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As a matter of routine I always ask my customers what they think about a piano after playing it first. It's a matter of courtesy, respect and of course helping to identify what they like.

As dealers we also learn from our customers' tastes: this can and often 'does' involve same instruments by same maker.

Waffling about a make and its presumably great or not so great features comes after. From my experience sound is the summary of everything happening in an instrument, be this part of its innate built quality or after-service.

If sound is not right, nothing else matters.

A lot of opinions and observations have been offered already about this newly introduced line of pianos but it would also be nice to hear from those having actually tried the pianos.

[ note emphasis on 'also'... ]

Time to sit back and listen to those hopefully a bit more in the know, serious...

Isn't it nice one doesn't have to "like" an instrument by simply trying it?

Smart dealers learn from this...

Norbert

All your Kayserburg are belong to us!

William:

As you know, the brand Kayserburg was created in 2008/2009 for the domestic Chinese market with no intent of export. Those instruments were essentially Ritmuller pianos with some variations and, in some specific model cases, more hands on- some even being finished in Germany.

Because of their acceptance in the marketplace, Pearl River then decided (2011)to build an instrument to compete with the Yamaha CF and Shigeru Kawai instruments and to market them with the Kayserburg label. They created a "factory within a factory," lead by Stephan Mohler, to build these newly designed pianos (by L. Thomma of course) on a very limited basis.

Now that the guild teams (European traditional method of building pianos) are fully trained, and producing approximately 40 instruments a month, Pearl River has decided to add the US market and Europe for ONLY the Kayserburg Artist series uprights. These pianos are best distinguished from the Chinese domestic instruments by model. For example, the domestic Kayserburg 48" piano is the UH121 - exactly the same model designation as the Ritmuller 48" in the USA.

However, the Kayserburg Artist 48" piano is the model KA121. These have completely different components, soundboards, actions and production (completely hand-made by the Artist team and each finished product inspected by Mohler)and include the new mineral "Ecory" keys (mineral substance that is very Ivory-like).

At the moment, only the Kayserburg Artist uprights will be available in the USA (KA 121, KA 126 and KA 132 and MAYBE the KA 130 (my personal favorite)), with grands to follow later - perhaps next year. The grand designations are KR or KD - not GH as in the domestic Kayserburg/Ritmuller.

Since Ritmuller's have become somewhat established in the USA, the intent is to keep their identity the same and separate the Kayserburg Artist pianos completely - much like Shigeru Kawai.

If there are any other questions, I am happy to answer them through PM.

Said the gringo who uses a spanish screen name.

Kurt

Master88er,

For those of us that can't attend Winter NAMM, some pictures, sound clips, and a video of the guild team building one of the new grands would be very cool.

Russell,

Congrats on the official roll-out. I can't stand NAMM after about 35 of them but eventually I have to get up to Berkley to visit a favorite cousin. So right after I've kissed their darling baby and had my heart attack on a pan at Gioia, I look forward to meeting you and seeing the Kayserburgs.

Define hand-made. Are they using CNC machinery for making the bridges or do they make them with a chisel? Do they fit the thickness of the soundboard with a draw blade?

Gregor

Hi Gregor:

After 30 years of traveling to Germany, and doing business there, I know how "literal" the German language and people tend to be. So with my Lebkuchen in one hand, and schnapps in the other , I'll choose to take your comment with a smile and respond that, as you know, the Guild system of building instruments is very much a hands-on approach rather than assembly line production, which is largely automated and impersonal.

For example, using your soundboard example: This does not mean that wood is cut with a sawhorse and mean-toothed blade, but rather with a precision laser which is more accurate. The soundboard material is specially selected by a trained technician from a large stockpile of spruce (Pearl River has a HUGE stockpile), and then guided through the production and installation process by that same individual(s). With production line instruments, that is not the case. This same process is applied to other component selection, and the instrument is built in a separate facility in the guild fashion - several teams, each building sister pianos from start to finish.

If you would like to see an example of this type of production, I am sure I can arrange a visit to Sauter or Steingraeber for you since they are closer to you than Pearl River. They employ this same method of production, even though they don't use a "chisel" or "a draw blade" - oh, wait, Steingraeber does!

A communist none the less.

No. A human being actually.

Appreciating people's input about these pianos.

So far it's hard to 'agree' or 'disagree' with anything being said.
In fact, nothing of real interest [to me] has been mentioned.

Would love comparing my own musical notes with these pianos against that of others.

Unfortunately no such opportunity yet.

There must be at least one out there....

Norbert

For the past 15 years we have been waiting for the moment where the North American market recognizes a Chinese Piano Maker as a household name but it doesn’t happen. As time goes by China is rapidly developing and it is no longer the cheapest place to build pianos.

Here is the dilemma; there is no consumer confidence and the prices are no longer low enough to lure buyers. A clear statement of the lack of consumer’s confidence is the need of constant and repeated use of a German or European affiliation from a handful of “piano lines” built in China.

After seeing over the years a parade of piano lines from China, all practically with the same marketing structure, I wonder if somebody will change this trend. In my opinion companies as big as Pearl River should have done what the Japanese did back in the sixties, take the beating and practically built a piano only with one name while developing the product to the point that the quality made it an inevitable good value.

However and understandably the Chinese Piano makers have been more concerned with selling more pianos than branding a particular name and therefore instead of having one dealer in a whole region with Pearl River Pianos (for example) they have four dealers all with a different piano made by Pearl River, Dong Bei or whatever the factory happened to be. I thought that Hailun was going to be able to resist the temptation but apparently not.

An example of the value of branding is that Steinway, Kawai and Yamaha have been for a while already making pianos in China or Indonesia and their names are strong enough where consumers continue buying their products regardless.

I wonder if the Chinese Piano makers will change their strategy or just simply continue popping new names as long as possible. However as pianos made by the Chinese Piano makers get more expensive and their piano lines continue being washed out in a market with a slew of pianos with a German connection, it would not be a surprise to see a Chinese Piano maker go out of business or shift manufacturing to a different part of the world.

Isn't it nice to sell Estonia and Sauter pianos?

One name - one quality.

And no 911 calls....

Norbert

Well, I will say this (and Norbert and I are not in cahoots)- I have a very close friend who is looking for a great grand piano.

Guess what brands I am going to take him to see next week??

You guessed it.

He is just friggin' tired of the 911 calls on his Steinw.... oops. I slipped.

I have been there as I had a Steingraeber factory training this year. There I saw some Kayserburgs.

Team production is more usual than asembly line in Germany. And to be honest: for the workers it is somehow boring to be specialized in only one production step. In some factories they do only that one step the whole day. E.g. glueing in the hammers as opposed to install and regulate the complete action.

Gregor

Best wishes "master88er" with Kayserburg Pianos.

Though you are the first (and only?) American seller/distributer, the only website for Kayserberg Pianos showing online is from Australia.... seems rather strange ?
Whether good, indifferent or otherwise it's refreshing to be informed about the use of laminated (veneer) soundboards in all of their pianos. - (on the Australian website).

*edit* - My understanding after further research is that the pianos listed on the Australian Kayserburg website only list the GH grand pianos and UH upright pianos for sale in the Chinese and Australian market ( and possibly other markets ?). The artist series , as you have mentioned, use different components including a solid spruce soundboard.

You state you shall only be introducing upright pianos to begin with.
Do you think there are features that distinguish these instruments from other pianos of high quality/design/components coming out of the current market?

you saw some kayserburgs... in the steingraeber factory?

Those were probably the Steinkayberburgs!