Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Do you normally ask dealer to tune piano?

I am looking Kawai GX2 in showroom. As it's brand new one, I understand tuning goes out soon. I found several notes are not in tune. As it is not in good tune, it's little hard to check false beats or maximum tonal quality.
Is it normal to ask dealer to tune again before decide to buy?

Yes it is. It’s a bit surprising that the dealer didn’t offer to have the piano tuned when they heard you playing it. All you should say is “this piano is not in tune. I can’t tell if I’m interested in this instrument until it is tuned.” At that point a good piano dealer would make arrangements to get it tuned before your next appointment. If not....well personally I’d move on.

When I first tried the Estonia, it was out of tune a bit. The dealer noticed immediately and said he’d have the tech tune it the next morning because the technician had just left for other appointments. I went back the next afternoon and it was tuned and sounded gorgeous.

Now with Covid, getting the pianos you want to try might be more hassle for the dealer, but they need to get it done to make it easier to sell. Also, there is often a discount or free first tuning in your home. Best Wishes on your exhaustive search.

When I was shopping, the dealer where I bought mine offered to have a tech come out from the back if I found anything about a piano I didn't like. But it's a large dealer with a rebuild shop, so I assume they always have at least one tech in the back who can do a tuning. A smaller dealer might not have someone around while you're shopping, but they should be able to arrange a tuning before your next visit.

Unfortunately, there is no other shop sells Kawai piano in this country. The shop exclusively contracted with Kawai. The manager has horrible and scary face and unbelivably impolite and arrogant.

In 2017 I visited a piano store and tried out several new Grotrian Steinweg uprights and a grand. I already told the dealer that I was ready to make a purchase. All the uprights were out of tune and I asked if he would get the tallest one tuned and I would return. To my amazement he refused to do this so I left and that day visited another piano shop, played a new Blüthner which was in tune and fell in love with it. I agreed a price and trade in for my existing upright and immediately bought the piano. His tuner visited after three weeks and re-tuned it. I never took up their included second tuning and since then have tuned it myself.
Ian

Ouch! That is a tough one to deal with. I've met a few people like that myself. It is best if you don't have to have any dealings with them and then avoid them forever, but if you must interact with them, perhaps try to be polite, submissive, and apologetic, like a little puppy, and beg him to have the piano you are interested in tuned in order to help you make a decision to buy or not.

If that doesn't work, surely there is someone above him within the business or company and you can go over his rude head. If not, I see only three choices... buy it as-is without playing it in good tune, hire someone to tune it in the store on your behalf (if they'd allow that) or walk away and take your business elsewhere, even if you have to choose another brand.

I doubt very seriously that Kawai International would appreciate hearing about potential customer experiences like this.

Good luck!

Rick

Not only tuned, but voiced as well. It's been a few years since I have been piano shopping, but several places not only offered to tune but also voice pianos to my liking if I showed enough interest.

What’s the difference between tuning and voicing?

tuning is making every notes to their right pitch and harmony.
voicing is improving or change the tone to my flavour

I think

Thank you Rick, fortunately there was kind female staff , I'd better to contact her to have discussion.
I've sent several enquiry mails to Kawai Australia to ask pricing about Kawai GX but never replied

Sales prices are set by the individual dealer and will never be provided by a corporate office. If you are interested in buying a piano in Australia and having it shipped, contact an Australian piano shop. They are also not likely to give you a sales price on the phone, but they can advise if that type of sale is a possibility snd the shipping and import price.

Tuning
Voicing
Regulation

Tuning is getting the piano in tune. First thing that needs to be done before doing the other two things. A dealer should be willing to get a piano tuned if you show even moderate interest.

Voicing is like the "voice" of the piano. Technicians can manipulate the hammers (and some other stuff) countless ways to get it to sound brighter, mellow, soft, etc. Not to be confused with "voicing" a chord. A dealer will likely do this if you are very seriously showing interest in an instrument.

Regulation is how the keys interact with the action and strings of the piano. Don't expect a dealer to do this. This would be done once the piano is at your house for a few months or more, though I did have a dealer willing to adjust regulation while I was there. Kinda weird, but he "knew who I was" due to my teaching at the time (man, that was lifetimes ago; shudders) and I was looking at a vintage instrument and he really wanted me to buy it. I didn't buy it because it wouldn't fit in my studio. I still kick myself for that one 15 years later. Dang it.

After reading this thread New Kawai GX-2 disappointment and some of your other posts, I think it would be too much of a risk for you to buy a new GX-2 from that dealer, or at all.

Wouldn't it be better to reassess all options beyond this and other Kawai pianos?

Toyota has made about 50 million Corollas, but if you hang out on the Corolla forum you would be convinced they're all oil burning, poor starting, electrically shorted, rusting out pieces of junk because a dozen people posted their problems. But the other 49.999 million people are probably happy with their Corolla, like I was with mine. It's the same with pianos, you can't find a brand or model where someone hasn't posted a thread about their unfortunate experience, especially the commodity manufacturers that sell fairly high volumes as opposed to the top tier companies that might only make a few hundred pianos a year. I think that a strategy of avoiding a piano brand or model because someone posted a negative story is not going to optimize your chances for the best possible outcome.

I would say it is absolutely reasonable to ask the dealer to tune the piano before you make your decision.

Isn't this somewhat indicative of the way of the modern world? Satisfied owners of a brand-name product rarely take the time (I am assuming) to rave about the product they have bought; they go on using it because it lives up to their expectations. Only those with a complaint or who are dissatisfied for one reason or another will post a negative review. The result is, as MarkL clearly indicates, that the reviews are more often skewed towards the negative than to the positive, although the satisfied owners my far outnumber the dissatisfied ones.

Read them all with a grain of salt!

Regards,

That depends on the dealer. Any half good dealer will make sure the piano has no major regulation problems during their prep of the piano. Better dealers will spend more time on regulation during prep and will often be willing to make adjustments to the piano's regulation that don't fall in the category of correcting problems before purchase at the customer's request, especially for high end pianos.

That is not what I said. Have you read of Tony's experience with a Yamaha? Would you advise Tony to buy from that dealer if there were any chance that a similar thing would happen again? If it were to happen what support would you expect to get from an unbelievably impolite and arrogant dealer? Or from Kawai which works through its dealers? To optimise his chances of a best possible outcome, financial as well as musical, Tony would do well to assess all options.

P.S. The point about the GX2 disappointment was the piano did not sound the same at home as it did in the showroom. The dealer had not been able to put that right. A big risk.