<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <title></title> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> Hi Jeff This was an interesting and if I may add nicely reflected posting.  An important point you make as to the financial viability of the company over this same time period. You do ask a question relative to Europeans and which piano they prefer. I will attempt to provide at least some information in partial answer. The short answer is that they prefer the Hamburg Steinway when they can get it.  Petrof is quite popular because they have accomplished an instrument with an overall nicely rounded sound picture.... not because of the general quality which tho has improved significantly these past years still suffers from some of the familiar production problems they traditionally have had. Long story there... but I have every indication that they are committed to entering the ring of high quality pianos... and I for one cheer them on enthusiastically.  Otherwise in Europe... I am afraid the story is similar to the development in the US.... tho perhaps a few more companies have been able to see the proverbial writing on the wall in time then was the case in the US.  Schimmel struggles...but manages well enough and improves its product.  Seiler, Sauter, Bosendorfer and Bluthner keep on and tho they are struggling... they are surviving.  Smaller companies of high quality pianos that are managing also include Fazioli and Steingræber & Sons. There are many other makes of lesser quality still available... curiously tho these seem to be the first to fall by the wayside... the Dutch pianos come to mind.  In more southerly areas some French pianos are popular tho we see few of them up here and I am unfamiliar with them.  Chinese pianos are still rather unknown here.... tho they are on their way no doubt. Korean Samick has been a big seller.... a price decision me thinks.  Boston has been kept rather secret in much of the northern part of Europe it seems to me. They are virtually unknown here in Norway.... tho they are popping up now and seem quite well received when first given a fair chance. At least that can be said of their grands.  These have from their inception struck me as a throw back to a kind of central European piano sound tradition.... big rolling bass and a treble that when voiced nicely moves in the direction of crystal as opposed to chimelike.  I think really... Boston presents a double sided sword to Steinway. Being much less expensive but still a wonderful sound that presents a very clear alternative to the brassy Japanese sound that has influenced the market so much these past years. Ah... one could go on and on... but I will allow this to suffice for now.  Cheers RicB <blockquote> I think we've all heard some pretty tall tale-telling over the years   from Yamaha and Kawai dealers, too, so marketing is a tool that   everyone uses. But, like Ric, I can't accept the theory that the "Steinway sound" is   the dominant preference thanks to clever marketing.  Steinway has   always integrated feedback from performers into the piano making   process.  They continue to do that today.  I think they are   successful because they build an instrument that is extremely   durable, capable of anything any performer is capable of, and is more   versatile, that can be voiced in so many different directions to suit   so many different musical tastes. Something that has also helped is that the company has been   profitable for 150 years, while others have struggled, and just   disappeared.  The company, as a company, is dependable.  Yes, Piano   Disk has had Mason & Hamlin back in production for several years and   sales are good.  Yes, Gibson is building Baldwin pianos (who knows   about sales? I don't know of a Baldwin dealership I can drive to in a   day's time).  SMC is reintegrating the old Baltimore scales back into   the Knabe, and it will be built in the US.  Others have just become   names owned by the next new buyer, and stuck on the fallboard of   another piano shaped product built in China.  But Steinway has always   been there, right there in the same place, and the American public   will reward that dependability. European makes?  They are wonderful pianos.  But you don't see enough   of them here to make a statement.  As good as they are, what are the   artists preferring in Europe?  Steinway presence is strong because   the company is profitable enough to market the product all over the   world.  That's just good business.  And, after all, in the end, it is   business.  Survival of the fittest. So, perhaps there is some natural selection involved.  But I doubt it   can all be attributed to the Steinway marketing department. Even if it were, what's wrong with it?  It's a pretty darn good   sound, me thinks. Jeff Tanner, RPT University of South Carolina</blockquote> </body> </html>