One dealer has told me that Bosendorfers produced while the company was under Kimball ownership/management were not as well made as previous or more recent models. Any truth at all to this?

Hi Anne,

I'm certainly no authority on anything regarding pianos or piano manufacturers, but my gut instincts tell me that the relationship between Kimball and Bosendorfer benefited Kimball much more than Bosendorfer...

I'm sure you will get better responses from some of the pros here.

Good luck!

Rick

Bosendorfers under Kimball were Bosendorfers. There is no need to worry about the quality.

Take care,

Steve

I was National Service Manager for Bosendorfer during the Kimball years and can tell you, unhesitatingly, that the Bosendorfers made during this period were Bosendorfers in every sense of the word. Kimball did a lot of good for Bosendorfer, particularly in marketing and infrastructure investment. I never had any indication nor did I see any evidence (and I was pretty deeply involved), that the Bosendorfer standards were compromised in anyway.

Bosendorfer has of course continuously tweaked design and construction details over the years so the pianos of today are slightly different then earlier models, but this is good and true of most high end makers.

I wouldn't think that Bösendorfer under Kimball would have any effect on quality at all. I don't think there is any truth in saying that the quality of Bösendorfer pianos suffered under Kimball either.

No. Why would you believe someone who obviously has a conflict of interest?

That's funny because sometimes I would have people tell me the newer Bosendorfers (around 2008) weren't as good as the ones from the 60's and 70's.

There may be an interesting phenomenon in the other direction.

Many people like the Bösendorfer-inspired "Kimbledorfer" a/k/a
the Kimball "Viennese Classic" piano that Kimball made during this period.