Hi Paul........I called 8th Street Music. Would you believe the salesman I talked to didn't even know they sold a Havian. I'm guessing they had limited stock on it because it was a short-lived product from Korg. You're the luckiest man on the planet because I think you got the last one on the planet.

Can't find them anywhere! That one on reverb.com....I don't feel good about that company by instinct. And the price is too high. I got enticed partly by the $1,000 price tag when I first notice them. At the very least, that keyboard is the entry vehicle into the world of the PX's!

So that's it on the Havian for me. There just aren't any left anywhere!

You know, you just reminded me of something. All these new upscale independent living places they're building all over this state DO have expensive grand pianos. One place I play has this gorgeous sounding Yamaha Grand. Another has a $32K grand. Another has a brand new Kawai console. Many have them just for decoration in a small smoking room....others have them on or near a stage. But that IS part of the ornamentation....like back in the early part of the century...no home was complete without a piano.



There's a story I read in the paper about 30 years ago that I never forgot.

A talented Russian Classical concert pianist either had to leave the homeland or did it by choice. Bottom line is he was not known here and couldn't get any work. When they interviewed him for a news article, he said he was doing the nursing homes. He also said this is the happiest he has ever been and that he would not go back to the loneliness of the concert stage for anything. That he found his niche in integrating himself with an audience and making them happy individually rather than collectively.

Odds and ends notes and thoughts from the last few days

Had a good long talk with a keyboard dept manager I know in a music superstore. We talked about.....

how the Havian 70 might be coming out in Europe, but it might not even be released in the USA because we're the last to get "revolutionary" new keyboards, if we get them at all

Tyros was discontinued (I didn't know that)

good digital pianos he recommends: Roland fp30 and fp series (his first choice) next: yamaha p125 (flash from me: 08-10-18: Yamaha Introduces the P-121 Compact Digital Piano) then Casio px160 and there's the kawai ES110 (but he said they have constant circuit board problems), poor man's rich keyboard: Yamaha DGX-660

his advice on buying (which I always forget) NEVER, EVER make a decision based on what you hear in a Youtube video over tiny computer speakers

Havian (and other Korg products) are made in Italy, and they determine what styles they are going to put in the machine by selecting from a small group of professionals in Europe who make up styles and then submit them to Korg for the arranger keyboards

there's a good possibility that they will soon stop making them in Italy and start making them in the Orient (and designing them there too)

America is like an afterthought for the top arranger makers....some of the machines aren't even mentioned here......they depend on European sales to turn a profit and keep the industry flourishing.
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So I had a light bulb moment today. A new approach on what to buy.

I'm so focused on what to use on the job, I'm forgetting I'm going to be playing it a heck of a lot at home. Like sometimes in the middle of the night. I think I'm going to go for a higher end keyboard so that I can enjoy playing it at home too.

That's as far as I got. As far as which piano to buy, I find in life in general.....when you don't know what to do.......DO NOTHING (until you know what to do)!