Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Please help in identifying this Yamaha U3 (photos included)

Hello,

This is my first post but I've been a reader of this forum since my daughter started learning playing the piano 3 years ago. She is now 8 years old and she's just passed Mozart's Sonata KV 545. She's been playing on a Kawai digital piano at home but we are now ready to buy an upright for her.

A local dealer offered us a Yamaha U3 imported from Japan which has a serial that's supposed to be from year 2000 onward (serial # is above 6280000). However I found out that this piano is quite different from the U3 pianos made after 2000 which I have seen online, especially the shape and design of the metal frame and the number of backposts (old U3s have 4, new U3s have 5; this piano has 6.) One explanation the dealer gave for the difference in look and design was that most likely, the U3s I have seen online were made for the US and European market and the piano he's selling was sold for the Japanese and Asian market.

I've been doing some reading online to determine this piano's provenance, and ultimately find out what variant it is (if it is indeed a U3), but have not made much progress. The closest I could find in terms of similarity in metal frame design and number of backpost is the Yamaha SU7.

Any leads or information will help! Thank you!

Sincerely,
Ryan

That does look like a U3 to me, the plate is not the same design as current models but I believe the design changed in about 2002 so yours would be consistent with a post 2000 but pre 2002 model.

Your dealer may well be correct as there were Japanese home market variants some of which featured six back posts or even a star design like my old UX3. I think that usually these specials would have variations on the model name rather than just the straight "U3" shown in your photograph but anything is possible - they may have even put a standard U3 inside one of the higher spec. cases if there was a shortage, who knows.

Although there are differences in the design over the years and between models and variants I would suggest not getting too worried/excited by that though and just play several U3s of whatever flavour you find available, then pick the one you like the most irrespective of its exact type.

+1

Welcome to Piano World, unapersonatagala!

Rick

Thank you for your reply!

I am still trying to dig up more information on the plate design. I found a Yamaha U3 being sold here (photo attached) which has exactly the same plate (it also has the number 5 inscribed on the plate) as what our dealer is offering us (attached again). The thing is, this white U3 looks way older because the upper frame still has the "NIPPON GAKI" inscribed on the plate, which I believe means the piano was made around 1960s-1970s. Does this mean our dealer was incorrect in stating his U3 was made post 2000?

Not at all as although the plate design changed around 2002 the older design was used for many years, that is why older pianos such as that white one can have the same plate as a 2000/2001 model.