Gregor, And (as I notice in Wikipedia) Münster has been the home of American artist Moondog since 1974 (!?). I briefly visited Enschede just over the border in the Netherlands a few years back to see the shop of a piano restorer builder there, whose name now escapes me; so I was pretty close to Münster, I see. It looks like it must be a very beautiful and historic city, indeed. Sounds like a great place to be a piano technician. That's very droll, the Märchen thing. One wonders whether they were clueless, or cynical, to call a piano that? Thanks for your very interesting posts. Best regards, Allen Wright, RPT On 21 Feb 2007, at 09:02, Gregor _ wrote: > Allen, > > seems to be usual to sell Asian pianos with a traditional German > brand name. And if such a name is not available, they just invent > some German sounding, e.g. Karl Otto Oskar Deutschmannshöfer or > something like that. I saw Märchen which means fairy tale! > > The shop where I made my aprenticeship (started 1988 when the DDR > still existed) sold these Blüthners made in the German Democratic > Republic (DDR). I didn`t like them much, but they were much better > than the other ones made in DDR. > > I still live in Germany, in Münster. That´s near the Dutch border > and 160 Km north of Cologne. Beautyful city with many pianos and > many many bycicles. Winner of the Livcom Award 2004 as the most > "liveable" community. Here´s a big university, many students, > academics and public officials with a lot of pianos to tune. > > Gregor > > >> From: Allen Wright <akwright at btopenworld.com> >> Reply-To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org> >> To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org> >> Subject: Re: J. Irmler decal >> Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:52:16 +0000 >> >> Gregor, >> >> Thanks for your very informative responses. That's really >> interesting, the history timeline on the website; including a >> much clearer picture of the factory! I presumed (after noticing >> that the last serial number listing in the Pierce Atlas was 1953) >> that the company must have made a brave effort after the war, and >> then been thwarted by the difficulties under Communist rule. The >> website history confirms this. >> >> I spent today meticulously cleaning the soundboard and plate, and >> making replacement hitch pin punchings and understring felt from >> Bechstein blue cloth. It's a nice coincidence that the piano is >> being rebuilt on it's 100th birthday. I'll be very interested to >> find out how it sounds with custom Abel hammers made for it. >> >> Interesting and appropriate that Bluthner owns the name. It's a >> little hard to tell whether the new Irmlers are made in Germany >> or Asia, from the site. It always seems a little poignant to me >> when venerable old names like that, with long traditions, are >> taken over and used to sell pianos that have no relationship >> (structurally or aesthetically) to the originals (if these new >> ones are Asian-made, that is). Nothing against Asian pianos, mind >> you - but why not start a new tradition with a new name, like >> Pearl River and others? >> >> Are you still working in Europe (or the US, or elsewhere)? >> >> Best regards, >> >> Allen Wright >> London, UK >> >> >> >> >> On 20 Feb 2007, at 13:41, Gregor _ wrote: >> >>> Irmler belongs to Blüthner now: >>> >>> http://www.bluthnerpiano.com/irmler.html >>> >>> Gregor >>> >>> _________________________________________________________________ >>> FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar - get it now! >>> http:// toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/ >>> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> > > _________________________________________________________________ > Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's > FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/ > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20070221/b48d117d/attachment-0001.html
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC