The Decline of the Piano Business in North America
During the Great Depression of the 1930’s many piano companies went out of business, either by bankruptcy or my merging with other companies. Sometimes the names were kept as a marketing brand but most times the names disappeared. To survive many makers cam up with smaller pianos called spinets or apartment pianos. This began a strange transition for the piano. It went from being a cherished musical instrument to a piece of furniture that stood beside the radio console and, later, the television.
During the war years piano companies, like most other manufactures, were commandeered for the war effort. They briefly had another resurgence after the war and into the 1950’s as the boom of home building fueled piano sales. But this went down and leveled of in the 1960’s as restructuring and the lack of skilled workers saw a decline. Then came the rise of the Japanese pianos and U.S. and Canadian piano makers were dealt a savage blow.
Some Notes on Old Pianos
Steinway and Sons: The Steinway grands are almost always a good piano to to buy and restore because of the name gives it high re-market value. This is not so true of the uprights but, if found in good condition, you can have a fine instrument.
Mason and Hamlin: These grands are as finely made as the Steinways especially the smaller 5″8″ ones. Some of the models had a patented “screwstringer” mechanism which needed special tools to tune but worked very well.
Chickering: Chickering had a “square grand” which was a small grand piano with a small keyboard. All models were popular in the northeast U.S. Some models were built with experimental mechanisms which never caught on in other piano companies, This makes rebuilding a chore because parts are hard to find and may have to be made from scratch.
Henitzman: This always a good choice because these pianos were made for the extremes of Canadian temperature and humidity. Simplicity and standard parts makes them a sought-after antique piano.
Next: The Japanese Pianos
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