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This afternoon, on All Things Considered (NPR), there was an interesting feature on the casting of piano plates.

Find It Here

Very cool, thanks for sharing!

Charles Walter plates are also manufactured there.

Rod,

Do you know if M&H uses Kelly, also?

Here we have a lot of small foundries that do small to medium sized castings both in iron and in non ferrous metals.

I have never had any ferrous castings made but have had bronze and aluminium cast.

Very nice article. The negative comments below the article are just sad.

I agree about the comments.

But, there were many nattering nabobs in this forum, also. People seem to enjoy Steinway bashing as a gleeful, juvenile game. I feel sorry for people with such a negative and cynical attitude.

Hi Marty,

I asked this during a factory tour, and they said no.

Thanks Owen!

I believe Grotrian uses Kelly as well.

Rich

It is my understanding that they are cast in China.

I looked at some of those -- I always find it interesting how folks with so little factual knowledge about a subject find so many ways to say so much about it.

ddf

Rod,

They were cast in China with the name Boston on the plate. I'm not sure how this sits with the FTC's deceptive advertising rules. When Baldwin outsourced its plates to Brazil in '99 they were not cast with the Baldwin made in USA logo. They weren't cast with made in Brazil either.

I'm not sure where the Mason's WNG action is made. I'm guessing it's not West New Guinea.

Mike

I teach Software Engineering. Naturally, there are a zillion technology websites and blogs with self-proclaimed experts. Students cut-and-paste crappy code--or even good code but designed for other purposes--and then wonder why it doesn't work the way they think it should...

Anyway, I attended a seminar the other day in which the speaker was talking about the fact that the internet had lowered the price of admission--idealistically--but realistically had simply increased the number of "cheap seats." All of a sudden, everyone's an expert... on everything...

My Volkswagen's engine did not say "made in Hungary" on it, either. (Or maybe it was made in Mexico. I forget. Haven't forgotten the car, though. It was unforgettable, and not in a good way.)

I think that the "made in wherever" rules apply to finished products, not to individual components. If they applied to components, every product made of more than one part would have scribbling all over it, because parts are outsourced from all over the world. (Where are all those plastic piano key tops from, anyway? I am sure that they are not all made in what is viewed as the piano's country of origin, be it the USA, Austria, Germany, Estonia, or wherever.)

But, Mike, I am sure that you knew all this already. Except about my Volkswagen, of course.

RPA,

I doubt if a Volkswagen as you described would have a Made in the USA label without the accompanying qualification, that is, the percentage of the parts made elsewhere.

As I said, I’m not sure how M&H skirts the “all or virtually all” language nor is the fact that Steinway labels an entire line-up of pianos "Boston" lost on me.

But when you apparently have the plate, action, crown retention system, and, in the case of their upright piano, the cabinet made offshore, despite what finishing or assembling that may be done in the US, a clearer picture of the origins may be called for.

Notwhithstanding the fact that FTC’s own language states that there is not a single “bright line”, many of their examples for exclusion from the rule are things like the origin of the metal in the frame surrounding a computer drive, and that is when the frame is actually manufactured in the US. These are not major components.

The FTC also takes into consideration whether or not the imported materials are available in the US. Would OS Kelly be able to make all the plates M&H needed?

Mike

FTC guidelines:


A product that is all or virtually all made in the United States will ordinarily be one in which all significant parts(14) and processing that go into the product are of U.S. origin. In other words, where a product is labeled or otherwise advertised with an unqualified "Made in USA" claim, it should contain only a de minimis, or negligible, amount of foreign content. Although there is no single "bright line" to establish when a product is or is not "all or virtually all" made in the United States, there are a number of factors that the Commission will look to in making this determination. To begin with, in order for a product to be considered "all or virtually all" made in the United States, the final assembly or processing of the product must take place in the United States. Beyond this minimum threshold, the Commission will consider other factors, including but not limited to the portion of the product's total manufacturing costs that are attributable to U.S. parts and processing; and how far removed from the finished product any foreign content is.

19 C.F.R. § 134.46. Specifically, this provision provides that:
In any case in which the words "United States," or "American," the letters "U.S.A.," any variation of such words or letters, or the name of any city or locality in the United States, or the name of any foreign country or locality other than the country or locality in which the article was manufactured or produced appear on an imported article or its container, and those words, letters or names may mislead or deceive the ultimate purchaser as to the actual country of origin of the article, there shall appear, legibly and permanently, in close proximity to such words, letters or name, and in at least a comparable size, the name of the country of origin preceded by "Made in," "Product of," or other words of similar meaning.

This reply confuses me.

Why would M&H have a plate cast with the name "Boston" on the plate? Boston is a line of pianos within the "Steinway Family" and has nothing to do with Mason & Hamlin. M&H was the brand in question.

Wow. Lots to sort out in Mike's post. First the FTC's "Made in USA" standards are not the same as CBP's country of origin marking standards (of which 19 CFR 134.46, cited by Mike, is a part). Further, even CBP's 19 CFR 134.46 must be read in conjunction with 19 CFR 134.47, which creates a different rule when the non-origin geographic reference is part of a trademark or trade name (such as Steinway's "Boston"). I haven't crawled around a Boston piano, but my guess would be that Steinway does not make a "Made in USA" claim, and that in fact there is a CBP-compliant country of origin marking somewhere on the piano indicating the actual country of origin.

I had a Boston creme pie for my birthday. It didn't come from Boston either!

Larry.

Strangely enough, you can get a Philly Cheese Steak in Manhattan. Kansas, that is.

You'll have to ask M&H. Both plate and crown retention system are marked "Boston".

Mike