A small store opened a few years ago at the Kiryon mall, in K.Bialik. The owner, a former KleyZemer empolyee, tried to sell pianos. At one time he filled the store with Czech pianos , each one under a different name. There was a Petrof , a A.. Forster (not the 'Forster' !) and a third one (I can't remember its name) . The third one was 'made in SWEDEN'. The pianos were identical inside (though one of them had more 'red felt' in some place). They had the same action, all of them had agraphes. The plates were identical, with a similar place (a round 'hole'
where different names were put. In this hole , the third had the SWEDEN inscription. The cheapest one was more than 18000. The same store had at a time two Hoffmans. One of them playable, the other one, the cheap (and 'yellowish'
was 'muted' (and it was priced at about 14000) . Could not play on it.
Something 'fishy' about this price. Too low for a good piano. I think Petrofs start from 21 or 22k (some years ago). The cheapest small unplayable YAMAHA is more than 16000. Check the Petrofs and the Kawais. You'll be told that every new Kawai is sold at a discount because they've been used in some master classes. I don't believe they are really discounted. But they are not as expensive as YAMAHAs.
