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After a Saturday Job in a music shop (Glenn Derges Musical Instruments in Banbury) at the age of 15, followed by a Youth Training scheme I had no visions of owning my own music shop.
I’d always worked more hours than I was paid for, including helping with deliveries after work, going in after school and for most of the school holidays.
And, I’d made tea, hoovered, dusted, and delivered organs in the shop van soon after passing my driving test- so I’d enjoyed the opportunity of doing many of the jobs around the shop.
But I really wasn’t fully experienced in having my own music shop.
Selling cars for 7 years (Rovers) added some extra customer service experience to my belt, but opening my own shop included renting a property, ordering signs, business cards and getting set up with credit card machines, VAT numbers, and of course setting up a Yamaha account.
In September 1995, I opened One Man Band in White Lion Walk, Banbury.
A very small shop and started with half a dozen guitars, a couple of violins, loads of sheet music and some used organs.
We grew quite fast and soon had a selection of brass and woodwind instruments, electric guitars and our new Yamaha account got us low-model Yamaha keyboards and a couple of digital pianos.
We moved again in 2000 to 2 shop premises opposite each other under an archway to a pedestrianised walk in Banbury, this gave us loads more space and room for lessons, a stockroom, and more guitars and keyboards.
We had more interest in Keyboards and Clavinovas in 2000 as i remember the new PSR9000 launch and we started selling the Technics KN6000 keyboards.
Both great keyboards and the best new toys to play with. Technics always had the best backings and some lovely voices, Yamaha voices were a bit brighter and possibly more accurate -but people preferred the warmer tones of the Technics and some great presets to select from in groups of both songs and genres.
Technics brought out the KN7000 in 2002 which sadly was the last of their musical instruments to be produced, a great shame, but they wanted to just focus on their hifis, and save the expensive costs of developing the more limited market of home keyboards.
When Technics decided to stop making musical instruments, Yamaha were in the right place to fill the space and moved more towards Technics styles and facilities.
These were already proven features and the new Yamaha Tyros range soon took the top spot for home keyboards.
July 2013 brought the start of our Video Channel “Tyros Tipsters” where we began to teach tips and tricks to keyboard players using the video platform Youtube.
We started by giving tips on Yamaha Tyros models, but as demand grew- we explained features on all models including building up a video library of demonstrations and guides.
This has now become an important part of our website epianos.co.uk where you can search for relevant videos for the instrument you play, and sit back and enjoy watching us play and explain features. Just click on “Videos+ ” on the first page of our website to look for support
When Edna Halliday of Whitley Bay Organs sadly died in December 2015, we took over the reins of her respected business and built up our stocks of home organs again.
She had a large following of customers who played organs and more who played keyboards and digital pianos who needed looking after, so our video guides extended to organs and our “Organ Corner” and “Organs are Super with me David Cooper” series of demonstrations began.
In October 2017 Yamaha launched a new flagship model to replace their successful Tyros series and it was to be known as “Yamaha Genos”.
It was huge for us, as we had already established ourselves as the helpful and supportive shop for buying keyboards and we were inundated with orders.
Of course, it gave us 2 problems- we needed to spend time getting ahead of the crowd understanding it – so that we could keep everyone informed on how to use it and how to find it’s best features, but we sold so many, and most were upgrades from a Tyros 5, so we had the issue of needing to sell off the part exchanges.
We’ve since realised that new models give us loads of part exchanges and we have become better at managing to sell them off very competitively much quicker, but i remember it was quite scary to have taken in 95 x Tyros 5’s which we needed to sell on fairly quickly, to help pay Yamaha for their new Genos we had sold.
We have just had the same problem with the launch of Yamaha Genos 2, where most buyers part exchanged their Yamaha Genos 1.
And again due to the high quantities of part exchanges coming in we now have learned to sell them off at low prices to move them on.
Our extra content is loaded up in them to give better value for money than other dealers and we get cashflow by moving them through quickly at cheaper prices.
Out of the last 29 years in business, I think the last 15 months have been the most challenging as in June 2023 I suffered a heart attack.
I had some chest pains whilst walking our dog Winnie around the village, which prompted us to go to the local A&E department who concluded what I’d had and kept me in for an angiogram and further diagnosis.
I was transferred to the larger Oxford Hospital, The John Radcliffe and after a few postponements due to emergencies, I had a CABG3 Triple Heart bypass a monthlater.
For someone who had never been to hospital, I can now respect and feel for anyone who has been through a similar traumatic experience, but thankfully after 7 months off work and fantastic support from the NHS, I am lucky enough to be getting back to normal again.
The staff I work with at ePianos are all amazing and kept everyone happy whilst I was absent, and as many of you know, they are all there for you.
I am pleased to say i feel almost back to normal now and grateful to them all for their “plate spinning” and commitment to ensuring everyone gets looked after, something many businesses can’t always do.
As we move into our 30th year, we continue to support everyone with our enthusiasm, and our commitment to help players understand new models and special feature.
Thank you to you all for your support over the years, a privilege to serve you and we are very grateful that you continue to encourage us to do well by continuing to be our loyal customers
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These items are sold on behalf of Yamaha, and are sent to us on a per-order basis, typically within 5-7 working days, unless an ETA is otherwise stated.
We'll contact you the moment your purchase arrives with us to organise delivery, based on your selected option.
Example products: Yamaha DGX670, Yamaha P-525, Yamaha YDP-S55, Yamaha Clavinova.
These items must be sent with a heavy-goods courier (typically APC or FedEx). On occasion, depending on which is fastest, we will drop-ship directly from Yamaha to your address via Dachser.
Tracking will be provided by the haulier, with a typical arrival time of 1-2 working days.
*If you have included the optional £180 "Yamaha Premium Service" home delivery & setup option offered on selected products, we will contact you regarding arrangements after purchase.
**The Yamaha CSP Series, Yamaha CVP905 & CVP909, Yamaha CLP875, 885 & 895GP, and Yamaha NU1Xa are all sold on behalf of Yamaha and arrive with us on a per-order basis. As soon as your piano has arrived, we will contact you to organise the appropriate dispatch method. ETA for stock is shown on the product page for those items.
***If you have included the optional £99 home delivery & setup option offered on selected products, we will send your details direct to the installation team, who will contact you within 48 hours to make arrangements.
Depending on which option is most appropriate, we will either contact you to discuss a bespoke ePianos delivery surcharge for goods we can’t package for a 3rd party courier, or otherwise dispatch goods via FedEx or APC.
If a courier is used, tracking will be provided by them directly, with a typical arrival time of 1-2 working days.
Example products: Yamaha PSR-SX920, Yamaha P-225, Yamaha NP-15.
These items will be sent via courier (typically APC or FedEx). On occasion, depending on which is fastest, we will drop-ship directly from Yamaha to your address via UPS or Parcelforce.
Tracking will be provided by the courier, with a typical arrival time of 1-2 working days.
Smaller items, such as books, discs, etc, will be dispatched via Royal Mail second class.
After purchase, you can download the file either from the order confirmation page or the "Downloads" tab in "My Account".
If you have selected the option to receive a pre-loaded USB stick, then this will be dispatched via Royal Mail.
We will contact you regarding any pre-ordered items, and let you know when they arrive so as to arrange delivery with you at a convenient time.
Used items can also be purchased using either of the following options (minimum loan amount of £250 after deposit):
Total amount payable: £893.32
Available finance options are displayed at checkout. Alternatively, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to discuss the options, or email a finance application to you. Find out more by clicking here
Our seasonal opening hours are as follows:
We are closed on all bank holidays, therefore the processing of sales and deliveries will be delayed.
For orders of any stock displaying a 7-10 day lead time, we will contact you as soon as the item arrives with us to schedule a delivery with you.
Occasionally, there may be availability issues with our suppliers, in which case we'll get in touch with you to see if you're happy to wait, or if you'd like to cancel the order and receive a full refund.
This is a special order "agency" item, and comes to us directly from Yamaha on a per-order basis.
It typically takes 7-10 days for this item to arrive with us, whereupon we'll contact you to discuss the arrangement of delivery.
For any pre-orders, we will contact you as soon as the item arrives with us to schedule a delivery with you, and update you with an ETA.
Occasionally, there may be availability issues with our suppliers, in which case we'll get in touch with you to see if you're happy to wait, or if you'd like to cancel the order and receive a full refund.
*Cashback amount varies product to product, as indicated.
Comments:
Congratulations on your 29 years in business ,Thank you for yoyr help you have given me over the years a previous customer of The late Edna Halliday who was a very dear friend of mine having known her for over 20 years. It was such a shock and a sad loss of a dear friend. I am so sorry to hear of your bad health David but am so glad that you are now on the mend and getting back to normal. Thank you to all at E-Pianos take care and good luck to the future
Sorry to hear you have been ill David, I would like to wish you a speedy recovery, Not the easiest of things to get over, A couple of lifestyle changes should speed up your progress, All I will say is make sure you have plenty of rest and not to over do it on any jobs around the house. Hopefully we will see you take over the reigns again at Epianos,. All the best.
Really good service great staff
Luky to buy cvp809 no sales pressure from David who let me play as long as I wanted .Would recommend to anybody
Hi David,
So sorry to hear you have been unwell and glad that you have been making a great comeback.
I am really grateful for all your help with keyboards over the years!
Best wishes,
Hello David it was interesting reading about how you started your business.you never forget how it all started. I’ve followed you on you tube for a long time now. I have a tyros 2 but when I’m ready to change I would certainly consider your company.
Hope you return to full health soon.
Hello David,
I have enjoyed reading how you set up in business & the success you have made to the organ & keyboard customers over the years. our the years. Having been a Whitley Bay Organs customer, I fondly remember Edna Halliday & the staff who delivered my first & second organs before moving on to keyboards through you company.
While not a proficient player I have enjoyed the video presentations to enable me to add to the voices etc on my current keyboard & I thank you, & your staff, for that. I’m sure that I speak for all of your customers in
look forward to further “additions/benefits” to enhance our instruments playing.
Tom D