BECHSTEIN

[Barrie Heaton]

Hi Arnold,


I'm glad to hear that Bechsteins have survived I will have to re=write
my history page on Bechstein.

Yes at the moment it is easier to persuade someone to restore their
piano funny enough its more easier when the Company still exists I put
this down to they think you can get the spare parts easier.

The U.K. piano trade has gone under a lot of changes in the last five
years or more.  Bentleys bought up Knights, and then not long after
Bentleys was bought by Welmars.  The work force at Bentleys who were
made redundant set up a new business and called it Woodchester pianos.

We now really only have three major manufacturers which are Kembles,
Welmars and Woodchester pianos.  Woodchester being the smaller and I
think they produce approximately 40 units a week and they buy in strung
backs to meet their shortfall.  There are a few small independent makers
one which at present I am trying to trace, thay  make Damann pianos
which was owned by the Welsh Development Office and made two or three
pianos a year.  Of course we have Yamaha which are based at Kembles
making them Eruopes largest piano manufacturer but I am unsure how many
units they produce.  I was told by one of the sales staff at Welmars
that 80 per cent of production is for export.  Also, sadly Welmars are
the only Company at present making grand pianos in the  U.K.

Tuners in the U.K. are still bitching that they haven't enough work but
whats knew.  I personally have never had a problem and at present I have
more work than I can handle especially in my workshop I need a bigger
workshop.

Take care,

thanks for the info on the Bechstein.


Barrie.


In article <199611301407.PAA10192@mail.euronet.nl>, Arnold Duin
<aduin@euronet.nl> writes
>Hi Barry
>I am Sorry it took so long to answer your question
>
>Bechstein was in big trouble but they managed to get out of it and survive.
>As a matter of fact when I was zapping around the TV channels, I stumbled upon a
>program of the German tv about investments. In that program Mr. Schulze,
>managing director of Bechstein, tried to convince people to buy shares of the
>company. So it is obvious they are in need of money but not dead yet.
>
>Many manufactures seems to have problems surviving nowadays and I am getting a
>little depressed to see that a lot of brands vanish. At this time the Gebr.
>Perzina piano factory in Lenzen Germany is down and the Rönisch factory (also
>made piano¹s for other brands e.g. Pfeiffer) applied for a letter of licence
>(suspension of payment).
>
>Here in Holland dealers have great difficulties selling the more expensive
>piano's so in the end we will be forced to service the cheap garbage which isn't
>a very appealing idea. As a whole the piano retail business isn't doing very
>well: low volume and small profits.
>
>A positive thing however is that most of the time the repair/rebuilding budget
>isn't enough to buy a new piano which matches or is better in quality then the
>piano they already own (after rebuilding). So people are more likely to spend
>some more money on repairs and rebuilding. How is the situation in England or in
>the other countries on the list? Maybe we can share depressing facts!
>
>greetings Arnold
>
>
>





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Barrie Heaton                                  |  Be Environmentally Friendly
URL: http://www.airtime.co.uk/forte/piano.htm  |  To Your Neighbour
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