Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum What can I expect to pay for GC1 or C1X in SoCal?

Hello,


We are considering purchasing a Yamaha GC1 or C1X. We are in Los Angeles. While I knew that piano could cost as much as a car, I did not know that the purchase process would be as convoluted as going to a car dealer as well! We have been quoted $25K for GC1 and $35K for C1X. I believe both are the list prices or suggested MSRP. What is the typical discount over the MSRP or what is the real purchase price in So Cal? What should I really pay? Also, what would be the cost of these models with transacoustic options? Any guidance?

Also, if all these pianos are being shipped from Yamaha at some point, why can't I call a dealer in a cheaper geography (e.g. midwest or south), get a cheaper price and get the piano shipped to my home? We did buy our furniture like that from a French company.

Thanks.

Please clarify...are both models you are looking at in the satin or polished ebony finish? If so, the asking price for the GC1 is a tad higher than the MSRP, and the C1X about 9% lower than MSRP.

Look at the bottom of the following chart for the TransAcoustic options.

https://www.pianobuyer.com/brand/yamaha/

Hopefully someone here can explain why the chart only shows MSRP for Yamaha and not SMP (Suggested Maximum Price). Normally discounts are taken from the SMP, and 20% discounts for new pianos are not uncommon.

Perhaps shipping and supply issues are impacting new Yamaha prices in Southern California and elsewhere.

Pianos aren't like furniture. It is never a good idea to purchase one without actually trying it out yourself in advance. While Yamaha's are fairly consistent in quality, every instrument is different. Nor would you want to purchase one right "out of the box" that hasn't been worked on and tuned by a dealer.

In addition, new pianos often have little things that need tweaking— a sticking key, a pedal adjustment, etc, these are not covered by warranty, but when you buy a piano locally, the dealer will often fix these things for you at no charge. Not sure what they would do if the purchase was from another dealer.

Completely agree with Carey.

Before you even worry about pricing, it would probably be good to know who actually has what you might want. The wait time for people ordering pianos can be several months at this time.

As you may have noticed in the car industry, people are not getting discounts at all on new product, these days. Some are paying over sticker, with inflated dealer markups. I had not until now heard of the piano industry charging over MSRP for an instrument!

I would never limit myself to only one brand or model when searching for my personal pianos.

I forgot what store i saw it at but I just saw a GC1 for $18.5K store price. That's not even negotiating. So $25k is not a good price. PM me I think I have the gentleman's number.

Depends on what you need transacoustic for. For a silent practice the difference in price would buy you N1X.

I wouldn't buy piano from a dealer far away. Transportation aside, warranty claims happen, and usually it's your dealer who is going to address them (especially minor things like sticking keys etc.) Also you probably have more than one dealer in your vicinity, check them all. If they all quote you an insane price (personally, don't rely on e-mail of phone), then it's that bad everywhere.

Also, to the OP, are you set on getting a Yamaha? If not, consider a Boston in a similar length. I am a big Yamaha fan (and owner of a C2 that I love), but at that size, I prefer the Boston...

In any case, as TD said, don't settle on a specific brand before you've played a whole lot of different brands first.

Although, I see you're new her -- Welcome to PW!!

So we might be jumping to conclusions, maybe you've already played every piano within a two hour radius of where you live and are ready to commit to Yamaha.

The Steinway gallery in Pasadena has Boston and Essex pianos if you want to try them out. You have to make an appointment though. Just make sure you play them before you touch the Steinway pianos lol.

To the OP, the Steinway gallery in Pasadena had just received an Essex that they were selling for $16k if you're interested in checking them out.

Secured - I have a couple questions. Does someone in the household play? If so, what is their current instrument? I generally agree that you don’t want to buy sight unseen, however with the shortage of available new pianos, it does seem like more people are buying this way. I’d have fewer concerns about buying sight unseen if the piano is intended primarily for use as furniture. Also if there is someone who plays, I would recommend at least trying out slightly larger models. Those extra inches can make a big difference to the sound.

Also the GC and the CX pianos aren’t really comparable products. They’re both made in Japan but the upgrades between the two series are considerable

Absolutely, and Essex is a step below the GC IMHO.....

I have yet to play an Essex that I liked... but I did really like the Bostons I tried, so if length is a concern, I definitely recommend trying one of the small Bostons.

(Did I already say that in this thread? Is there an echo in here?

Boston can be nice. It’s an entirely different sound quality to Yamaha and I don’t know about the US market but in the UK Boston is more expensive than Yamaha. Personally I prefer the action on Yamaha by far, but of course tone is subjective.

Agreed! I was quite surprised by my experience playing Bostons actually. I played new and used in a variety of sizes at two different dealers (one a S&S gallery) and definitely like the tone of all the ones I played.



It depends on what Yamaha series. The Cx series is more expensive than the Bostons in comparable sizes, but the GC series is less than the Bostons.

When it comes to used instruments, I think it probably depends on the market, but around here, it was not so common to see used Bostons for sale, and I think that plus the connection to S&S led sellers to set pretty high asking prices for their Bostons.

So re pricing, in a word, it's complicated!

Thanks for suggestions and advice, everyone. Both our boys play a Yamaha upright. The older one has been playing for almost 13 years and he is quite advanced - so much so that when he told me the next piece he is going to start working on, I said the upright wouldn't do justice and we need a grand. That's how the whole exploration started. I see Yamaha as Lexus - something I can rely on to be acceptably high quality. We went to a local Yamaha dealer and kids played a number of models. Obviously, we ended up liking longer pianos more than the likes of GC1 or C1X. On the other hand, no sure if we want to have a 7' piano. But while researching my options, I started reading about transacoustic options and though it provides a good compromise of sound quality for a certain size with sampled sounds. There are only 4-5 dealers in SoCal, but we have found one that has the model and we will try it. BTW, my main question was about the price. While I am grateful for other suggestions, I would still like to get opinions on price. Thanks.

Personally, the 5'8 and 5'11 was the sweet spot for me. Can you PM me the dealers you check out and the prices you get quoted. I'm also looking for pianos and I'm in the Ventura/LA metro area. The transacoustic is out of my price range, but I'm looking for silent pianos. Although, I might just get an acoustic and a beefy digital piano. The GC2 sounds quite nice and they have a disklavier if you're into that stuff.

Why wouldn't any Yamaha dealer service your officially purchased Yamaha piano if you pay them to service it?

Since I'd never heard of TransAcoustics before, I watched a couple of youtube demos this evening and am very impressed with the technology. Nevertheless, with all those bells and whistles, I can't help but wonder what might go wrong with the piano over time and how difficult it might be to repair. All digitals I'm aware of eventually wear out and start having problems. I often see used acoustic grand pianos for sale with non-functioning or archaic player systems that simply do not add "value" to the instrument and probably should be removed. Can't help but wonder if that would be the same fate for the new (and rather expensive) TransAcoustics. If the electronics eventually wear out, you'd be left with a basic GC1, CX1 or CX3.

For potentially any reason that is important to them. Examples might be that they are personally offended by someone giving their business to a distant competitor and then coming to them for service, or they might just regard themselves as primarily a sales business that also does servicing for clients rather than primarily a service operation. Probably if you had bought the piano elsewhere and then a few years later moved into the area they would be more helpful but it would depend on the individual dealers attitude and maybe some would be just happy to service your piano anyway even if you bought it elsewhere.