What is Piano Price Point about? In 2010, I realized that there was sufficient information about piano company profiles but the information had not been gathered and sorted into price ranges, also known as price points. And so after a few years of research and programming, Piano Price Point was launched. Simply, Piano Price Point… Read More
In 1874, William Steinway wrote in his diary (pictured above) that the sostenuto pedal was splendid. But there has never been said any words in the piano industry that are more divisive than “But does it have a middle pedal?” Why are these words divisive? Because the middle pedal on the piano is the least used and yet most focused on in the piano industry. I’ve often told the story about one of the greatest jazz pianists in my city…… Read More
This month I had the wonderful opportunity of flying to Pennsylvania to shadow Mark Baughmann from QRS who teaches the class on PNOmation installation. PNOmation in a nutshell allows you to have a piano that plays by itself and is controlled wirelessly from any smart device (iPad, tablet, android, iPhone, computer, etc). You can literally push a play button on your phone from your kitchen and your piano will start playing.… Read More
On this latest trip to China, I managed to catch a glimpse into the transformation of Pearl River Piano. Already the largest piano company in the world manufacturing more than 130,000 pianos annually, Pearl River Piano has its sights set on even greater advancement.
One hundred thirty thousand pianos annually equates into about 400 pianos being manufactured per day. Imagine though what it must be like to produce 400 pianos daily. With roughly 225 tuning pins…… Read More
Recently I sat down with June Wang from Pearl River Piano Group and corresponded with Rob Slayman from Schimmel Piano to discuss their strategic alliance as I was curious how it had affected both companies. It was announced at NAMM 2016 that Pearl River had purchased a controlling interest in the Schimmel company.
Why do piano companies purchase other piano companies? We hear of company mergers in the news all the time. What is the impetus – the driving force for one piano company to acquire another piano company? If we paint with large brush strokes, on one side there is massive demand to be fulfilled in China. Nearly 80% of the world’s piano purchases happen in China.… Read More
The large professional level of piano measures 50″ and taller (above 125cm). These are the ‘grandiose’ versions of professional upright pianos. True, an actual grand piano has a different action than any upright piano but when it comes to string length, large upright pianos have strings equivalent to medium sized grand (See the string length… Read More
Have you ever heard someone describe an object as being “jet black”? Jet is derived from the French word “jaiet”, a process that… Read More
Today we have the privilege of speaking with David Stanwood, a piano technician who also happens to be a published author specializing in piano touch metrology. (Metrology being the science of measurement)… Read More
If you live in North America, you’ll surely be aware that Baldwin is a household name. In fact, my first job involving pianos was in the local Baldwin dealership. They have been around since 1862 and were at one point the largest piano… Read More
The job of the soundboard is to transform tone of the vibrating piano strings into audible waves which also color the tone.… Read More
