Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Henry F. Miller baby grand

I've searched in the archives and did not quite find the information I was looking for. One of my very good friends is a piano salesman and Sherman Clay and he told me they are phasing out the Conservatory Line of Henry Miller baby grands.

Now here's the thing. I know that Pearl River makes Henry Miller pianos, but my friend told me that the Conservatory Line is not made by Pearl River, this is also indicated by a different kind of stenciling on the piano lid.

My question then is, does anyone know who makes this piano? I am a student/pianist and I have to admit it seems like a good piano and especially for the price ($6700 after tax and delivery plus 10 year warranty on 5'8").

My friend's checking with his manager on who makes these pianos exactly. He thinks it's Kohler and Campbell which would make it a Korean piano, no?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Well I used to sell Pearl River and Henry F. Miller, and while I can't tell you who makes the conservatory line (although I thought it was Pearl River) I can tell you that it's not worth the money you are going to spend.

This debate has been going on forever on this forum, but I will bring it up again...

Spend the money on a good upright... Maybe a Kawai or a Yamaha. Personally I am drawn to the kawais but that just my personal taste... If you Must have a grand, then spend the money but know that there will be additional costs for maintanance... extra tunings, voicing, action regulation etc.

Good luck and I hope you find the right piano for you.

BC

Thanks for the advice. I will keep it in mind.

Just in case your curious:

I talked some more with my sales friend at Sherman Clay and he had asked his boss on the skinny about the Henry Miller Conservatory Line. Basically, it's made by Samick. Originally it was intended to fall in the Sherman Clay hierarchy like so - Yamaha, Kohler & Campbell, Henry F Miller Conservatory, Henry Miller (Pearl River grands). The problem was that once the Conservatory line was made, they turned out the be way better than they expected (fluke? I dunno, but when I tried it I found it much more desirable than the K&Cs and even some of the lower end Yamahas). Given the price range, Sherman Clay notice that the Conservatory Line was actually starting to siphon away sales from the K&Cs and Pearl River grands.

Thus, they've decided to get rid of them entirely.

The Henry F. Miller conservatory line is not made by Samick. It's made in the Sejung factory.
To get some more information about it, check out http://www.ascpianos.com/PagesPianos/ASCpianohome.html
All those pianos are identical with the Henry F. Miller conservatory line.
The relationship that Sejung has with Samick is, that a while ago, apparently some key people at Samick left and joined the Sejung factory.
My first impression of the Henry F. Miller conservatory grands was pretty good, but after playing them a couple of times, I noticed some disadvantages. Well, a $6700 grand can't be perfect, right? :p
I've heard many good things about the Nordiska pianos. You should check those out.

Samick factory is in Korea and the Sejung factory is in China. If key people at Samick went to Sejung I hope they packed their bags.

It may be so, but I am skeptical.

Thanks! This is quite helpful.

As you may have read, my initial impression was quite good, too. In fact, pleasantly surprised considering the price. My primary concern is in the longetivity. Out of curiousity, what disadvantages did you notice?

Believe it or not, that is the case. There was an article not too long ago in the Music Trades regarding the personnel.

wongsifutgei,

the biggest disadvantage I noticed was the discontinuity between the base and treble notes (forgot the proper terms), both parts in itself sounded good, but very different.