Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum Pianos and Technicians in Vietnam?

Kind of a random post, but I have a Vietnamese client who is considering purchasing a grand piano here in the States and shipping it home to her family in Vietnam. I believe she knows the shipping costs but we were both curious as to the number of good technicians and piano moving companies in the country, or any info for that matter. A basic Google search showed that Google "Street" isn't exactly working in this country yet. I don't remember Vietnam being mentioned in any of the Larry Fine literature so I don't believe there are any factories there, so it might be hard to judge talent in the tech area. My client thinks that there might be only two piano stores in Ho Chi Minh City, but that costs are twice what they are here and only the wealthy can really afford a piano. Perhaps the exchange rate of the dong to the dollar is even more in their favor at this particular economic moment.

The other obvious concern would be climate and humidity which might make purchasing a piano "destined for the climate" of another Asian country a better choice. Can anyone recommend any good resources regarding pianos in this area of the world?

I'll ask my neighboors, Vietnamese people like music, indeed climate not very good for pianos. May be he should consider buying a Korean one, less far.

Or one of those German pianos which are "tropicalized" many of the Sauter, Shimmel, Seiler, Hoffman/Feurich/Euterpe, from the 80s had the mention "tropical climate garanteed" , sign of some attention to the material and the glue used (the strings of course rust as usual, but particularely Sauter are very robust. (and they are yet "tropicalized" for some models)

Siagon climate could be damaging to a piano depending on its origin and where it lived prior. Purchasing one that was made in southern China where the climate is semi tropical may be a wise choice especially if it was shipped direct to South Vietnam with a tropical destination in mind when manufactured. Some European manufacturers will tropicalize their pianos - exactly what that means I am not certain but it involves lots of wood screws.
The additional cost could be justified if there were no shipping costs or wood moisture damage issues.
If there are pianos in Siagon there are probably technicians.
Does it have ivory keys? This may also be an issue.
I would be interested how this is resolved so let us know if you don't mind. Good luck.

good advice about south China (but less good instruments !).
I don't exactly know what mean "tropicalized" or "climate tropical guaranteed) but just by looking at the construction one see that the selection of woods and material is good, if more screws , not really for what I know (not in the soundboard for instance, while it have been done on some models) but metal braces under the keybed, good assembly, no cheap elements which will fall in piece with moisture.

I was beliving that the appellation was unused those days but just seen it on a "standard" model from Sauter (a small 116 cm vertical) lately.