The craftsmanship and level of work were outstanding. Some old pianos have huge potential to be great.

Many of these instruments have not stood the test of time – whether they weren’t maintained properly, succumbed to the elements of nature, or just wore out. They were producing lots of high-quality pianos but even this was a long time ago. Right before World War II, there were still over 300 piano companies in the United States. However, the vast majority of pianos ever produced in the US are very old now. Every company had to compete against each other and while everyone was at the peak of production, the quality was at an extremely high level it had to be. However, the vast majority of new pianos are nowhere up to the standard of the handmade pianos.Īt the turn of the 20th century, there were over 1800 companies producing pianos in the United States! Sure, we still remember some of the big names, but with hundreds of companies competing for the top spot, there were plenty of phenomenally high-quality pianos being produced during that time period. There are still some pianos being made today in America and elsewhere that maintain a very high quality – but unfortunately, they come with a very high price tag. Today, we only have 3 piano companies left making pianos in the US and the rest are mostly made in huge Asian factories at a fraction of the cost and quality of the handmade pianos of yesterday. Back when I was growing up we had Baldwin, Steinway, Mason & Hamlin, Knabe, Sohmer, Chickering, and dozens of more piano brands still producing new pianos in the United States.

So what changed? Well, pretty much everything when it comes to pianos. For a large part of my life, I grew up with a similar mindset.īut now things are different for me I sell restored pianos. Back then, whenever he would encounter a restored piano he would scoff at them and couldn’t see any value in them. When he was selecting new pianos for performances and recordings, we used to go into the Baldwin artist showroom in New York City and he would play all the pianos and choose the one he liked the best. When I was growing up, my father Mortin Estrin was a Baldwin artist. The piano is being shipped at this time so I will remeasure when it arrives.This might sound silly but this is actually a very complex question. I do realize that this information might be an urban folk legion, and hearing it from various sources does not make it true, however, a 6' 7” Kimball that measures approximately 7' 1' does seem a little strange. As a result there were some Kimballs that were really Bosendorfers. Occasionally a grand larger than 6'7 was required but their agreements did not allow for any name exposure other than Kimball. They apparently furnished pianos to a large number of music events for exposure. I have been told that Kimball pianos in their last years did not have the jigs to make anything larger than a 6'7 in their USA facility. That would make it an awfully long 6' 7'. Is the harp design on the 200 significantly different or just shorter? Also, the length of Kimball is about 7' 1'. I have played on a 214 and as I remembered it the harp did look like the Kimball. I went to the Bosendorfer web site and it is difficult to tell anything from their limited pictures.

1976 kimball baby grand piano