Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Essex EGP 155 or Yamaha GB1K?

Still looking for a baby grand for my 8 years daughter.

Now we narrow down of our choice to Essex EGP 155 (5'1") and Yamaha GB1K (5'). My daughter felt both have similar touch and similar tone. The EGP 155 is about $1500 more than the GB1K.
Which one will you pick?

If you like both a lot, and like them equally, and like the dealer you're working with, and have access to a decent technician in your area, then I guess I'd take the less expensive piano.

I have not played an EGP 155, so I can't comment on it in a meaningful way.

When I was shopping I was able to play the next larger Essex the EGP173. I liked it better than the Boston 156 that was supposed to be a nicer piano.

I did not like the smaller Yamahas at all.

I guess what I am saying is I would go with the Essex. But, your daughter does not see a difference.

Tough choice!

What happened to?



How old is your daughter, and how many years has she been playing? Maybe get whatever until she can decide.

edit: ...or wait until you can decide.

Looks like you edited your original question. If you look at the original thread:
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2288029/1.html

Btw...master never provided a difference between the Pearl River and Ritmuller and seems like he didn't want to go on record on a public forum to explain the differences. Perhaps there aren't any.

FYI...Essex is also made by Pearl River, but it feels different than a Pearl River or Ritmuller to me. The key dips seemed shallower which might be a Steinway spec.

She is 8 years old and have played for two years. I never paly piano so could not choose one for her. We currently have a used upright Kawai but she seems to grow out of that a little bit according to her teacher.

We tried quite a few pianos in recent weeks.
she did not like Kawai GM10 & GM12, Perina, Young Chang (she did not try Weber but I guess would be similar t Young Chang). She tried Boston but felt the keys are too heavy. She likes Steinway but I could not afford that:-)

She played Essex EGP 173 as well, which sound very bright for me, but she still would prefer EGP 155. She tried a used Kawai RX2, but did not like it.

What do you have now? Why do you need to upgrade to a grand right now?

Pianos are very personal so you can't really buy one based on specs or internet reviews.

Seems like she likes a brighter tone, nothing wrong with that. That might change later, it might not. It's hard to say if her opinions are going to stick or if it's just because she's a beginner.

I say either get whatever she likes or wait if you don't trust her opinion right now, but unless you trust us anonymous people on the internet, I wouldn't listen to us. We've already bought the pianos that we like, but this is for her.

Great inputs! Thanks a lot!

Actually, the piano that Jonathan Alford chose, after comparing all of those instruments, was a Ritmuller 170. As suggested in your other thread, you might want to try these instruments to compare to those you have already tried.

If you have questions about the specific comparisons, I would be happy to answer them through PM.

Oh, come on. You keep carrying on baiting your Master and he's likely to pop you on the head with a tuning hammer!

You seem to be suspicious of Ritmuller because Pearl didn't put its own name on its better line of pianos. There are two good reasons for that decision.

(1) Pearl originally got a niche in North America by offering the cheapest new piano on the market. That niche eroded when other Chinese makers started offering comparable and in some cases better pianos at the same price levels. Flash back six years or so, Pearl's business was drying up in North America. Dealers were cancelling. Pearl's NA distribution channel was constipated with inventory it couldn't sell. The Pearl distributor at that time told me that Pearl was going back to the drawing board with the idea of making a piano that was good enough (not cheap enough) to compete successfully in overseas markets. Pearl obviously wasn't trying to protect its brand name. In the North American market,it needed to run away from the image its name was burdened with.

(2) In committing its resources to building a better piano rather than the cheapest one, Pearl would need to charge higher wholesale prices. How would dealers react to yet another Pearl River product -- this one with a higher price? Let's imagine for a minute that you're a rep for Pearl and your job is to convince retailers to take on your new line. Try telling the guys who cancelled you that you've got a new line of Pearl River pianos for them that are much more expensive. How many containers do you think they'll order?

When the new Ritmullers first became available in CA, I tried a couple and liked them. Hailun was getting all the hype at that time, but in many ways the Rits had more appeal (at least to me).They were certainly far more musical than the old Pearls. I mentioned this to a sales guy at LA's largest dealer chain and asked him if they would consider the line. They had earlier stocked Pearl as their entry-level piano and subsequently cancelled in favor of Yamaha's Chiense Cable Nelson and T series. He told me they never wanted anything to do with Pearl in the future regardless of what name was on the fallboard. That's how bad things had gotten.

Every maker, especially a genuine maker, is entitled to its own scheme for naming. The Euro makers like fancy European names for their Asian contract stuff. Steinway has a fondness for Massachusetts names. The Japanese makers put their own name on everything they sell and differentiate through model numbers. For Pearl it's about turning things around with a better piano at a bigger price, getting enough sizzle to become respectable again, and building out from there. I suppose they could have called it Guangzhou, but what the hey?

turandot,

Thanks for the info & history. It is interesting, but not that surprising.

Just that when I visited a Pearl River dealer, where I also bought my Kawai, they said the new PR's are "basically" the same as Ritmuller. That's all I'm trying to confirm. If you can get a Pearl River for 20+% less than a Ritmuller and they're the same, why not?

But Master and Norbert keep saying how they're fundamentally different, different scale design, different strings, different soundboard, different everything. but the PDF's in my other thread and them on paper exactly the same minus the hammers and some beams. But master keeps insisting they're different, how he has all this information invisible to us, but refuses to share any specifics. Only to PM him, which I did, asked for my super-personal, much guarded email address so he can send me a spreadsheet with 100+ differences, which I provided, still nothing. It doesn't make sense. if they are different and you have the data there, then share it.

Again, all I'm saying is if the PR is just as good as the Ritmuller, and it's cheaper, why not get the PR?

Or if the Ritmuller really is different and has all these features or materials the PR, then why not share it and score some points for Ritmuller?

You should ask your daughter's teacher.

Are these new?

Frankly, neither is a tremendous piano. If she plays classical I would definitely avoid the Yamaha GB1K, which has no sostenuto pedal.

However, both are entry level pianos. Just curious, have you played the Ritmuller or Hailun product?

Are you near Philadelphia? If so, you should visit Rich (above) and check out the Cunningham pianos.

I agree with Mickey: If you can't hear, feel and appreciate the difference (as he obviously can't) between comparably sized Pearl River labeled product and the Ritmuller products, buy the Pearl River. Similarly, if you can't tell any difference between, say, comparably sized Steinway and Boston, or for that matter Bosendorfer and Yamaha, buy the cheapest one(as Mickey did). But don't be surprised if, as your taste evolves and your playing improves, you begin searching for a replacement (as he obviously is from his posts).



Actually, the OP of that thread did PM me and I did answer all questions posed.



I am sure the Steinway dealer will give you a good trade in value for your Kawai.

@Turondot - William, great to see you back at the forum!

Perhaps not.

To be frank, it's becoming a little tiring...

Luckily somebody else out there has a slightly different take on same subject:

http://www.pianoworld.com/Uploads/files/RITMUELERLARRYFINE.jpg

Norbert

Classy Master88er.

Hey OP, @New to Piano, know that master88er will continue to belittle you for picking such low quality piano like an Essex or Yamaha GB1K. I mean, a Kawai RX5 is considered a cheap piece of trash to him, so everything else below must be like the goo that leaks from the trash bags.

Pretty pathetic that a "professional" has to get so low and start calling names, literally. Calling me "mickey."

As he said, he's a paid consultant of Pearl River and no doubt one of his tasks is to invade web forums and solicit Ritmuller's.

Anyway, if you decide to get a Ritmuller, know these are the thugs you're dealing with.

You're identity is known to several dealers and I would be a little careful writing stuff like that.

Since you're hellbent to publicly discredit certain lines by certain dealers - for personal grudges as is known - please also include Sauter, Grotrian, Estonia, Steingraeber, Kayserburg and few more.

Beating constantly on lowly Ritmuller is becoming boring.

Please also write to Larry Fine that his judgement is a little out of line.

http://www.pianoworld.com/Uploads/files/RITMUELERLARRYFINE.jpg

Mr.Fine apparently appreciates continial professional feedback from those in the know..

Norbert

Be careful of what? Been watching too many Al Pacino movies lately?

How is asking for the difference between a Ritmuller and Pearl River discrediting it? It's a simple question.

@Michaelha please lay your differences with master88er aside. It's really starting to be annoying as is your senseless bashing of otherwise fine pianos.