Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Steinway & Sons Purchased Renner - July 29, 2019

Interesting observation.

Wasn't there some scuttlebutt a while back about Renner producing in China ("for Chinese consumption only").

I can’t remember whether it’s before your time here or not, Randy, but there was a PW forum member with that screen name, many moons ago!

Back to the original topic, I’m not tremendously worried, as they own OS Kelly in Ohio and Kluge in Germany and seem happy to supply other factories and rebuilders with these products. And, of course, there are alternative sources of action parts.

There was indeed. I wish he would return.

Why would they be fined?

You know, "whippen boy" does sound vaguely familiar. I pulled up his profile and it looks like his last post was just months before I signed up, but I was lurking for a while before that, and have read way too many older posts over the years too.

This is probably not good news for the Meyer family who operate Renner USA. I speculate that Renner parts made for Steinway may no longer be available from them. Or at least they will raise the cost to exactly match Steinway sold parts. Just thinking out loud here.

So this leaves us how many companies that make grand actions now? I found this list of pianos that use Renner actions. Does this leave Yamaha and Kawai (and now Steinway) as the only companies who also make actions?

America
Fritz Dobbert
Mason & Hamlin
Baldwin
Steinway & Sons New York
Charles Walter

Asia
Hailun
Pearl River
Samick
Yantai
Young Chang

Europe
Bechstein
Blüthner
Bösendorfer *
Estonia
Fazioli *
Förster *
Grotrian-Steinweg
Leipziger Pianofortefabrik
Petrof
Pfeiffer
Pleyel
Sauter
Schimmel Pianos *
Seiler
W. Steinberg *
Steingräber & Söhne*
Steinway & Sons Hamburg *

Source: https://www.louisrenner.com/en/history-of-the-piano-action/ and https://pianopricepoint.com/renner-piano-parts-manufacturing/

@Chrispy Even though the source is Renner's website itself, it is inaccurate in at least one detail, which make me question the validity of the whole list. The "Leipziger Pianofortefabrik" was sold to Bechstein in 1992 and they still use the Seifhennersdorf factory site as its only production site for the Bechstein brand. Zimmermann as the brand of the Leipziger Pianofortefabrik is no longer manufactured in Germany and does not use Renner actions anymore.

If they were to change how Renner supplies other manufacturers, it could be seen as anti-competitive.

In a small industry like pianos, the only way to grow (especially when you have shrunken so much over the past couple of decades) is to diversify. This is a basic premise of investing and S&S is no stranger to the concept. It is a smart thing to do if you have the cash (or leverage) to invest.

I do not think that this investment was made to suddenly make these parts unavailable. That would be foolish as there are other fine makers of action parts out there. No, I would predict that there is a redundancy to having Renner parts and making parts in NYC. Although there has been a fairly recent investment in the New York machinery, eventually we might see all Renner in all Steinway pianos.

We shall see how this develops. Thank you Jeff for posting this. Regards to you father.

My 2 cents,

Maybe the most cost effective way to modernize their production capability is to buy companies that have already modernized. I watched a video someone posted here a few months ago showing a tour of the Steinway production facility in New York. I was surprised by the antiquated equipment and production methods, which seemed like something out of the late 1800s. A steam engine would not have looked out of place.

I have largely original parts on my 1933 Steinway M, including, I believe, hammers. Whatever they did back then works just fine.

It has been rumored that Steinway & Sons NY has been trying to get Steinway & Sons Hamburg to use Steinway actions for many years. This is one way to do it.

I would like to see/hear other first hand accounts of this reported acquisition however.

We got official notice from Steinway that they acquisition has been made.

Thanks for the confirmation.

Does this mean NY will use Hamburg parts?

We shall see....

Rather misleading and outdated. Fritz-Dobbert pianos are built in Brazil (South America is a separate continent from North America).. Mason and Hamlin builds their own action - and I don't think they even use Renner Blue hammers anymore. Baldwin is (to the best of my knowledge) now built exclusively in Asia. And do NY Steinways use Renner action parts???????

Thanks.

Did you contact them directly?