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Hi,

I came across a new piano when I brought my children for piano lessons. On the fallboard, it has the name Kaysurburg on it.

A quick run-through of the brochure said it is manufactured by Pearl River using German Essex technology. It also said it uses German parts such as Rosslau strings and Renner hammer.

Anyone has any additional input on this piano? (built quality, sound, action, feel.....etc)

Sounds like a house-brand stencil.
There is no German technology in Pearl Rivers except a few parts made in Germany.
The Essex reference comes from a line of pianos Pearl River builds for Steinway & Sons under contract. I am sure S&S would be po'd to see someone using their trademarked branding (Essex) in this manner.

Essex is in England, not Germany....

Norbert

Pearl River makes their own bass strings using Roslau wire. If it's truly built by Pearl River it would make a nice piano for your children to learn & grow on. There is a nice factory tour of Pearl River on their website:

http://www.pearlriverusa.com/slideshow/imagepages/image1.html

Good luck!

[Anyone expecting useful thread content, read no further.]

Indeed! There is a Boston in England too, in Lincolnshire, but I don't think that's what Steinway had in mind when they named their (authentic design) second line 'Boston'.

The 'Boston' name has always made sense to me. It sounds American, dignified, refined, conservative, and reeks of Back Bay Brahmins.

The 'Essex' name has never made sense to me. Growing up in Boston there were three images that the word 'Essex' would bring to mind. One was a dowdy run-down street by that name connecting the waterfront with the downtown area. The second was a second-rate hotel close to the railway station (although it did have a decent deli with crunchy dill pickles). The third was the Essex underground T station that reeked of dried urine 24/7 since its main use was as a public bathroom for area watering holes and flophouses. Which image association did Steinway have in mind? Take your pick!

When the city cleaned up this area decades ago, they remodeled the Essex T station and renamed it Chinatown.

Maybe Steinway should rename the Essex piano Chinatown!

This is just one more of the many misleading literature of pianos coming from China.

They call it marketing; I call it deception. (Including Broadmann, Premium Steigerman, Pearl River, Hailun, Heitzman and the other 100 of names)

Quote: Norbert
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Essex is in England, not Germany....
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The label pasted on the piano did indeed said "German Essex technology".

By the way, the store carries a wide range of pianos and Pearl River is one of them. However, from the price listed, it seems the Kaysurburg is an attempt to pitch them at a higher level (their "premium" range perhaps. The one I mentioned is a 123cm Upright with a listed price around Singapore Dollar 8,000 but currently selling at a promotional price of around SGD6,000. This put it at the top of the price range compared to all the other Pearl River's upright models it is selling.

M&B,

I know you're no big fan of Pearl River pianos because of your incontinence problems when you play them. I think you're being a bit harsh on the name though. Since the factory is about 20 meters from the Pearl River, I don't see a problem with using the name. Maybe you should visit the factory and go for a refreshing dip after the tour!

Hailun pianos are made by Chen Hailun. If you can't give the piano you build your own name, what's the world coming to?

The slide tour of the Pearl River Factory is IMPRESSIVE! The link posted by Utrumpet didn't work on my computer. Instead of using the posted link I went to the website and took the tour. Excellent.

Perhaps they could at least start with proper spelling: it's "Kaiserburg" not "Kaysurburg"....

Certainly the 'Kaiser' would agree with me on this one quickly...

Norbert