I am going to side with Chony on this one - I don't think it is fair for us to ask George (or any other dealer) to post whatever discounts he can offer on this board.

It is not a matter of loyalty - I am sure that we all agree that George has proven his loyalty to this forum by sharing much of his valued knowledge (and often insider info). His contributions add more usefulness to this board than those from many others, including my own gripes. I don't think we can question his loyalty if he can not meet/beat the price of a large low-overhead mail-order house (and if he can, so much the better). If he feels like sharing his price on this forum, I am sure he will do so.

However, asking him to post discount info is putting him on the spot, which is not fair, especially since the people asking have not yet expressed a hard commitment to buy the T2. There are other dealers on this forum, and George should not be singled out.

I am not saying that anyone ready to buy should not try to pay the best price they can, whether this means buying from Musician's Buy or the like, or negotiating with a member dealer. The prices paid are a matter of individual transactions, and I am sure will be influenced by factors like the current prices at the other stores, as well as the amount of time a dealer has to spend to complete a transaction. While it may be up to us, the purchasers, to share price information with each other, as we often do, a dealer should not be put on the spot in this fashion.

Having said that, the idea of organizing a group purchase sounds great. As I recall, when Tyros(?) came out, Bob Gelman's Yahoo group had a group purchase going at a significantly reduced price.

I have a strong feeling that manufacturers seting the minimum advertised prices (MAP) is anti-competitive, and is likely a violation of anti-trust laws in the US. If we could have enough pull to bring this to the attention of the FTC, Yamaha, Roland, and others, may be forces to drop this practice.

Regards