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My wife has been having a fit for a new piano, and we decided to take a look around. Our piano tuner referred us to Yamaha, but I wanted to see what else may offer an instrument of equal or better quality for a better price.

A local piano dealer referred us to Hallet Davis, and had a model on the floor that she absolutely loved. They are NOT a Yamaha dealer, so I realize that they will probably be a little biased toward what they sell to compete with the Yamaha dealer.

They had a Hallet Davis studio / console piano on the floor that retails for $4000. My wife loved the feel, the sound, and the look. This particular one was a repo from a store that went out of business, so it has never been owned privately. We were able to get him down to $2500 after a couple of hours of negotiation.

Can anyone talk to me about this? Is this a good quality piano? I know nothing about Hallet Davis. My wife doesn't know much about the instruments either. She grew up playing on a old old (pre 1900) Story & Clark and a Kawai baby grand (the Story & Clark was used briefly). She said that the Kawai never really gave her the sound that she really wanted.

Right now, we have a Kimball that dates back to about the mid 80s. We are trading this toward the HD.

So, we want to know if the HD is a quality upright. We don't have room for a grand.

Please help me and tell me if this is a good decision. It's scheduled for delivery tomorrow.

Primary uses will be to teach our 3 children to play, and for her to play on occassion and practice for church.

Thank you.

Does the 2500 include your kimball trade in or not? what is the price with out your trade,

2500 does not include the trade.

we'll get a better estimate on that tomorrow.

Sounds like a fair price.

Hallet Davis is just a name stencilled onto one of several different pianos made in China. I believe some have been made by Dongbei, and some I know were made by Pearl River. It's hit and miss with these. Some sound like breaking glass and have regulation problems that are quite annoying.

On the other hand, a Pearl River-Hallet Davis is among the most stable piano of several hundred that I've tuned regularly over the last several years. It has a very sweet sound. I tuned it the other day after a year and it had barely deviated from pitch. I regulated it and it came out great.

You should have a tech check it out. You could get lucky, or you could make a decision you'll regret.

how do I find out where / who made it?

Are you asking if you got a good deal? Yes, you got a very good deal. Finding a piano that your wife loves for only $2,500 is a fabulous deal regardless of its provenance. Consider yourself lucky.

I'm sure that it was a good deal. My question is more along the lines how good is the Hallet Davis piano?

I've seen their grands get good reviews from folks here, but haven't seen much on their uprights.
www.pianoratings.com rates them at 4 stars above Kawai (3.5 stars) and Yamaha (3.5 stars). But my internet research on them has come up somewhat dry. I'm just trying to make sure that the piano is a good instrument.

It does come with the 10 year warranty, fwiw.

Mason 2000...my answer is listen to the impartial jury of teachers, tuners, techs...Yamaha is world-renowned in many respects. You are comparing it to a brand you've never heard of? I ask why....it's a chinese piano with the name stenciled to the board...go to another piano store and look for the same model(with a different name). You are putting your kids on this piano, too. Consider that when learning to ride a bike if the chain is falling off all the time they won't want to learn to ride a bike anymore...if a piano can't hold it's tune too well then children become demotivated.

So it seems that several here do not believe Hallet Davis consoles to be of good quality?

Mason,

I wouldn't say it isn't of good quality, necessarily. Some I've worked on are good, some are very frustrating for the owners. I really can't tell you how to differentiate between the PR version and the ones made by other makers. See if you can find that information from the dealer.

For 2500$, you can't expect a great piano. To rate HDs above Kawai and Yamaha is a stretch, to say the least. There may be aspects of it that are on a par with the non-Japanese versions of Kawai and Yamaha.

On the other hand, it's pretty hard to find a Japanese piano for the price you paid for the HD. You didn't do badly. Just keep on top of it by using a good tech to deal with problems should they occur. And if you have warranty issues, make sure the dealer helps you solve them and covers costs.

I agree with Steve about one thing, if your wife loves it, half the battle is won!