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My local dealer selling retail at USD 31,777.58 (after currency conversion).

Which area you located in? Does that include tax?

FWIW, These quotes from other countries, although potentially interesting/frustrating, aren’t useful for your search. Unless you want to pay international shipping, import duties, and lose your warranty coverage. We know that certain piano brands are slightly or significantly more expensive in the US, due to locations, trade agreements, currency fluctuations, and the US/North American distributor’s “cut”.

Leo, thanks for the explanation re TA, I remember having heard of that in the past.

I think your guesstimate of 27-28K USD + tax is unrealistically low for a new C3X. You won't be able to use prices outside the U.S. to influence U.S. dealers. 44K + tax might be on the high side, but you'll need some other data points (i.e. in-person negotiations with other dealers) to know if that is the case or not. Supply/demand/pandemic is doing crazy things with prices.

Already PM u. Please note it's just a gauge. Give them a call or email to ask them. They may or may not let you. My local dealers are very open in regards to pricing.

singaporepianohub is outdated. I can assured that it is not the latest as retail price increase. And even for Kawai, retail price has increased too. A general guage only for the locals.

I saw a C3X new listed in the Southwest on sale about a year ago for right around 44K not including tax.

44K may be high, but under 30K before tax today is likely unrealistic.

I live in southern California. In 2018 I was quoted 32K before tax. I didn't negotiate or even ask, the dealer just threw a number at me. In our later conversation I referred to the number as "around 30K", but the owner immediately corrected me:"Probably not 30K, it may be a little higher than that." Was 32K in 2018 a good price I don't know, but my general impression was that this dealer offers competitive prices, and that was 3 years ago.

I forgot about the sticker price, it might have been 45~50K. But the dealer's first offer (without me asking) was 32K.

For reference I’ve seen slightly used C1X go for $23-25K, so I also think less than $30K for any C3X (new or used) is to low at least in the US.

A local dealer of mine lists Yamaha CX models starting at 20% of MSRP which lands around $45K for a C3X.

I think for C3X the price should have been under 30K (28-29K) all along. $32K asking and negotiating it down to under $30K should be possible.

Dealers always want to instill fear in our mind that look there was pandemic and look the container prices are higher or look there is an inflation, and oh yeah there is tariff. But the fact is that United States had free trade agreement with Japan and tariffs were capped at 0-4.5% for a long time. Container prices in the international market is like $1500-3000 USD depending on the port of entry and whether its 20ft or 40ft container. I think everyone knows that one container can hold a lot of pianos; my guess is ~40 6 foot grand pianos per container. So overhead for piano would be what less than $1000 USD for transport from Japan + tariff + import duties. Think in other way that why GB1K can be ported from Indonesia to United States and still be sold for 11K? Answer is that the logistical overhead must not be that high.

Under WTO rules, tariffs are supposed to be low or eliminated across all members of WTO. This would imply that Denmark may not have more difference in tariff then UK or US (I didnt check but I believe this is true). If logistical cost and tariffs are negligible for an expensive piano then product should be priced similarly across the borders. Specially in western countries.

Now if we look at the demand since 1970s the demand for pianos is in decline. Before you say anything, let me tell you I have looked at the trade data from USTR. Add to that the fact that Japan has near zero inflation since 20+ years. Then add to the fact that pianos made with machines now. So the precision cuts on wood can be obtained very cheaply instead of doing full thing by hand. Given all that, the prices of pianos should be flat to declining. I think thats the case but dealers dont want you to think thats the case.

This does not take into the equation that there are very few dealerships for specific brand of pianos. As a result I believe that the dealers are gouging the customers and squeezing out more dollars from customers. If there were more dealerships in each cities we would get better price plus great service for everything. Bottomline, if dealers dont budge, then some of us should consider becoming dealer as common sense says the margins are too fat.

No dealers for that brand in the US will stay in business for long these days, if that is true. Unless you want to eliminate showrooms, dealer prep, local delivery, and buy them like televisions and toasters. I can point you to scores of threads here where people have regretted purchasing a piano that way (sight unseen, straight from the crate, etc.).

You ignored a good deal of my explanation why prices can be different in different markets. You are, of course, free to ignore that and believe whatever you want. I know what the typical wholesale cost is to dealers here, and I also know what the supply situation is like for that brand via some of their US corporate-level reps, and I can't agree with your assessment based in this information.

I do agree that you're not being quoted a particularly competitive price on that piano thus far, and that must be frustrating. However, I would never go shopping for only one brand and model of piano as my personal instrument, so in a sense, you are limiting your potential to get a good deal by eliminating everything else in the market.


I believe there's an adage in the modern-era piano industry: "How do you make a small fortune in the piano industry? Start with a large one!"

The C3X-TA I expect would have been a marvellous piano. May I ask what you replaced it with please?

I think 35-37k USD tax included is more realistic. This is what I was quoted in April at Toronto. I ended up getting a C2X.

I agree with JerryFan200: I think around $35K is a good price for a new Yamaha C3X. That is a lot of piano for the money. To see that is a good deal, look at any new pianos around the same size from any company in the world that ships to the US. Is there really a better new 6'1'' piano out there for under $35K? If so, I'd like to know what it is. For this reason, I think looking for a new piano of this level for $30K is unrealistic (it doesn't really matter if you agree with the underlying economics or not; this is the reality of the situation). I think the only way you can find a ``better'' piano than the C3X for $30K or under to go for a used piano, and there you have to be careful and also a little lucky.

Just to share during my piano hunt in one of the Yamaha piano dealers here in SoCal-

These are the price tags on the pianos displayed:

2014 Yamaha C2x $25,000
Bnew Yamaha C2x 34,988
Bnew Yamaha C2x SH2 38,988

Bnew Yamaha C3x 37,988
Bnew Yamaha C3x TA2 50,488

2019 Yamaha C3x TA 42,500

Bnew Yamaha C5x 41,988
Bnew Yamaha C5x SH2 47,988

Bnew Yamaha C6x 46,988

Bnew Yamaha C7x 50,988
Bnew Yamaha C7x SH2 53,988

Near the same size and realistic selling price, and probably relatively competitive are going to be the 6’4” Boston 193, the 6’3 Estonia L190, the 6’2” Schimmel C189, 6’1” Seiler ES-186, and the Kawai GX-3. The C3x is a very good piano, and you might like it better…but I’d probably cross shop all of these if time or availability allowed.

Don't forget to look at Hailun. They're good quality pianos at about half the price of the same size Yamaha. If you have the space for a larger instrument, the Hailun 218 is a very nice instrument at a price of just US$25k.

I do not believe that is the current US market, street price. What US dealer is offering one at that price?