Schimmel pianos

[jbuck919]

For Lance, you may have addressed this before, but what do you know about Schimmel pianos, if anything? (If anything. Ha!)

[Lance]

Yes, I have worked on a number of them over the years. At one time Schimmel was one of Germany's great names in pianos, having been made for well over 100 years. One of the big grands I tended to I thought was voiced very brightly to the point of hurting the ears on the high end. The piano industry has suffered much in the last decades. Schimmel was taken over by a Chinese company called Pearl River, who makes pianos of former stature still retaining the great names. Near as I know, however, Schimmel pianos are still produced in Germany, not China. I was never very happy with pianos coming from the Pearl River manufacturer. As you may know, Steinway & Sons (last I knew) was considering the sale of that great name in pianos to a Chinese group. And the great Baldwin name has been out of business for some time (taken over by Gibson Guitar). Many other great names in pianos (Gaveau, Erard, etc.) have also gone by the wayside or are being manufactured by Asians or the Chinese. I could go on and on about this, but it is rather depressing. In Germany, we still have the Steinway produced there, Bechstein (once owned by Baldwin), Blüthner (who is making a big comeback) Bosendorfer in Austria (once owned by American Kimball), Fazioli (Italy), and possibly Mason & Hamlin whose pianos I do not see very much today but I believe they are still being manufactured in the USA, once one of the very great names in pianos. Kawai and Yamaha remain leaders in quality instruments produced outside the USA, especially those produced in Japan.