Piano Companies Build On An Old World Technology
Into The 21st Century

21st Century Piano Companies Manufacture 19th Century Technology

Yamaha, Steinway and Sons, Baldwin, Kawai, Mason & Hamlin, Schimmel, Pearl River, Seiler, Bosendorfer, Ritmuller, Samick, Bechstein and others manufacture and produce a product that originates from and is based on 19th century technology.

Steinway Piano

Piano companies such as Steinway & Sons, hire piano engineers, who design the pianos and artisans who work to assemble them. In turn, they work hand in hand with their dealers, technicians, movers, refinishers to fulfill the promise and potential of their products. Many companies hire or enlist the support of world class Concert Pianists to help them promote their products. For instance, one will often hear of the latest Steinway Artist who is playing their concert grand in a Steinway concert hall.

Though pianos in the 21st century are still an old world technology, the means of manufacturing and servicing pianos has kept pace with the rapid and frequent changes in technology in the 20th and 21st century. While there were literally millions of pianos built during the 19th and 20th centuries, the bulk of the global piano industry resulted from U.S. manufacturing prowess during the Industrial Revolution.

From the 1880’s to the 1930’s, the piano was the product that facilitated entertainment, performing arts, supported the joy, and sharing of music on a grassroots level from local bars to peoples homes. In the early 20th century, the piano industry was one of the fastest growing and most popular industries in the United States. At present, it is a very tiny but significant industry because at its core, the piano is about making music.

Most piano companies manufacture full lines of acoustic uprights, grand’s, baby grand’s, concert grand’s and some like Yamaha integrate the modern version of the old player mechanism called the Disclavier, into their instruments. Piano Disc is another version of playing mechanism that can be retrofit into most models of piano. Piano Disc also happens to own the incomparable Mason & Hamlin Piano Company

Recent Changes in the Global Economy

China has become a huge factor in the piano industry. Whereas, the U.S. used to export many of the pianos to other countries, now many units are imported from China and Asia. Yamaha Piano Company just recently moved their American plants to Asia in order to improve their economic competitiveness. One way to get exhaustive information about the piano industry is to read Music Trades Magazine, which chronicles the music industry in the U.S. from the beginning to present.