Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Steinway & Sons using Chinese Parts?

A partial excerpt from Australia's Bernstein Hailun Piano Website:
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{Quote:}
The Bernstein Hailun series pianos are manufactured at the Ningbo in China. Since the 1950s this factory has been producing frames and parts for piano manufacturers worldwide. In 1986, Mr. Hailun Chen purchased this factory and, with his extensive engineering experience, Mr. Chen’s unique parts became highly demanded worldwide.

The Hailun Factory was originally the Ningbo Piano Parts Factory. With more than 20 years of successful manufacturing experience, producing parts for well-known European companies such as Steinway & Sons.
{End Quote}
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The question now: Does this mean that Steinway & Sons have joined the ranks of those other piano manufacturers that are receiving and using parts made in China? If so, when did this outsourcing start? Also, if so, why isn't Steinway getting the same flak as Mason & Hamlin gets for using outside sourced Chinese component parts. Also, if true, wouldn't you think that Mr. Larry Fine would drop Steinway down a tier too?

Or, maybe, Australia's Bernstein Hailun website has the wrong info regarding Hailun's production of Steinway piano parts.

Curious too, who are the other "Well-known" European manufacturers using Chinese Hailun parts?

Enquiring minds want to know!

Will some of the Piano Forum's Sleuths to try to solve the "Steinway-Chinese Connection?"
Stay tuned for the next thrilling episode.

Bear

Well, we do know that several European piano manufacturers are on record in making statements to the press that they are now seeing their European piano suppliers after decades or centuries of doing business either move production to China themselves or go out of business altogether.

One German manufacturer has said that the time has almost arrived when it is impossible to build a piano without including at least some parts from China.

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/1/20318.html#000000

Perhaps the time has already arrived that it is impossible to build a competitive piano without parts from low-cost countries such as Indonesia or China?

Why haven't we heard about Steinway? Well, perhaps they have the same kind of gag order in place as on the company line about Boston and Essex?

dupe

If the response time of pianoworld gets any worse, I give up.

Hailun has been making the strung backs for Petrof and Schimmel.What models,I don't know!
Confidential Hailun info Oops!

As far as I know, Weinbach, which is now owned by Petrof is using Chinese parts.

Weinbach is using parts supplied by the Chinese but it is finished in Czech Republic, according to Petrof website.

Nonetheless, I asked a local dealer on Weinbach. An older model of Weinbach, which is still new but fully made in Czech Republic costs about RM35k, ~10kUSD but the newer Weinbach which uses Chinese parts costs only RM12k, ~4kUSD.

From the price difference and Petrof website, I think we can conclude that Weinbach is using Chinese parts although we can fully reject it if the dealer is telling a lie.

just my thought..

When Petrof owned the name, Weinbachs were essentially Petrofs with lesser cosmetics. Petrof's former U.S. Distributor, Geneva International Corporation, purchased the name. Weinbachs are now made in the China and in the same Dongbei factory as Geneva's other brand, Nordiska.

For Weinbachs which are sold here, complete "Petrof Original" actions, made by Detoa, a Czechoslovakian company, are shipped to China. Weinbach also uses Abel hammers from Germany and Mapes bass strings from the U.S..

A "street price" - actual selling price - for a five foot Weinbach would probably be approximately $8,000-$8500 in the states.

I have no idea how Weinbach could sell that combination of components for $4k U.S. I'm guessing that the ones which are sold in Asia substitute Chinese-made components.

It's their upright. Not grand.
Pardon me

This thread could turn out to be very interesting. If Steinway and/or other high-end manufacturers are in fact getting parts from China, then Mason will be only be guilty of--get ready for this--full disclosure!

Can we literally believe this just because it appears on a web site? They could have meant they sell parts to Steinway for their Essex piano.

Steve

As far as I know Steinway does not manufacture the Essex piano and would therefore not have the need for any parts...

I think Steve Jackson's interpretation is very plausible. The phrase "for ... companies such as Steinway & Sons" is quite ambiguous and does not necessarily mean that the parts are being delivered to or even handled by Steinway & Sons.

The whole thing has to be taken with a grain of salt anyway, because last I checked, Steinway & Sons is not actually a European company, even though they pretend to be one on TV.

Of course not. But we can believe that those who envy Steinway will enjoy believing it, and that Steinway will not be concerned about sending an emissary to this forum to deny it. It's just not their style. They are smart to stay above the fray.

Broker, did you mean to say May-Berlin by Schimmel or actual Schimmel labelled pianos? On the Petrof, did you mean to say Petrof or Anton Petrof? There's a difference of course since May-Berlin is a Chinese instrument through and through as is Anton Petrof.

Petrof names are especially confusing. Apparently, it's possible to sell a company name to another piano maker for use in a specific part of the world and retain it for one's own use in other parts. Sone of that is / was?) in play in the GIC vs. Petrof spat. I've heard that the Anton Petrof name was sold to Hailun for sales in Asia exclusively. I've also heard it was sold to Tom Lee Music for use in Canada and that Tom Lee contracted with Hailun. I don't know which is true if either. But it is true that Hailun is heavily involved in building Anton Petrof pianos in China. I don't know if Petrof is planning to sell off the names of other family members. I guess it will depend on their liquidity. It's an interesting concept..kind of like hitting up diifferent members of your family for a quick cash fix when you're strapped.

There's an interesting article in the German press where Karl Schulze speaks about his dealings in Ningbo, but Bechstein has a family of fine pianos just like Schimmel and Bluthner so he could be shopping for the Indonesian Euterpe line or he just might have been there for a tulip festival. I've lost the link to that article, but Norbert might still have it stored.

All this stuff is just going to get more and more intricate and confusing.

These little tidbits about big name makers with their fingers in Hailun's cookie jar temporarily (maybe just momentarily) change the perception of those makers whether the tidbits are truth, urban legend, or just planted by an industry rival. The other side of that is that they all benefit Hailun. In case anyone forgot, Hailun makes whole pianos too, lots of them, and they are distributing them far and wide, some with their own name on the fallboard (sustained applause from here) and some with the name of a marketing partner, all at very competitive prices. This thread was launched from another thread where a consumer in Australia just posted that he bought a new Bernstein Hailun for its musical qualities after comparing it to some big name competition.

In a few years some in the industry may need to start rumors that work in the other direction .... Hailun is buying action parts from XXXXX in Europe or strungbacks from Steinway .... in an effort to bring down Hailun.

Steinway & Sons can be classified as European company. They manufacture their best quality piano in Germany.
Everyone knows it!

Bear,
I would bet that this reference to Steinway has to do with the Essex piano and they are capitalizing on the cachet of the Steinway name by talking about the parent company, rather than mention Essex instead. It's a way of puffing up their reputation.

If Steinway goes to the expense and trouble of buying the companies that make their plates and keyboards, do you really think they are going to get action parts for Steinway pianos from China? unlikely
Sophia

Don't know about the TV reference or where they make their best pianos but Steinway and Sons is an American company, incorporated in the State of Delaware.

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turendot,

Nice post. But your rebuttal is simply conjecture on your part.
In reading Australia's Bernstein Hailun Piano Website, where did you get the impression that the some of the web's content was written by "Those who envy Steinway?"
It appears to me the information was written by Australia's Bernstein Hailun Piano Company's website in order to raise Hailun's image up a notch by their referencing Haulin's production of parts for well-known European companies such as Steinway & Sons.
Who, in your opinion, would be the "Industry Rival" that planted "little tidbit rumors" in Bernstein Hailun's web to attempt to tarnish Steinway's reputation?
Their Web's information may indeed be misinformation, rumor, urban legend wishful thinking, puffing, or whatever. Don't you think, however, that your contentions should be directed toward Bernstein Hailun and not some inuendo "unnamed industry folks?"

The OP's reference to an unfamiliar, to me, brand piano was my reason to visit Bernstein's web for a look-see and to find out more about that brand. Your inference that my thread was started by me because an individual bought a different brand than the Kawai he was contemplating purchasing, is pure nonsense. People buy different brands all the time.

The fact that Bernstein Hailun talking about Hailun's production of parts for Steinway & Sons was interesting to me. I felt if that were true, then Steinway deserves the same scrutiny that Mason & Hamlin is getting. Don't you think apples to apples is fair, or do you think Steinway gets a free pass if the parts allegation is true?
Will we ever find out the truth? I don't know, but I doubt it.
I've mentioned secret negotiations between manufacturers before and that is a true statement. If you really knew the real inside dope, your perception may very well be thrown for a loop regarding who builds what for whom!
{I've got some unauthorized videos}

Anyway, my thread was not written to offend anybody, any manufacturer, nor any piano owner of any chosen brand.

You decide if the Bernstein Hailun web is factual or not.
Again, I just thought it was interesting.

Don't want to start a conjecturing war full of flames here.

Cordially,

Bear

Sophia,
You're probably right, but I just posted what Bernstein Hailun
stated on their web. I found their statement to be interesting though. Didn't you?

All the best,

Bear

In all honesty, no, because they worded it very carefully to talk about "companies" not piano brands. It's no secret that Essex pianos are part of the Steinway company and they are built in China. It would be more interesting and inflammatory if they said in "Steinway brand pianos". They were careful not to do that, which gives it away that that is not what they are referring to, I believe.

Sophia

Bear, any link to the Bernstein site?

Starting Over, how could you deny the history of Steinway? It's started in Germany and their best one is still from the Hamburg. It is shown in Larry Fine's book that put the Hamburg production to be in the 1A tier while the NY one in 1C.

Indeed it is an American company, but saying Steinway as an European company is not wrong as well!

Ah, since you realize this already, don't you think it's just a little bit disingenuous to title the thread as you did -- seems like rumor mongering a bit, doesn't it?

Sophia