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When did side decals first become commonly used? I detest them.

1800s, I believe.

I am surprised. I had imagined them to have been a much more modern feature than that.

I thought they were just on stage pianos so the audience could see the brand?

Not true? they have them on home pianos too? I wouldn't like that either, seems a little garish to me.

Well, I believe that they were common in the 19th century. There is the famous instance of von Bulow's American tour.

Must have died out in the 20th century.

Karl Watson
Staten Island, NY

Nope they haven't died out:












I don't mind them if they are tastefully done. In some cases, the brass lettering improves the look of a plain black cabinet, IMHO, but we will each have our preference.

I respect yours, PhilipInChina.

Is it possible to order a piano without the side decal, if it comes with one--- or to remove it? The problem would be, I suppose, that it limits the buyer's choice to the instrument they special-ordered, rather than finding the one that plays the best and sounds the best... and for those big concert grands, that is a big consideration.

Jeff,

Most of these names are inlaid brass lettering, which can be removed and covered as if it was never there, but only in a black piano and it isn't an easy procedure.

If the piano is a wood grain, it is much more difficult to get it to look like it was never there.

I've gotta admit, I'm not particularly fond of the side logos, but I've come to accept them on stage instruments. For my taste, they are a little too ostentatious in a home setting. I certainly would hate to see concert attendance become the visual feast like Nascar or a baseball game. Ah yes, concert attire with embroidered logos! Yea, I know that's a bit extreme.

As BDB mentioned, during the late 19th Century, when the brand wars were raging, the piano builders would arrange concert tours with Name pianists to show off their brand of piano. The side logo was a prime marketing technique as the piano traveled from city to city with the tour.

Looking back at instruments from the first half of the 20th Century, it seems to have taken a hiatus. Even something so important as the Horowitz' Carnegie Hall recitals didn't have a Steinway with a side logo.

Since the 1980's, the use seems to be back with a vengeance. I wonder if this is now due to all of the video recordings with close-ups of the pianist, face and hands, from various viewpoints? The fallboard logo and side logo become very prominent.

Marketing!

Sometimes the piano logos can be problematic. When Lisitsa, a Bösendorfer artist, recorded the Rachmaninoff Concertos on a Steinway and the sessions were video recorded, black tape came to the rescue to 'de-identify' the piano.

Interesting!

If you've got it, flaunt it.

As I wrote to someone this week about side decals...If I was fortunate enough to afford a new piano that I really liked, I'd certainly like to have tasteful side decals on the piano.

Nah, scratch that.

What I actually said was that I'd be prouder of my new piano than a puppy with two pet*rs. (Fill in the asterisk for yourself ).

Folks, that's a mighty proud dog...one who has been found glad and rejoices therein.

Exactly.

There are some piano where the lettering looks around twice the size or twice the thickness of the examples you showed and that kind of lettering is too garish for my tastes. And decals on the side of concert or semi concert grand size pianos don't look as garish as they do on a smaller piano.

Indeed they can. When Glenn Gould re-recorded the Goldberg Variations in 1981 he was unable to find a Steinway he liked enough for the recording. He ended up recording the album with a Yamaha instead. If you watch the video they made of him recording the album, you'll note they took the fallboard off. His relationship with Steinway was pretty strained at the time, and his publicly recording on a Yamaha would have been too much for Steinway.

I love it and am happy to see that Bosendorfer uses it on all models. Of course, they have a beautiful logo. There are some others that are pretty awful. Is Brodmann the offender? Looks like a grade-school stencil.

As I said, I do not mind side logos and, in fact, I like them when they are tastefully done. Here is our 5'10" being played at a local arts center. Personally I like it. But not everybody does.

When we started using Yamahas in concert, the YAMAHA lettering on the side was stick-on labels. There were extra letters if they rubbed off. I kept wanting to put AHAMAY on the other side of the piano.

Very surprised to learn that this is the approach Yamaha takes. Just out of curiosity, is it a 6 pointed circular logo also a sticker? This one:
http://www.famouslogos.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/yamaha-current-logo.jpg

Cunningham could probably benefit from losing the words "piano company" and whatever is written underneath (can't even really see it), and it making the type larger. Just my humble opinion. I hear the Cunningham is one fine piano so no ill intention here!

No, back then, in the CFIII (no s) days, they were just stickers. With the CFIIIs and CFX, it is inlaid brass. This has gotten more popular, since it can be done with laser cutters. So although the logo on the side has been done since the 1800s, it has taken off in the past 25 years or so.

PETROF! The Largest, Loudest Brass Inlaid Side LOGO (so glad mine is only on the fallboard!)

I like my side logo. I suppose it is a little tacky, but I like it.

How can I get my hands on one of those Bosendorfer decals? I'd like to put one on my Howard.