Piano Name: Bösendorfer Website: Bösendorfer Model: 200 Made in: Austria Parent Company: Yamaha Corporation Company Location: Japan Length: 6′ 7″ Impressions: “The Bösendorfer 200 feels luxurious and felty. At 200cm long (6’7″), it’s wonderfully a ‘big piano in a small body’. OK maybe not small, but it feels very concert-like for being a 200. The… Read More
Piano Name: Bösendorfer Website: Bösendorfer Model: 185VC Made in: Austria Parent Company: Yamaha Corporation Company Location: Japan Length: 6′ 1″ History: Ignaz Bösendorfer established his company in 1828 when he registered his business in Vienna as a piano maker. By 1859, upon his passing, Ludwig Bösendorfer furthered the company moving into larger facilities. A century… Read More
Piano Name: Bösendorfer Website: Bösendorfer Model: 170VC Made in: Austria Parent Company: Yamaha Corporation Company Location: Japan Length: 5′ 8″ History: Ignaz Bösendorfer established his company in 1828 when he registered his business in Vienna as a piano maker. By 1859, upon his passing, Ludwig Bösendorfer furthered the company moving into larger facilities. A century… Read More
Piano Name: Bösendorfer Website: Bösendorfer Model: 155 Made in: Austria Parent Company: Yamaha Corporation Company Location: Japan Length: 5′ 1″ History: Ignaz Bösendorfer established his company in 1828 when he registered his business in Vienna as a piano maker. By 1859, upon his passing, Ludwig Bösendorfer furthered the company moving into larger facilities. A century… Read More
Piano Name: Bösendorfer Website: Bösendorfer Model: 170CS Made in: Austria Parent Company: Yamaha Corporation of America Company Location: Japan Length: 5′ 8″ History: Ignaz Bösendorfer established his company in 1828 when he registered his business in Vienna as a piano maker. By 1859, upon his passing, Ludwig Bösendorfer furthered the company moving into larger facilities.… Read More
Piano Name: Bösendorfer Website: Bösendorfer Model: 130 Made in: Austria Parent Company: Yamaha Corporation of America Company Location: Japan Height: 52″ History: Ignaz Bösendorfer established his company in 1828 when he registered his business in Vienna as a piano maker. By 1859, upon his passing, Ludwig Bösendorfer furthered the company moving into larger facilities. A… 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
A Voice from the Past
“Step right up… See the amazing piano that plays by itself!” I can just hear the man at a trade show in the 1920’s. “Just push the pedals and this paper roll will play songs like Swanee and The Entertainer and Bicycle Built for Two.”
This invention in the late 1800’s was quite remarkable. It functions similarly to a harmonica in reverse. Rather than blowing through holes in a harmonica, the player piano sucks air through a perforated tracker bar. The paper roll has a punch-out hole position for every note on the piano. Through the use of bellows and gears, the paper roll would mechanically slide over the tracker bar and when a hole would appear in the paper, air would get sent through a tube and pneumatically play the corresponding note.… Read More
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
This month I had the great privilege of interviewing Michael Spreeman, owner and founder of Ravenscroft pianos. They are a new addition… Read More
