Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum So where are the big grands coming from?

Just my opinion here but I think American piano buyers are a distinct interesting breed. As told to me by my piano tech, a private nonprofessional pianist bought a Yamaha CFX a few years ago. Buying the concert grand included a trip to the Yamaha facility to see his CFX finished and to get his input for the final factory prep for voicing and regulation. For me that would be a dream! The Yamaha folks were stunned that the concert grand was bought by an amateur pianist, not a touring professional. Why on earth would an amateur need a concert grand in his living room? My immediate answer is, why not? But then thinking to myself only, if I had the money for a concert grand like a CFX or a Bosie Imperial, wouldn’t it be better to donate it to my local orchestra or university performance theater than keep it in my living room for a rank amateur (emphasis on rank 😃) to play? Of course I would require daily access to the piano on a regular schedule.
Back to the statistics from iLaw. 6’5” inches is hardly a concert grand but I think it shows just how spoiled we are here with big houses and big pianos! Again just my opinion.

So it looks like all of the Austrian pianos in the report are from Boesendorfer.

J[b][/b]
The Wilhelm Schimmel grands are made in Kalisz, Poland.
The Phoenix grands are partly assembled and designed in England.

Feurich Vienna 123, which is an upright, is made in Austria.

What's coming out of Gabon and Luxembourg?

Don't they make thumb pianos in Gabon? A grand version would be cool.

Irmler uprights are I think made in China.Are they then sent to Germany for a final check ?
Shultz and Polman Studio uprights are strung back in China then finished off in Italy.I think there is a Masterpiece series in grands
that are available on order.These are really made in Italy.
Shultz and Pollman Studio upright pianos are availability downtown
Vancouver.Irmler uprights are also available here.
Perhaps the grands are too?

Not sure if it's still correct - but last I heard, GROTRIAN Cast Iron Plates are made by OS Kelly Foundry in USA - does that partly mess with your figures?

Hong Kong 15
Spain 9
Gabon 6
France 4
Luxembourg 2
Mexico 1

What pianos could they be?

Hong Kong - I'd noticed against GROTRIAN's profile page in the PianoBuyer:
"Pianos made by[/b]: Grotrian Piano Company GmbH, Braunschweig, Germany; and Parsons Music, Hong Kong" - but I have no idea which pianos are made there.

No, a U.S.-origin plate alone wouldn't change the country of origin of the finished piano.

Now if all of the components came from Country A, but were then shipped to Country B for final assembly .... you'd have the kind of question that pays for my groceries!

Larry.

Wilhelm Grotrian is built by Parsons. So are Baldwin grands and Brodmann.

I see. I was pretty sure all Parsons pianos are made in China, so found it strange initiallyto see pianos coming from Hong Kong as there is not piano manufacturing in Hong Kong. It make senses now as the list goes by where the company is registered.

Back_Study_Piano
Your Grotrian is obviously made in Germany.Wilhelm Grotrian do not
make grand pianos 7'4" or any size concert grand.They only make grands smaller than 7ft. See Piano Buyer

The 6 pianos from Gabon...that's certainly a head scratcher! Maybe it's the source of the ebony used for the black keys.

That's not actually true. The "nationality" of the manufacturer is irrelevant to the country of origin of the piano. If there are no grands actually being manufactured in Hong Kong (other people here know more about that than I do), then the 15 grands listed as coming from Hong Kong (rather than the actual place of manufacture) is intentionally or unintentionally incorrect (either is both possible and common).

Larry.

That's an important point to understand. During last decade we had a huge immigration from Hong Kong to Vancouver, B.C. and a certain amount of these immigrants brought their [mostly German..] grand pianos along. No question that this would skew statistics.

Norbert

While stats can be interesting, even more interesting IMHO is "who" among famous pianists owns what at home. Over the years I have learned that what is always "assumed" is not always true. Alfred Brendel in Germany for example being one example. Plus which pianist saw fit to import a piano [usually from Europe] for him/herself whilst being surrounded by a large number of other popular options in same city or area. Here's another example, hoping the fantastic musical value of of this will be enjoyed by all.
Part of the video is made in Daniil Trifonov's apartment in New York.
https://www.dw.com/en/a-new-chopin-1/av-42230549

Norbert, Interesting news website, thanks! (DW.com). Anyhow, I couldn't easily say the kind of piano in the guys apartment, but I could see the S&S in the hall.

Please don't leave us hanging. What piano does Alfred Brendel have in Germany? Does he have the same piano in London also where I thought he was living?.

I also watched the Trifonov video (not completely) but didn't see any statement about what piano he owned in his apartment in NYC. What is it? It looked like a Hamburg Steinway in his concert in Dortmund, and maybe a similar piano in his home in NYC?

Thanks.