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Hello Liddough,

I know Sweetwater ships to Canada regularly via UPS and FedEx. When or before you order, let them know you're in Canada and they will get you a separate quote for shipping within a few hours. I used to live in Fort Wayne, IN and have been doing business with Chuck Surack since he was doing recording in his small garage in the early 80s. Negotiate the best price on the product before you discuss shipping. If you need help negotiating, I'll be glad to help.

I'm afraid I don't have much knowledge about the retail market in Canada.

I typically recommend against purchasing a digital piano outside of the country that you reside in, as it may complicate the warranty procedure. In the case of America and Canada, both countries are overseen by Kawai America, however I would still double-check, just to be sure.

Kind regards,
James
x

The best online retailer that I know of in Canada is Fleet Pro Sound. I just bought my Casio Privia PX-870 from them, and they treated me like royalty! I'm definitely a customer for life! Here's the link:
https://fleetsound.com/collections/digital-pianos

Which have you decided on Liddough?

When I lived in BC, I always had a good experience at Long & McQuade. It looks like they carry Yamaha, Roland and Casio but not Kawai. Their prices are also competitive with the above mentioned Fleet Pro Sound. https://www.long-mcquade.com/departments/340/Keyboards/Digital_Pianos/Digital_Pianos_-_Home.htm

I do notice that the "kawaius.com" website says it is for both Kawai America Corporation and Kawai Canada Music, and they sell online, so that might be a good place to buy Kawai digitals online: https://kawaius.com/product/es110/

I found out through that Kawai website that there are two more dealers in my city, but looks like I may have to contact them. My last piano was purchased long distance, and warranty was a pain. I'll try to stick it out with a local dealer if I can.

I would just like to add here that my recent dealings with Fleet Pro Sound was what could be called "extremely long distance", at 2,500 kms away, (their store is in Ottawa, Ontario, and we live on remote Fogo Island, off the north coast of Newfoundland!) yet even my current warranty claim has gone through without the slightest hitch... in fact my replacement pedal board should be arriving at our door either tomorrow or Wednesday, and they don't even require that the old one be sent back to them. Oh yeah, and they will "price match" any store in the country!

They seem to have the exact same prices as Long & Mcquade and Cosmo music. I'm going to drive into L&M tomorrow to test out the pianos. They might have a Yamaha YDP-143B for 1200 dollars (200.00CAN off), which doesn't seem like a bad deal. Will also stop by another place that sells Kawai. They carry the ES110, and two others, but not the KDP-70.

Liddough, you’ll soon realize there’s only one Kawai dealer in your area (if I’m correct and you’re in the GTA). There are more Yamaha dealers though and I say L&M is a good option for Yamaha. Also, the Yamaha dealer (Toronto Piano Group) is another option. That means there’s not much competition and unless there’s a special sale or something, prices may generally be higher than what our American neighbours can get them for. I know the dealers will negotiate on acoustics but not quite sure how much they’re willing to budge on digitals at that price range.

If you try buying from online outside of Canada, be mindful that shipping, duties and foreign exchange will probably make the purchase not worthwhile, even if initial purchase price seems like a deal. On top of that you might have an issue with warranty. Not too sure about the latter but definitely a concern to investigate. Buying from a Canadian online dealer may be an option to investigate.

They do sell some entry level to early intermediate level digital pianos at Costco.ca which you might want to check out. They are mainly Yamahas, Rolands and Casios. I noticed some Yamaha YDPs.I bought my first digital at Costco a few years back. https://www.costco.ca/digital-pianos.html

I know they also sell Yamaha digitals on Amazon.ca for the going rate so you could try that as well.

I live in Alberta. So the main music store is L&M, but we also have St Johns Music, Steinway and sons (Which sells Roland) and a few other smaller ones.

Here is an interesting Costco sale I saw in the magazine. Canadian prices.

You

Sorry, you mentioned Cosmo so I thought you might be in the area.

Costco is a great place to buy Casio’s and Yamaha’s if that’s what you want. Good luck!

Update:

I went into a music store and played the pianos, but they were on a stand so I couldn't really play them well. I ended up buying the Yamaha P125

BIG MISTAKE. I couldn't believe how much it felt like a toy. From my previous Roland FP10, it felt like a downgrade in every way. I'm returning it.

I'm avoiding the GHS action at all costs. Also, the ivory feel on the keys is more important than you would think.

If you already have a FP10, and had a P45 before, I don't think you would consider any of the low-end DPs to be an upgrade. You should save more and eventually consider buying a P515, FP90, or ES8.

I was happy with the FP10, I just didn't like the sound. Maybe it was the speakers on the bottom, and maybe the more powerful speakers of the FP30 will remedy that. Matter of fact, I'll take the FP10's sound over everything I didn't like about the P125.

I owned an FP30. I disliked the sound so much within the first week I used it in Feb 2018, I had discovered Pianoteq and started use it 95% of the time.

IMO, with downward facing speakers, I think the FP30 is good for people with ears on their knees. IMO, the sound of the FP60 is much better since it has upward facing speakers. However IMO, the FP90 is worth the difference from the FP60.

That was a good price in that ad for a Casio PX-860, although it'd probably be better to spend a little more to get the PX-870. Neither of those are really very portable though. I think the best budget, bang-for-your-buck pianos are Casios, hands down.

I own a Korg Kronos 88, a Kawai MP11se, and a Casio PX-560 and agree with rmns2bseen 100%; for the under $1k range, you just can't beat Casio. With piano prices being so high in Canada, the Costco deal seems to be the best choice. They have a very good return policy too; if you decide 9 months from now that you don't like it, they'll take it back. Try doing that anywhere else!

IThere is one aspect where most of the cheaper models (all the Casio models and Roland FP-10 at least) suffer: no continuous/progressive damper operations. as just 3 state of the pedal (off, pressed to half way, fully pressed) are interpreted
If you are new to pianos it is likely not going to come up during the first months of practice (unless learning super-intensive) but is likely to come up in the second or third year of your practice the latest. Interpretation of the damper in 3 states only can limit learning especially sustain pedalling techniques. Hence the models that are a bit more expensive can worth the difference in the medium term, unless you are on a very tight budget.

Otherwise: it does not make sense to skip trying out some most interesting models in person by reading specs.
By reading specs, you can do a first round and reduce the scope for trying out in person. I would recommend to try at least 5-6 models from 3-4 manufacturers.

Unless on a tight budget -- when you could just make your heart ache -- it might make sense to try out a bit more expensive models in addition so you might know what you miss -- if it is worth to perhaps wait a bit more and extend the budget.

FP30 action is the same as FP10. Just so you know. Casio PX S1000 might work for you. Three pedal module available with halfdamping sustain. Key surfaces are odd tho... my only negative about it, but Best at NAMM 2019.

I second this advise, it's a good one.

When I got into digital pianos I also tried out the entry models (Kurzweil and Yamaha in my case) and after a while I couldn't stand them any more, soundwise and in terms of action. I also hate Yamaha's GHS action.

In the end, buying one cheap DP after the other will cost you more than going right into a better quality group of instruments, i.e. P515, FP90, or ES8. (Being used to acoustic pianos for a long time, I never got warm with Roland sound, though...)