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Hi, this is my first post. I am looking into buying a new Rischler 5'3" baby grand for my two daughters to continue their piano lessons. Not knowing anything about pianos personally, is this a reasonable name that has been around? It comes with a 10 year warrenty. This is a chinese manufactured piano, with german roots im told.
Any feed back would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Chris.

Never heard of Rischler, but when I googled the words - rischler piano - the link to this thread came in the second position.

Within one hour PW was a top 10 entry. Maybe by the end of the night, it will be ahead of the rischler piano website. Hmmmmmm

BTW it is made exclusively for the great west music company-- a distributor of musical instruments.

Here is the link to Rischler pianos:

http://www.rischler.com/rischler.html

I have a vague memory of playing one in Norway in my innocent youth, but I cannot remember whether I liked it or not.

Rischler is simply a stencil name used by certain importers who import Dongbei made pianos.

I would look under Dongbei - not somewhere in Norway....

P.S. nice piano....

Norbert

Norbert,

If Rischler is a stencil then who *owns* the brand?

Is it Dongbei, is it the importer? Is it someone else?

fathertopianist,
Norbert is correct when stating the name is a stencil. The Rischler name is owned by Great WestMusic and their " Home Series" are built by Bejing Xhinghai and their "Profesional Series" are built by DongBei.
These same pianos are available under a variety of names.You must look at each model carefully to know what piano builder is producing what model. With stencil names, you sometimes don't know who is building what and when.
Performance and specifications vary.
GreatWest is not the importer of the Xhinghai product( those rights held by another distributor who sells to GreatWest under their stencil)but GreatWest is responsible for warranty.
I am not sure if the Dongbei Rischlers are still from the same importer or not. I do not think they are any longer.
Most are decent pianos when properly prepped.


Frank Woodside
www.hzmpiano.com

Thanks Frank, this is very helpful.

So just to be clear, it is possible that the same exact piano from China could be branded under two different names and therefore have two different german heritages after branding? I know, it sounds funny doesn't it?

I am just trying to understand if there is anything behind the brand name other than marketing?

Since Made in China is becoming an asset in terms of quality, I wonder how long before distributors start branding their stencil pianos with a Chinese name?

fathertopianist,
Yes, the exact same piano can be branded with different names for different importer/distributors.
Recently when I was in China (Bejing)I went to one of the larger builders and watched as certain brand names (Stencils) available for different distributors were built side by side.
Some distributors make up their own name and some use old familiar names. Most interesting was seeing a large supply of already built pianos with no name on the fallboard awaiting distributor orders to have the name affixed.
Some distributors with large enough orders and wait time can have some very minor changes made to distinguish their name from a competitor but this is usally limited to small cabinet issues such as trim.
As for heritages, mostly old, defunct names for marketing and recognition.
Their are many distributor and private label names used, all touting to be unique.
Most represent a fair value to the consumer.
Some tend to over exaggerate their claims.
At entry level pianos, people should buy what looks and sounds good to them, rather than worry about.. is this really an old famous german piano.

Frank Woodside
www.hzmpiano.com

I want to start by thanking you all for supplying me with this information. I now feel much more at pease with going ahead and purchasing this piano. You have no idea how your response has help me . Once again...Thank You. Chris.