Current page: /Yamaha
Edited November 2008

The best Yamaha pianos
We choose only the best Yamaha pianos and sell both new and used Yamaha upright and grand pianos. Our entry level for new pianos is the Yamaha U1 upright and the Yamaha C1 grand. For cheaper pianos than this, we prefer new Wendl and Lung pianos, or reconditioned U1 and U3 uprights and G2, G3, G5 and C7 grands. For current stock, please see our stocklist

Brief history of models and prices of Yamaha pianos

It's from about 1966 that we first see Yamaha pianos imported into in Europe. These early models are the ones are copies of and sound most like German pianos, with a good deep mellow tone throughout the range. They are well constructed with top quality soundboards, excellent hammers, wooden pedal mechanisms on uprights and mostly wooden action parts. As the Korean and later the Chinese factories began to produce large numbers of pianos in competition with Yamaha, so the Yamaha piano started to be made more economically. Wooden parts were replaced with plastic or aluminium, though lately there has been a return to wooden action flanges. The tone also started to lack the rich depth that it previously had.

The gradual brightening of tone is evident until about 1990, when Yamaha brought out what they called a hand-built piano, grands starting at £28,000 and uprights at £7,699.

Yamaha now operate a two tier system with their basic grands and uprights, usually not made in Japan, and the top range series. These are the Yamaha S4A Grand Piano, Yamaha S6A Grand Piano, Yamaha CFIIIS Grand Piano, Yamaha SU118C upright Piano and Yamaha SU7 upright Piano. Considering that a Yamaha G3/C3 grand piano cost about £2,800 new in 1971 (600,000yen), the equivalent new price according to inflation since then would be £23,660! A Yamaha U1D upright piano cost about £1000 new in 1965 (197,000yen). The equivalent new price today would be £11,590!

The early Yamahas are all of guaranteed high quality. Since about 1985 they developed a two tier system, with the top quality Yamahas still being made in Japan but others increasingly being made in different countries.

New grand pianos - (Click here)

New upright pianos - (Click here)

Secondhand grand pianos - (Click here)

Secondhand grand pianos - (Click here)

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