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I am currently at the Schimmel World Dealer meeting in Braunschweig. I am slipping away for some time today to tour Grotrian with a few friends.

Hopefully Wednesday I will spend at Hamburg.

I will post pictures soon, but if you have a suggestion or a question you'd like for me to ask, please post it. I will check in occasionally.

Record lots of audio of people actually playing the pianos! Pictures are wonderful, but at the end of the day I'm most curious about how the piano sounds (and also how it feels, but I'll leave that to your description).

Rich Galassini, you are such a tease!

Have a beer for me.

Ahh...Happy memories of a spectacular dinner seated outside near the pedestrian mall. Jealous you have time to do both tours- I didn't have the chance.
Were you at the Musikmesse also?

I apologize for getting to this so late, but I just returned to my hotel. My colleague and I (Jason Andino) tagged along with some Swiss pianomen from Zurich. The tour was in German but it made no difference to us. We were in a piano factory. We did not need a guide - we were home.

A few pictures:



We arrive!





We are welcomed into a selection room to try a few pianos while we wait for the tour to begin.





Jason gives me a look. I know what it means. We break away from the group to explore a little on our own. Our German is not good enough to converse anyway.




We arrived in the finishing area just after some polyester had been sprayed. Notice the "waterfall" that catches any overspray so it is easily removed from the air.





A young technician uses a machine to drill out the pinlock on a grand. He was nice enough to tell us a bit about his background. He would like this to be a career for him.

Cool!

Is Jason from your shop? He looks familiar.

Looking at the photo of the young technician, I sure hope he doesn't get crushed by the inner-rim and plate!

Marty,

Yes, Jason's father was Angelo Andino. Jason, like his father, put in soundboards for Steinway. He left them to join us 5 years ago or so. He teaches openly anyone who desire to learn more... and has continued to learn as well. The day after we return to the USA he will be teaching at the the Mid-Atlantic PTG convention.

Forgive my spotty replies but I have spotty internet here and my schedule has been packed. Anyway, a few more pictures:



At their machine used to press the ribs onto the soundboard.





The room that a piano is placed to be "played in". It is nice that they have a separate little room.





Damper being installed and regulated.





The treble bridge is vertically laminated and "pressed" in this jig to the needed shape. It will be capped with a solid hardwood to accept the pins.





The rim press - this is always one of my favorite processes in building a piano and this one did not disappoint!





Finally the finished product is ready to be crated and delivered to the final customer.

I hope this gives a bit of a feel for what goes into building a grand piano. I took more pictures, but frankly, I was much more concerned with chatting with each of the technicians to get their thoughts on what they do. All in all it was an interesting outing.

Thanks Rich.

Grotrians are one of my favourite pianos. They are truly beautiful with a bell-like clarity and ease of playing that is second to none and matched by few. I want one!

Hey Rich, that's not fair! You rotated the photo. Now the guy doesn't seem to be in danger.

These photos are great. I would love to see that rim press in action.

Rich, thank you for all these pictures. My fantasy is, do I either get a Walter upright when I have lots of money... or do I have a fantasy of even more money and buy a bigger house with room for a grand piano, and buy a Grotrian? I have a friend with a Grotrian and it is a delight to play, with a fine buttery touch and sound.

Hello Marty,

there is a short video available on the Grotrian website:
http://www.grotrian.de/en/pro_fertigungstour.html

Cornelius

Thanks Cornelius,

It's a very nice video. I enjoy the production films from the different manufacturers. They all have a different approach in how they apply technology in their building process.

Oooooh! Love the wood grain that you can barely see on that grand piano!!
In my dreams......that one is being shipped to my house!
Have fun Rich, it looks like you have one of those "dream jobs"!!!

Teri