🎹 Chinese Pianos | Essex, Baldwin, Pearl River, Ritmuller | Pianos of the World - EP. 04🎹

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NOTE: A previous version of this video referred to Cunningham Pianos as a 'stencil', implying a rebranding of existing generic / mix-&-match designs by an Asian factory. Cunningham has informed us that the pianos have meaningful and unique design elements that, in our opinion, renders the label 'stencil' inappropriate. We apologize to Cunningham for the previous inaccuracy and invite you to learn more about them here: https://www.cunninghampiano.com/

#pianos #chinesepianos #baldwin #essex

0:00 - Video Introduction
0:47 - Opening Chinese Made Piano Playing Samples
1:08 - Video Overview
3:38 - Domestic Chinese Made Pianos
4:17 - Stencil Chinese Pianos
4:41 -Chinese/other country collaborations
5:33 - History of Chinese Made Pianos
9:49 Current Domestic Made Chinese Pianos
12:54 - Hailun Made Pianos
13:31 Chinese Stencil Made Piano Industry
14:28 - Chinese Piano Industry Collaborations
18:40 - Top Tier Chinese Made Pianos
19:47 - Regulating/Voicing Chinese Made Pianos
23:15 Closing Playing Sample Fridolin F130
23:38 Closing Playing Sample Essex UPE123

Hello and thanks for being here with us at the Merriam Pianos YouTube channel. Next up in our ongoing series on different piano-producing regions from around the world is China.

Chinese pianos have come a very long way in recent years, and today, more pianos are produced in China than in any other place in the world.

Opening Thoughts

For a long time, Chinese pianos were written off for being lower quality and generally unreliable, not to mention, the somewhat duplicitous practice of stencilling wherein Chinese companies would acquire the rights to venerable brand names of the past and use that branding on a basic, poorly made piano.

Over the past two decades, the overall quality standards are increased dramatically, to the point that the industry doesn’t even remotely resemble what it looked like even 20 years ago.

The Chinese Piano Industry Today
There are three general categories of instruments coming out of China today. The first category would be what we called Organic Producers. These are companies that originated in China, and continue to be driven by Chinese ownership and innovation, producing instruments for domestic and international sales.

The second category would be the Stencil Producers. While the overall quality across the board has increased dramatically in China, this category still represents the lower level of what China is capable of producing.

Thirdly, we have the Hybrid Producers. This category represents a partnership between European and Chinese manufacturers, and the pianos in this category consist of high-quality, low-cost alternatives to fully European instruments.

We’ll cover some examples from each category.

Organic Producers
There is a little-known company called Schuman that got its start in the 1950s in China, and they’re actually still operating today. While not as prominent as some of the other manufacturers, their pianos are available in both China and abroad.

Perzina was originally a highly respected German brand, however a Dutch company resurrected the brand a number of years ago, and Perzina pianos are produced in China and have been a staple of the domestic and international piano markets for several years now.

Pearl River is the largest producer of pianos by volume in the entire world today, and they sell pianos under their own Pearl River branding, Ritmuller and their premium offering is sold under the Kayserburg name. These top instruments are using high-end materials, and advanced designs, and are getting to the point of being on par with Eastern European pianos and entry-level Japanese.

Hailun is another big player, and they’re producing some very high-quality instruments under their own name, as well as for other companies, such as Emerson which is one of the most expensive pianos made in China today.


Hybrid Producers
More and more of these collaborations seem to be popping up every day since pianos from this category keep being received with critical acclaim. Here we typically have European or American manufacturers who in an attempt to augment their product lineup and offer a lower-cost alternative, collaborate with a Chinese company to achieve these ends.

The Fridolin Schimmel is a prime example - Schimmel supplies the designs and some components from Germany, while the manufacturing and assembly of these pianos occur in China.

Essex, sold through Steinway’s dealer network, is another example of Essex pianos being produced by Pearl River based on Steinway designs.