The finest pianos in the world are made in Japan

My days were spent visiting piano refurbishing and collection facilities all over the country as well as touring the major piano makers. I found that there were different levels of refurbishment being done. The more rural shops still did everything by hand and the bigger city operations were semi-automated. Some of the places just cleaned and buffed the pianos and others did more extensive work. Some pianos came from private owners homes and others were randomly collected from schools, nightclubs and recording studios.

Climate

I learned that Japan's climate is identical to that of North America. It ranges from extremely dry to horribly humid. Most days are pleasant but depending on where you are it could snow or rain. I've learned that every home, even the most modest ones have central heat and air conditioning. The weather in Japan varies as much as it does here. You can go snow skiing or water skiing depending on where you are.

Piano seasoning

I know the truth about seasoning, there is no such thing! All of the pianos are made the same. If you take a moisture meter and compare pianos, and we did, they're all identical. They have the same core moisture content. There's no such thing as a gray market piano. When I told an executive from the largest piano maker in Japan about seasoning for destination he actually laughed out loud. Why would the pianos be be made differently, he asked. The climate here is the same as it is in North America.

Now we know

The trip reinforced my belief that the finest pianos in the world are made in Japan and guess what, they stay there. The best of the best pianos are not exported out of the country, or not at least when they're new. Interesting note: When you want to buy a new piano in Japan you go directly to the factory or a company owned store. You can play dozens of pianos in specially designed listening rooms. You can pick the best sounding and playing one and then have it delivered to your home. This is how the finest ones end up staying in Japan and those are the piano I buy. Privately owned, well maintained, hand picked instruments. We bring home the cream of the crop when it comes to pre-owned Yamaha and Kawai pianos.

We've got lots more first hand info to share with you so please call 800-264-6614. We love to talk pianos and we feel we have the best ones to offer.

Pianos collected from private owners


Larry Caruso at Yamaha
Tokyo Ginza Piano Store


Disassembly for refurbishing


Reassembly after cleaning