August-Forster-134K 134K in Ebony & Maple. Petrof-P131 P131 in Ebony Polish. Sauter-130 130 in Ebony Polish. Steinway-K K in Ebony Polish.
From rare collectible Hamburg Steinway B Louis XIV.Factors such as cultural preference, national manufacturing standards and traditions, as well as material selection do play a part in a piano’s character. Overlooking the fact that it is extremely difficult to attribute most pianos to just a single country these days, there is, like most popular narratives, some truth and some fiction to the notion that a country can determine the nature of a piano’s sound.Pierres Fine Pianos offers an exclusive collection of antique and pre-owned Steinway & Sons. When it comes to branding this is what Steinway does best.You will often hear discussions about a piano’s character, either sound or touch, and how it relates to its country of origin. Their largest piano is the model D which is used in concert halls all around the world. They are universally recognized as the best-manufactured pianos in the world. Steinway pianos have a reputation unlike any other.
Petrof Vs Steinway Professional Performers Choose
The tone, because of its thicker rims, tends to be a little more ‘woody’ and rounder than other instruments, though factors such as voicing, and (perhaps more in Steinway’s case) variation in manufacturing, can easily dwarf the influence of these material characteristics without proper prep or selection.With Mason & Hamlin’s continued focus on design evolution, and the ‘style’ gap between these two brands continuing to widen, it is quite likely that the term ‘American piano’ won’t have much meaning 10 years from now.Western Europe (France/Germany/Italy/Austria)Western Europe is home to most of the world’s most respected piano builders: Grotrian, Bechstein, Hamburg Steinway, Fazioli, Bosendorfer, and Sauter. Since both of these American producers are considered to be performance-level pianos, it would be fair to sum up the category as highly durable, heirloom-grade, with a focus towards higher-level performance. Steinway also weighs in amongst the 10 heaviest, again because of its particular wood content. Mason & Hamlin, for example, is the heaviest piano on earth, inch-for-inch, largely due to its extra-thick rim of solid hard-rock maple. (Mason & Hamlin had the highest positive post rate on the world’s largest user community, and Steinway consistently cites that 9 out of 10 professional performers choose Steinway.)As stated in the introduction, American pianos often feature heavier, denser woods than their European counterparts this is partly due to tradition, and partly due to easier access to high-quality maple.
Bechstein, Hamburg Steinway and Grotrian, construction times are quite long, with abundant consideration given to the proper curing of wood, fanatic regulation of the action, and general levels of factory ‘prep’.More recently, newer brands like Borgato and Fazioli have emerged as part of a wave of boutique, high-ticket pianos with more specific tone or touch objectives, utilizing new designs and computer technology to almost ‘computer test’ scale designs and acoustic ideas before they are built. Particularly with the case of C. American pianos, which could be argued are over-built for most uses). German piano design typically focuses on clarity of the harmonic structure, long singing sustain, and robust but efficient construction (vs. Generally, German piano building is most likely to be cited as being the ‘best’, and at certain times in history that was justifiably accurate.
Operations such as are becoming increasingly more common. However, even Petrof has diversified into general design and furniture building, as efforts to shore up bottom lines continue.An emerging trend seems to be the conversion of piano factories into piano REBUILDING factories. As a result, there are only two significant players left: Estonia and Petrof. Not only that, but their cost structure is less competitive. However, it is now fairly well acknowledged that the highest levels of Chinese assembly and manufacturing is now equal to or surpassing the quality output of most of Eastern Europe’s factories – the strongest evidence being the shift by Western European makers to stop using Eastern European shops in favor of Chinese ones, for their 2nd and 3rd tier brands. 20 years ago, they were seen as a halfway between option, offering up affordable pianos that were more romantic and in some cases truly better than Asian, without the high price of German or American.
As other countries catch up with where Japan was in the 1970’s, in terms of mechanical stability and musical performance, both Kawai and Yamaha have turned their sites on the high-end of the market, each producing a world-class concert instrument and accompanying line of pianos. In many ways, they formed the same type of symbiotic relationship that the US currently has with China.Japanese pianos are known for their technical stability, their strong resale value, and high levels of innovation. Japan’s manufacturing sectors benefited from a number of highly specific factors which lead to very high quality control, relatively affordable labor compared with productivity, and a highly insulated economy with protections against imports and massive exports. As with many products from Japan, their pianos are known as being high-value, high-quality, durable, and well-designed. Not only do the two companies have a shared history, but they have at times been bitter rivals for the crown of the global sales leader. However, this pool of talent is also being increasingly targeted by Western dealers and distributors who see these artisans as good potential concert technicians – a specialization which the North American scene hasn’t been producing many of in recent years.Japan is home to the two largest piano companies on earth: Kawai and Yamaha.
After they both closed in the early 1970’s, Young Chang and Samick rose to prominence, producing the country’s first successful exports. The first two companies, the Chung Eum Company and Soodo Piano Manufacturing Company, successfully produced a line of upright pianos that met with moderate domestic success, by very little recognition outside of the country. Their own piano-building infrastructure began at a very similar time to that of China’s piano industry in the late 1950’s / early 1960’s. This number is much closer to 25-50% for Yamaha, who has expanded their Indonesian and Chinese operations in recent years.Like many Asian countries, the importance and status of piano ownership in the home is also very high in Korea. Kawai currently produces more than 75% of it’s acoustic pianos in Japan. Both Kawai and Yamaha continue to show high levels of commitment to maintaining operations in Japan, despite rising costs.
Kawai, Yamaha, Samick, and Young Chang have all manufactured their ‘B’ lines in Indonesia, and by and large the track record for these instruments have been very good. Only the most expensive and best-rated of the piano lines are still manufactured in Korea, such as Samick’s Knabe, or Young Chang’s Weber.Access to reliable and skilled labor, as well as plenty of high-quality cheap wood, has made Indonesia a preferred outsourcing option for EVERY Japanese and Korean piano maker – at least as long as China retains any ‘branding toxicity’ to European and North American customers. As a result, much of both Young Chang and Samick’s production has been relocated to countries like Indonesia and China. However, their pianos never achieved the same level of respect or track record as their Japanese counterparts, as evidenced by a lack of robust resale activity and decades of ratings within consumer guides.As Korean labor costs continue to rise in line with Japanese, the value that Korean pianos presented in the past has become somewhat diluted, as many Chinese pianos now rank alongside Korean instruments, but still with a significant price advantage.
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