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Hello everyone!
I have actually almost had it for a month now, but I purchased a Toyama TG-2 Baby grand! It is 5 foot, but sounds a lot bigger than it is!
I was after either a baby grand or a 52" upright (almost bought a Kawai US-50 on impulse, glad I waited!)
I narrowed my search down to a Yamaha GB1K and a Kawai GM10, mostly because they were in my budget... "Tsk tsk", I know! I had liked the Toyama better, but was hesitant because, well, what is Toyama? But I found out some more information from the dealer that made me more than comfortable buying this brand!

In the store it (the Toyama) was there against a Yamaha GB1k, a Kawai GM10 and a Kawai GM12, and let me tell you- it left these 3 pianos in the dust! Far better sounding in my opinion! Its sound is not too bright (like the GB1k) and not too mellow (like the Kawai GM10- very, very muddy!) it is right in between, and I love it! The sound is so versatile, one minute you can be playing beautiful, delicate repertoire, then the repertoire of virtuoso pianist without the sound 'giving out' like I find on a lot of smaller pianos... Whats the word? Warping? Im not sure, but either way, the sound on this Toyama does not 'warp' when played fortissimo. It also doesn't have that 'woody' tone a lot of smaller pianos have.
I also find the bass on 5 foot grands to be rather weak, however the bass on the Toyama is very strong for its size, and I am more than pleased with it! Also, the treble is just beautiful! I find a lot of Kawai's tend to have very dead upper registers.

The touch is on a piano is always my biggest thing to pick at, and the touch on the Toyama is excellent! You have absolute control over what you're playing and it just feels awesome! It is very firm, which I always prefer, and all my students when they first sat down at it commented on "how heavy it is!" and I think its important for students to practice on a heavy action so they can be prepared for any piano that may come their way.
To be honest, I even liked the action over a Schimmel the show room also had. In fact I liked the entire piano better than a Bosendorfer they had... I know, I must be crazy, right?

I was hesitant to buy this piano as there is not much on the internet about Toyama, but the dealer told me that Toyama is just the name Brodmann use in certain places (Australia being one) so that gave me confidence in the brand because I had been reading so much positive stuff about Brodmann on the internet but was disappointed to find you can't purchase Brodmann in Australia, but turns out you can! Its just called Toyama!

Also, another point is that this piano actually reminds me of a Yamaha S4, well at least the couple I have played! Not just that the touch is heavy like the 2 S4s I have played, but it just feels like the S4, and sound is similar to an S4- maybe slightly brighter.
Also, please note, because the S4 is a hand crafted piano it would vary from piano to piano, so I am judging this off the 2 S4 pianos I have played.


PS: The middle pedal is a sostenuto pedal, unlike the GB1K's bass sustain.

Congratulations on your new baby grand piano!

I know you will enjoy it for many years to come!

All the best!

Rick

Congrats! We love pictures... Hint, hint.

Congrats...getting a grand is one glorious event! But yes, please tons of pics

Congratulations on your new piano! I had never heard of Toyama; it sounds like they've managed to get a lot of piano into a small footprint. I was wondering what technologies they've actually incorporated to overcome the usual shortcomings inherent in such a small grand. Did you have a chance to compare quality of the piano's tone in different size rooms? And a true sostenuto? Amazing!

Congratulations!

The only thing I know about Toyama is that the pianos are built in Shanghai, China. The same factory builds Brodmann pianos too. However I do not know if the two brands share the same design or not. A well made Chinese piano is certainly a bang for the buck.

Almost every grand piano on the market today has a "true" sostenuto, so that's not exactly what I would call "Amazing!"...

Thank you, I stand corrected! I thought most small grands had "base sustain" center pedals, that are sometimes mistakenly called a sostenuto pedal.

Thanks everyone! Ill post pictures as soon as I figure out how...


According to the dealer, Toyama and Brodmann are the exact same pianos, just a different label. Somewhat like Samick and Alex.Steinbach!


No, I think you're correct, a lot of baby grand pianos have a bass sustain, not a sostenuto! I know the Yamaha GA1, GB1 and GC1 have bass sustain not a sostenuto pedal.

Which Brodmann? Which Samick? You make it sound like they sell one model of piano with one level of quality, when I'm pretty sure they build to at least three price points, each (or more), with different specifications of parts as well.

You seem fixated on the sostenuto pedal, but your information is incorrect. The current GC1 has a sostenuto pedal, standard:

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical-instruments/keyboards/grandpianos/g_series/gc1/?mode=model

I don't know why you're bringing up the GA1 - that model hasn't been made in about a decade now, right?

I'm happy you're excited about your piano, and hope it gives you many years of pleasure. If you think it's a better piano than a Schimmel, Bosendorfer, Yamaha, Kawai, and similar to a Yamaha S4, then congratulations...

Sorry, perhaps they don't sell Alex.Steinbach outside of Australia. Alex.Steinbach is the name Samick pianos go under here in Australia (we have Samick as well, but A.S seems to be more common.) And thats the case here with the Toyama, Toyama is the name Brodmann go under in Australia. So its the same models and whatever, just different labels.


Sorry, I should have double checked about those Yamaha pianos before typing, I was just basing it off a friend who has a GC1 which has a bass sustain, so he must have an older one. And I didn't realise the GA1 was out of production.
But, I am sorry, but I do not see how I am "fixated" on the sostenuto pedal? I made a couple brief comments, not an entire thread!


Sorry, don't know if you're trying to be rude with that little crazy face thing, but I never said I think its better, I just liked it better! To sit and play, I liked it better! Your comment is making it seem as if I am saying this piano trumps all pianos made by each of those brands, but what I said is it was far better than Kawai's GM10 and GM12, and far better than Yamaha's GB1K, thats 3 models, not an entire brand of piano. And yes, I liked it better than the Bosendorfer they had there in the store, that does not mean I automatically dislike every Bosendorfer in the world. And well, I have never been a fan of Schimmel.
At the end of the day, a pianist could spend $100,000 on a piano and hate it. I chose a piano after over 6 months of searching based on how it played, not what brand made it.

That is the way it should be, in my view.

However, brand-name and brand-name recognition/reputation plays a big role in our decision making process; for better or for worse.

Rick

iMou354,

Congratulations on your purchase - I am glad you found the one you like at a price you could afford!

Now - looking forward to some pictures?

Jonathan

Seriously?

A quick search on the Internet shows:
"I've played on Toyamas before, although they're not "fake", I do not recommend them. Pearl River and Essex (manufactured by Pearl River, designed by Steinway) are much better pianos for Toyama's price."

When you began comparing to the Yamaha S4, which is in the same class as the Shigeru Kawai SK3, you lost all credibility. You're comparing a 5' Chinese piano for the Chinese market to a 6'3 hand-made Yamaha?

The poster's opinion of the two makes is no less valid than your own. That he's overjoyed with his new piano is really all that matters, and we should be happy for him. To second-guess personal preference based on first-hand experience comes across as rude.

Since you brought up credibility, quoting an anonymous Yahoo Answers user's unsubstantiated (unless citing the web page of a piano technician in Toyama Prefecture Japan who is completely unaffiliated with the similarly-named Chinese factory counts as substantiation) opinion on the topic certainly doesn't add credence to your viewpoint.

Have you played both makes before? The OP has.

Wow. Rude!
But anyway, first of all, I have seen that post on Yahoo Answers, was aware of it, but then I read the hundreds of positive remarks about the Brodmann (if you read the rest of this thread you would know they are the same piano), I also did my own research, found out the Toyama has higher quality parts than say Yamaha's GB1K, I went and played it, and it out played all the pianos around its price point. And did you ever think its possible that the person that posted on Yahoo Answers was somehow tied to Pearl River? Because I played a couple Essex grands as they were on my list, and I walked away quickly! For what they are, which isn't much, they are just overpriced simply because it has the words "Designed by Steinway and Sons" on it, and I am not going to fork out money for a brand name, I am going to fork out money for a piano that plays to my liking, and has good quality parts. Yes I was hesitant at the start to buy this piano because there is not much on the internet about Toyama, but as soon as I found out its Brodmann, just under a different name, and I had been reading all this positive stuff about Brodmann, I had no troubles putting my trust in this piano.
Secondly, I never said the piano was better than an S4, I said it REMINDED me of an S4. I have spent over 500 hours playing a particular S4, so I am pretty familiar enough with one to know how they feel and sound, and say another piano reminds me of another piano. Same thing as human beings! We can say "That person looks like that person" but that doesn't mean they are the same person or look identical, they look SIMILAR, or REMIND us of another person.




Yes it does Rick Like I said, I was hesitant to buy the Toyama because there wasn't much information on the internet about it, but once I found out its just another name for Brodmann, I was happy to buy it!

I agree. Just plain rude and unnecessary. Snobbish if you ask me.

Honestly, when an owner claims his 5' piano of ANY make is like another company's 6'3 piano, that's suspect. It doesn't matter what brand the piano is. The law of physics still apply.

Well here they are! Hopefully ;P
Sorry the quality of the photos is pretty lame, and don't do the piano much justice... I just took it with my iPhone and the sun coming in was interfering.

This second photo, the light makes it look like there is something green in the piano, but I assure you there isn't! haha!


I have some others still to come...