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1:08 - Opening Playing Demos
1:50 - Video Overview
3:50 - German Musicality
5:31 - German Piano Momentum Effect
7:21 - Traditional German Piano Design
10:33 - German Piano Reputations
13:41 - German Pianos Attention To Detail
17:56 - Present Day German Pianos

Welcome to the Merriam Pianos YouTube channel! Today, we’re not going to look at one specific piano, but rather take a larger, overall look at the German piano industry as a whole.

For hundreds of years, Germany has consistently been the country producing the world’s finest pianos, and that remains the case today.

What defines a German Piano?
From a labelling or definition standpoint, those that bear the mark “MADE IN GERMANY” is still the best way to confidently purchase instruments and know their origin. Though there are many industry self-generated labels and designations, none are air-tight or regulated…so nationally-legislated labelling is the best way to tell that the majority of value-added content, whether labour or parts, is German.

From a tonal or musical perspective, German pianos are remarkably diverse - which runs contrary to popular opinion. You’ll often hear people discussing the “sound of a German piano”, but the reality is that the range of timbres on German pianos is more disparate than probably any other piano producing region. If there is a point of commonality, it’s the clarity or ‘transparency’ that most German pianos have, which could be said does give them a ‘sound’...though for audiophiles, the presence of detail isn’t what produces a timbre…it’s simply an absence of imperfection or limitations in the sound.

Why German Pianos Tend to be Superior
There are several factors that contribute to this. For starters, the labour involved in the making of German pianos consists of a level of specialization that has been passed down from generation to generation since about the 1830s. No other country has this rich history and tradition of piano building that directly manifests in their workforce.

Secondly, because their reputation allows German piano companies to charge what they need to charge for their pianos to pay for the highly specialized labour, they are able in turn to invest more production time into each piano.

Why do these things really matter at the end of the day? Even if you have a perfect design and perfect materials, if the execution is not also perfect, the piano won’t come anywhere close to fulfilling its potential. The tolerances that separate a good piano from a great one are extremely small.

We’re talking fractions of a millimetre when it comes to fitting a pin block or soundboard, and extremely precise carpentry to ensure maximum cabinet resonance.

The State of the German Piano Industry Today
The German piano industry is in an interesting state of flux today with a number of manufacturers now finding a new place as part of multi-national corporations or bought by new external investment. Though we’ve lost several manufacturers (though in some cases not the brands) over the last decades - Ibach, Zimmermann, Sohmer as examples - we have retained many others, including August Forster, Bluthner, C. Bechstein, Sauter, Seiler, Steingraeber, Grotrian, Schimmel, and Steingraeber.

All have either scaled back or retained production levels, with the exception of C. Bechstein, which has been able to scale up its operation and remain German-owned and operated, primarily by diversifying its product offerings and bringing back in-house the manufacturing of many individual components, such as their hammers and actions, which are outsourced by most piano companies.

What to Expect from a German Piano
German pianos tend to have several characteristics, even if there is a massive range of tonal pallets available across manufacturers. What is common across the top-tier manufacturers however is the lack of imperfections and a commitment to quality.

Some manufacturers are really pushing the envelope in terms of design, such as C. Bechstein and Schimmel, while others such as August Forester and Grotrian are committed to traditional approaches. This results in a wide variety of musical options, far more varied than what was the case in the past.

What this means is that you can expect an extremely well-built piano, void of imperfections and full of musical potential when considering a German piano. Just keep in mind that if you are exploring German pianos, be sure to try several as the range of musical possibilities is very wide.

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