[heidi34]

Hi, I have the opportunity to buy a new Kemble upright K121Z from a very reputable dealer (of very high-end pianos) in Los Angeles, California, who had it sitting in their warehouse for 10 years. They say that they basically lost track of it because they sell mostly more expensive pianos and concentrate on several other brands. In fact they have discontinued to carry Kemble. The warehouse was large and concrete and in Orange County so it could get a little hot in summer, but was not heated in winter. The piano has not been owned or played. The dealer acquired it from Kemble in Oct 1994!
I have three questions.

Is it basically a new piano? Is it worth less than a new piano of the same model (actually the model number has now changed to K121ZT)? They want $5500 US for it. Was it as good in 1993-1994 as it is now? I could instead purchase a new K131 for $7300 US, but from a worse dealer who carries lesser pianos (Kemble is their best upright) and serves the large Korean community here and with whom I have trouble communicating.

Also, in the review of the Kemble Quantum in Diapason Oct 2000, the following statement was made. "Times have changed since the questionable Kemble of the past. ... Good publicity stunt to attract international attention and achieve a spectacular comeback." What and when were the "questionable Kemble[s] of the past"?

Finally, it has a nice sweet tone, but has the property you mentioned, Barrie, of muted notes above the bass-treble break, although they are not quite "dull or wooden", as you described them. Can this be fixed with voicing?

[Barrie Heaton]

[heidi34]

Thanks very much for the reply.

I do have air-conditioning. It usually doesn't get that dry here, we're a few miles from the ocean. And I think the T121Z was tuned 4 times in the ten years, once recently, when they brought it out of storage.

Do you know when they changed the scaling on the T121Z? Did they change it before or after the T121Z came in second in those ratings by Conseur in 2001? The model number has been changed since then to T121ZT.

About how much do you think the T121Z has depreciated in value over almost 10 years?

The prices I gave above for the T121Z and the K131 from the two different shops are both 56% of the retail prices in Larry Fine's annual supplement to the Piano Book. Unfortunately, the Korean shop doesn't have the T121ZT, only an expensive 121 with a fancy cabinet. They seem to be charging more for the fancy 121's (Vermonts) than for the K131.

Barrie, you wrote "the back for the K131 is the same as the Quantum and is an assume piano." What is an assume piano?

And finally how long does voicing last, if you play 1 hour/day, not too hard?

[Barrie Heaton]