Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Kawai BL61. Should i or shouldn't i?

Hi,

I have been looking for a secondhand piano for a while and i came across this private piano teacher who the piano below for sale.

Manufacturer: Kawai
Model: BL61
Description: Gloss Black, 127cm, 3-Pedals
Serial number: K955666

The currently asking price is RM8,000 which is about USD$ 2,000

I have run through a chk online and found that based on the serial number, the Piano should be manufactured some time between 1977/78.

In her email she has also mentioned that

"The Kawai I have for sale is in beautiful, original condition, it has never been 'touched-up', or re-painted and comes with an extremely nice adjustable duet seat that would be worth RM 500.00 on its own."

I am planning to inspect the piano myself soon, but without knowing the value fo the piano, it will be difficult for me to negotiate for a fair price.

Just wondering if there are anyone out there who has dealt with this model of Kawai, and whether this model of kawai suffers from any types of defects? and anything else to look out for?

Thanks! =)

Some piano teachers think their pianos are worth more than they really are. If she is a fulltime piano teacher and has had this piano from new, it has most likely been played on rather hard.

YOu never know though. Check it out and let your gut speak to you. You could always take a technician along with you to look at it.

Good luck!

We have two of them that have new pins, strings and hammers. They sound great. They sell around $3000 with a 5-yr. warranty, delivery and tuning.

It is a judgement call as to whether or not it is worth the extra $1000 for the reconditioning and other dealer services.

Based on your post, you can expect a piano with a worn out action.
From weak repetition springs to worn out bushing.
This is if she took care of it.
If I were you, I'll probably save up a little more and buy a NEW inexpensive Kawai 508, K-18 or UST-8. You can Probably buy any of these three models for less than $4,000 dollars.

You guys are right, the piano is overpriced. Local dealers are selling refurbished Kawai BL-61 131cm for RM6000 (USD1,500)

at that price do you think it's worth it? The dealers said basically to consider Kawai KL-61 131cm, because i was initialy interested in a refurbished yamaha U3, serial number H1553557, going for USD 2,250. He said that both are 131cm and that they're of the same league.

(i disagree though, i still think the u3 sounded much better)

I just bought one BL61 last week. I paid US1815 for it (RM6900). It's a refurbished unit. Polished Mahogany with nickel pins. Based on the serial number, it's produced in 1973.

I love it...