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Hello everyone, I was looking into purchasing Tadashi upright Piano, serial number 491065, manufactured in 1973. When reading reviews of the company, I got the mixed results. The technician I have contacted did not deal with these pianos before but he thinks that $2,000 for it is steep (he didn't see it though). Thoughts anyone? I guess I need to find out if that year was good production year and if anyone has similar instrument and/or experience with it. Thanks so much.

Hi, and welcome to the Piano World Forums!

I noticed that no one had responded to your thread about the Tadashi upright piano. I'm no expert, but I did a quick Google search, and it seems that the Tadashi is one of those obscure and little known or heard of brands. That does not, however, mean it is not a decent musical instrument. From what I read, they were manufactured in Japan in their day... I doubt they are still produced under that name, but they could be, I suppose.

Kind of reminds me of my former grand piano brand, "Tokai"... also made in Japan and not a well known or heard of brand. It turned out to be a decent piano for my purposes though.

As far as the price, you are getting close to a price point of a new Chinese made upright… I would agree that the price may be on the high side for a little known brand…

My suggestion is to play it and see if you like it, and then have it inspected by a piano technician and go from there… the name on the fall board is not as important as what you hear and feel when you play it!

Good luck!

Rick

I am familiar with these pianos.
It is probably a Japanese piano of high quality.
Get it checked out.

Take care,

Steve

Per Larry Fine's excellent book (not the current updated version on-line, but the "original" from 2001, which I have a print copy of-and which is very handy for reference information about older piano companies, no longer extant).

Tadashi's were made in Japan in the 1970's, and first sold in the US as Atlas, but they ran into trademark problems, so they sold them as Tadashi (they remained Atlas in Japan, which created the interesting case where the piano sold under a Japanese name in the US and a US name in Japan). In the 80's the company tried to stay competitive/relevant by relocating production to Taiwan, and then Canada. It didn't work out, and they went under in '87. An importer revived the name with a half Japanese, half Korean piano-that didn't work either.

Your report of a 1973 date is interesting-Fine said that they were first sold in the US in the late 70's. I don't know your location, but I wonder where the piano was purchased?

Beyond all of that-my parents own a Tadashi upright they picked up second hand (unknown vintage). It's a decent piano with a nice action, but somewhat of a bright tone. But for $2,000, IMHO, you could do much better in the used Market.

Best of luck to you.

I just paid $350 for a Tadashi, Has a T10 model on it and it said it was made in Japan !! i got a really good bargain then for my two sons to start!

Tadashi or Tokai pianos usually serve as "filler pianos" for grey market dealers importing containers of Yamahas and Kawais.
Since the pianos cost virtually nothing, they conveniently fill containers of the much higher regarded- more expensive other brands.
These "filler pianos" are later typically used as rentals or end up being sold for very little.
Since they are "made in Japan" people seem to trust them "automatically" as reliable product.
Some dealers I know are making killer margins even when selling at very low price.
Filler pianos also serve well for advertising campaigns such as "Japanese pianos starting at only $ 1000..." etc
The ones at least I have seen, for the most part, were of average quality at best.
Many were worn to the hilt and had very little musical appeal.
It's one of the reasons we never decided to become dealers for grey-market pianos, leaving a [previously] higly profitable section behind.
[This was for pianoloverus.. ]
For $ 350 a pop however, it may well be a no-brainier....
Norbert

I bought it at someone home, the aunt who bought it paid well over 3,000 for it but had to get rid of it bc they just sold the house and had 2 days to move sell and move everything since they are moving to another state to live with a family... =) i checked everything out and it looks great. They will look for paper works of when they purchased it. when i go pick it up tomorrow they said they will have it

I bought this for $350!! At an estate sale, it wasn't the owner's, it was her sister's piano who moved and left it behind bc the moving cost was too much. BUt now the home owner sold her house so everything had to go. =) I was very lucky

I would not pay $2,000 for a 40 year old off-label Japanese vertical of average quality. For that price you could get a much newer Yamaha vertical or even a very good used Charles Walter.

What Piano*Dad said. In today's market, it's priced too steep.

I've only played one Tadashi, a 45" upright, in great condition and well taken care of. But, the action was almost uncontrollably light, and the sound kind of tinny. Here is a video where you hear someone playing one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArFxlZj3YqE&feature=channel&list=UL

You are right, the piano was very bright and metallic sounding... however, I'm thinking a good tuning and voicing would tone it down a good bit.

And, in regards to Norbert’s comments about the lesser known Japanese pianos like Tadashi, Tokai, Apollo, and others... from what I have read, a lot of those pianos were imported to the US and sold by dealers as new pianos in the 70's and 80's. I think Steve Cohen mentioned once that he sold new Tokais back in the day. So, not all of them are "filler" or grey market pianos, though that was an interesting bit of information.

When I was shopping for a grand, I was interested in a piano with name “Rosenstock” on the fall board. I had never heard of the brand and did a little research… turns out, it was Korean grey market (not originally marketed in the US) brand made by Young Chang. Guess there are lots of “filler" pianos out there.

Rick