Bluthner was the only maker of the 3 that allowed me to take photos. As Christian said, one can take all the photos one wants, you still won’t be able to build a Bluthner, and he’s right. The factory is a familiar sight of individual craftspeople working on individual pianos, with a mixture of machines for doing various steps, primarily wood working such as planing and trimming. Rim Construction There are, in my mind, 3 unique structural features of the Bluthner. The first is the sectioned inner and outer rim. Bluthner uses a laminated rim, as is common in piano building. To those new to this, laminated simply means layers of red beech glued together in a mold. This is a very familiar and traditional method of making a piano rim. However, instead of being bent all in one piece, they are built in sections and then joined together. The

Wednesday morning was a visit to Bluthner, where Christian Bluthner met us with his customary hospitality. This was the hardest day for my son, who had to endure a number of hours of piano related talk before getting on to the good part, but he was a trooper. I’m not short, Christian is tall!

Just got back from a quick tour of 3 German manufacturers; Bluthner, Steingraeber and Schimmel. I’ve been wanting to visit these makers (and others) and took advantage of my son’s school break and a (relatively) cheap fare from Delta to fly from JFK to Berlin, rent a car, and spend 4 days driving through cold, damp, gloomy northern Europe. We spent Tuesday morning doing a driving tour of Berlin before driving to Leipzig. Berlin is a fascinating city due primarily to its history, not its current incarnation. While it certainly has its sights, it has more than its share of drab, built-in-a-hurry, post war architecture. I did show my son the wall, drive through the former East part and have a lunch of a Donner. Then on to the autobahn for the 2 hour drive to Leipzig, where we stayed the first night in a typical, small, hotel-restaurant and slept

Hmm, blogging would be great if it wasn’t for that need to write consistently! I’m not by nature a natural writer and maybe this business doesn’t have enough intrigue to write daily, but come on…3 months!! Well, the good side is, I’ve got a lot to write about now!

As you may have read in an earlier post, I am no fan of that blow hard Lou Dobbs. Larry Kudlow, even though I see now he may not be the most objective student of the market, is more my kind of guy. Jim Cramer is also a good guy. Not always right, nobody is, but smart, involved and thoughtful. Anyway, Cramer stated last night that, after the Feds most recent 1/2% cut in interest rates, that the economy has turned the corner, including the housing market. It will be at least 6 months before John Q. Public sees it and believes it, but he made a pretty clear statement. This fits my perspective. The DJIA has been pulled down by the dismal financial companies, but many other parts of the economy, including inflation, corporate earnings, and durable goods are actually quite good. The durable number is, no doubt, helped

It’s been a busy January. The big annual Musical Instrument Industry trade show NAMM descended on us again, as usual at the Anaheim Convention center outside Los Angeles. I don’t have hard numbers but traffic seemed definitely down…hey, it’s been a tough year and 2008 doesn’t necessarily look any better. The Bosendorfer booth was well attended and I will say that business was not as bad as I had expected (personal opinion, not a corporate statement). We showed a Louis XVI in pommele, a high polish rosewood 225, a 225 CEUS and a couple of other cool cabinets. The mood seemed very sombre on the 3rd floor piano area. Sauter had some nice instruments including a concert grand. Fazioli was in an enclosed area that I did not attempt to enter. Bluthner, on the main floor, had some great eye candy, and some beautiful pianos. I bought a rather expensive

Oh my dear, you understand me but you don’t understand the nature of piano technology. I took a good wack at making progress on my piano. I fine tuned the key level, then went over the hammer line, drop and let off before taking a critical bash at keydip. AT LAST, it’s beginning to feel like a piano! Yes, uneven as hell, but at least there is aftertouch. I’m keeping a pretty good eye on the humidifier. I’ve got 3 hygrometers scattered around and am keeping things between 40% and 50%. Still, the tuning drifts (at least to my ear…being a piano tuner can be a curse) so I spent some time tuning the other day. Rather than just do the quick fix with the standard settings in the RCT, I spent some critical time getting my ear back for aural temperaments. Of course, by the time that was done,

I’ve owned a Reyburn Cyber Tuner for the last year. Pretty cool little device and very informative to let you know what is going on when one tunes a piano. I’m far from being one of those egg head electronic tuners that are so common at the conventions, but have gotten a little way into it. One observation: the standard tunings that come in these things stretch the octaves way too much for my ear. I think it  is really the drift in the country towards the loud, harsh sound you hear so often. I just don’t think the octaves on a concert grand should beat…it’s just not natural or musical. When I check my aural octaves to the standard tuning in the RCT, I’m flat by a very consistent, and very small amount. Must be my Viennese training. I took Ferdinand Braeu, the Bosendorfer technical director to see a

It appears that not many people really understand the economics, politics and strategy of running a concert program. This happens to be something I know a lot about, maybe more than just about anybody in the country with a few (1 or 2) possible exceptions. I say that graciously without actually believing it. There are many benefits from having a well run concert program. The exposure can be invaluable. But, the benefit only accrues over the long term and it can blow up in your face many times on the way. It is not for the weak of heart or stomach. Anyway, my current strong belief is: If you can’t do it properly, don’t do it at all. By properly, I mean pianos in all major markets and most 2nd tier. This means at least 15 to 20 concert pianos. These pianos have to be stationed with dealers who know

I worked for for Bosendorfer during the Kimball years.  That, in my opinion, was a much less logical combination than Bosendorfer and Yamaha and there were plenty of jokes (Kimball-dorfers, Bosen-balls). But, in fact, Kimball was a wonderful steward for Bosendorfer, probably a better steward of Bosendorfer than of their own brand. I believe that a large part of our US market presence today is due to the tremendous investment in Bosendorfer marketing that Kimball made 25 years ago. You can accuse me of smarmonisoty (I made part of that up) at this point, but I believe that Yamaha will be a similar steward (and I sincerely hope so for the sake of my career). There is an important aspect to the value proposition, beyond the simple profit and loss accounting, that just makes sense. Yamaha is deeply dedicated to the world of serious pianos and music making and has demonstrated that