Visiting Petrof Piano I started the tour in the milling room where they cut wood into usable lengths and sizes. Adjacent to that is their cabinet making shop. It brings a smile to my face when I… Read More
Laoureux Dampers When your finger depresses a key on the piano, the string vibrates allowing us to hear the wonderful tone of the piano. But what happens when we lift that same key? The key returns to its upright position and the tone stops resonating. Why?… Read More
Renner Piano Parts Manufacturing It was a delight and privilege to sit with Clemens von Arnim and ask him about his connection to Renner. I had no idea that it was his grandfather… Read More
Hailun Piano Factory ~ A First Glimpse It’s simply overwhelming the stature and size of the Hailun Piano Company. They manufacture roughly 38,000 pianos per year. Now if you do the math, that’s just over 3,150 pianos per month in 4.2 MILLION square feet of factory space.… Read More
Mapes Piano String Company – How Piano Strings are Made Stephen Mapes established the Mapes Piano String Company in 1912 and shortly thereafter in 1918 it was purchased by John Adam Schaff. Now 4 generations later and employing 125 people in a space of 200,000 square feet, Mapes produces piano wire… Read More
Interview with Norbert Abel – Abel Hammer Abel is world reknown specializing in hammer manufacturing. It was my pleasure to meet Norbert Abel last month and have him shed some light on the piano hammer making… Read More
Hailun Piano Innovation Working with a translator, he showed me different concepts in his pianos. What caught my eye was this silver looking gleam under the keys on one of their upright pianos. As seen in the picture… Read More
Making Bösendorfer More Austrian When queried about this, he said that areas which had been outsourced are now being made in Austria. He referred me to the man who specializes in this at production level, Simon Oss (Premium Piano Market Development Manager for both Yamaha & Bösendorfer)… Read More
Michael Spreeman – Ravenscroft Piano Interview This month I had the great privilege of interviewing Michael Spreeman, owner and founder of Ravenscroft pianos. They are a new addition… Read More
