Thanks for all the advice so far. I do need to keep within 180cm to fit into the room where the piano will live. Of course the Shigeru is a few inches bigger than the Schimmel (180 vs 169) - does that make much of a difference?I would love to have the time to look around and try lots of pianos, but it's difficult fitting in with a more than full-time job and the shops here in the UK don't open much when I'm not at work (no late evenings and very few are open on Sundays). I'm hunting via web plus some word of mouth advice, and then going to try the one or two I think are contenders.
Personally I would go for the Schimmel every time on quality grounds.
In what ways does the quality of a Schimmel exceed a Shigeru?
Btw thanks for all the advice. I went ahead and bought the Shigeru (sorry Richard!) which is now delivered and installed - two weeks of hard practice ahead over the Christmas break from work.Many thanks for all the advice. In the end the deciding factors were: I loved the piano at first sight and was reassured by most of the advice given here, and value for money seemed good compared to German-made pianos. I could perhaps have spent more time hunting around but didn't want an older piano (already have an older upright) and don't really have the time to spare. Happy Christmas all!