptable-ish quality (quite different from 10-20 years ago.)

Second, the term upright grand is a marketing term, not a technical term per se. It just suggests that the strings are as long as a baby grand, not that the action is any different.

Third, debt, particularly at this juncture, may not be the best idea.

Finally, I agree with Snoopycar that having a good teacher is more important than a good piano. (Caveat - the piano has to be halfway decent, but all those you are considering belong to that category.) When I was young, I changed teachers every 6 months until I found a good one....

Hi Nikkie,

The Hailun 125 which I bought, don't have funny sound and problems (so far) :P But anyway, worst case, still got 10 years warranty, so I am not worried. Anything, just ask them to fix and if really cannot fix, haha, can exchange one for one free. Haha, but of coz, I don't hope that to happen.

But true, the keys are much heavier than Yamaha's piano, and yes, if you really find it too heavy, can ask the technician to adjust one. But I feel that practising on heavier keys help strengthen the fingers strength and makes it very easy to play the Yamaha pianos, so it might be an advantage. But do note, I did get fingersache for like a month before I got used to the keys.

My piano teacher tried the Hailun 125 and felt that it is a good choice for a limited budget. She says can be used til Grade 8, so that part you no need to worry.

And most importantly, haha, it is cheap. It can last at least 10 years (given that warranty), so 3.6k over 10 years. Is cheap lor. Moreover, after 10 years, sure can get about 1k for the piano if sell at resale mkt. So, effectively is only 2.6k spent (dun assume time value of money), so even cheaper lor. So, I feel is a safe buy.

I don't advise taking loans, even if pple claim that is interested free, coz if they say is interest-free, they have already included the "interest charges" in the initial price which they quoted. And usually these interest charges are quite ex lor. So, if you can bargain until they say u need to pay cash. Haha, then you know their margin is very low liow. :P

And, personally I feel, get an affordable and not bad piano first, and if your kids really very professional and really want to pursue music in future (say, diploma and onwards), then use the money which u save now to buy them a very good one in future.

Hope these helps

Oh....for Yamaha U1 (assuming you are talking about new pianos from the Yamaha Shop, and is not U1J). I tried them before. I must say, I really like it very much. And really, it has a higher resale value coz it is YAMAHA, and somemore is U1, so after 10 years, you should still be able to sell it for 4K+. So, in my opinion you are right about the effective amount spent over the 10 years period is about the same. (for Yamaha U1 vs Hailun 125)

So, if looking from that angle, and if you can afford the U1 comfortably now (dun over-stretch yourself), is actually a good choice to get a new U1 leh.

Did I make you even more confused? haha

You see how much comfortable money you can afford, and let ur kids choose the one which they like the most within the price range, then decide lor.

Sorry, I never tried the Weber pianos at Cristofori. So, no comments.

Ha Ha Norbert, ya it's Hailun again..what to do..it's really value for money here in Singapore. HL 125 selling for S$3,600 (abt USD2,400). Be assured, i'm a genuine customer, not one engage by Hailun to spread it's name..but i don't mind if they insist to pay me..ha ha.