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Good morning,

I had a client order a Yamaha C2x in the limited edition "Chrome" style. Yamaha has offered this as an option since 2008. In case you have not seen one yet, I took a few terrible photos (I apoligize in advance for my bad photography skills):










If you are within striking distance of out King of Prussia showroom, please stop by. It will be here for a few weeks.

Cheers,

Hi Rich,
Thanks for posting the pictures. I’m far away from your area so can’t casually stop by 😢. I’ve seen pictures of the C2X chrome before at my local Yamaha dealer and the Yamaha online site. For its size, I really like the C2X. I think the chrome feature can be attractive, but wonder if it’s worth the extra money?
I just wonder if there’s a big “chrome trim” contingent among acoustic smaller grand buyers?
What do you think? Is there any difference other than the color?

Looks neat! Different for sure.

Personally, I like the original gold color paint on the plate. It is amazing to me how well the gold paint on the plate of my 1978 Yamaha C7 has held up. When I bought the piano several years ago, I thought the piano had been rebuild and the plate re-painted. When Sally Phillips came by to do some tuning, regulation and voicing, she informed me that the piano had not been rebuilt and was all original, albeit in great condition for its age.

My take on that is that Yamaha uses very high quality materials to begin with, which apparently lasts a long time.

I'm sure your client/customer will be happy for many years, Rich.

Rick

I love the way that looks, If I ever buy a new piano and it has that option I would take it.

I like the looks of the plate better than Steinways sterling edition.

It is odd Yamaha only offers it on the C2X.
Guess their marketing department thinks the small grand buyers are more interested in aesthetics.

Buyer too busy to take delivery for a few weeks!?
Appreciate the pics, Rich.

Great pics, Rich. In the second picture, I don't see the usual red felt behind the stretcher. Is this a change with the chrome edition?

In my opinion it looks very cool. It matches modern interior somewhat better than the all traditional gold. But an important detail, how do the pedals look?

Too cool for me; I prefer the warmer glow of gold!

Regards,

You are right! Frankly, I had not yet noticed that, even though I have seen a few of the Chrome grands. Thank you for the keen eye. This must be a part of the Chrome design. I had noticed that the plate dressing felt was also the same dark hue. It does look better with this color frame than the red would.



Me too, jeffscot. The one thing i wish Yamaha would do is to make a bigger splash when they do something cool like this. I think the Sterling came out in 2013-ish? Well, Yamaha has had this option available for years longer and I think it is prettier, they just don't have the marketing panache that S&S has ALWAYS had, IMHO.



Here ya go!

This looks nice -especially with the black felt. It looks understated and functional, and a lot nicer than some competitors' attempts.

Rich, there also appears to be no felt to cover the gap between the stretcher and the plate. Is this also a change?

No, it is there Grandman. It is just very dark and likely blends in with the stretcher in the photos.

Very striking...

In the second photo, the natural keys don't look very white - could be the photo or the contrast with the plate? In the closeup of the keys they do look white.

Sam

Slightly OT sorry. The finish on the plate of my C3 is more copper colored than gold. Are the the C’s all copper color plates or standard gold? The copper color looks quite striking but doesn’t seem typical for other brands. Does anybody know or did I get the weird piano? Still love it and it’s quite striking.

So seeing the Yamaha videos for voicing and regulation show most of their grands have the copperish plate. Maybe the CFs and S series might use a different plate design and have the gold colored plate, but probably the Cx’s still use vacuum casting and that’s the copper color?
I’m sure one of our experts can chime in. Still somewhat OT. Sorry.

They are just different bronzing compounds in the finish. It has nothing to do with the plate. I believe the more reddish color is something like Antique Gold, while the more yellowish is Bright Gold, but there is no guaranty that all finish manufacturers use the same names.

My previous piano, a Schimmel C182 had a very copper coloured plate, the Grotrian is a significantly lighter gold.

Rich and Hugh, did a short vid on the Yamaha C2X chrome as well.
Hugh is apparently a Star Trek fan.

Great video, Rich! The piano sounds wonderful.

Regards,

I do like the Yamaha color of the plate better than any other I've seen, especially Steinway's version. I think it's the combination of the color of the plate, the strings, and the soundboard. The Yamaha version seems to make a nicer color palette. Some of the other version just seem to clash a little in my opinion.