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Organizational Entities are too ephemeral for me. A piano company is wherever humans turn wood and metal into musical instruments. All the rest smacks of sophistry.

Kurt, I was trying to explain how there are 80 different piano brands or lines sold in the U.S., but only 30 separate companies manufacture those 80 lines.

For instance, Irmler owns a factory in China which partially manufactures the Irmler Studio piano line. However, I didn't count Irmler as a separate "company" because Irmler is owned by Bluthner.

I'm having second thoughts about listing Bosendorfer, Seiler and Wilh. Steinberg as independent piano manufacturers because they were acquired by Yamaha, Samick and Parsons Music, respectively, within the last few years. That would reduce the number of separate manufacturers from 30 to 27. However, according to Piano Buyer, "Yamaha says it will not be making any changes to Bösendorfer's location or methods of production, and that its sales network will continue to be separate from Yamaha's." Therefore, Bosendorfer could still be considered an independent manufacturer, and thus there would still be 28 independent companies manufacturing pianos that are sold in the U.S.

Boy, is this getting confusing!

Nicely said. I learned two new words and from an idealistic point of view I would like to agree with you.
That however would ignore what Almaviva pointed out, Imler is not a company anymore..

I think a stencil piano is one which is not unique to its own model name/number. ie. if it's available as other brands with minimal difference in specifications. For a piano to avoid being a stencil, it needs to be the only one of that configuration available, and with its own distinctive model number.

No, only the house brand fits the stencil definition. It's made by one company and sold to another for distribution or retail, and the second company's name goes on it.

Buying the rights to a defunct name is quite different. That's why I propose the term "ghost piano".

The stencil company is pretending to have made the piano it sells.

The ghost company is pretending to have made much better pianos in the past.

I'm not sure why, but it seems important to me to keep careful track of the make-believe.... ;-)

Not to split hairs, but the newer manufacturer probably would dispute the notion that the historical pianos bearing the same name were better. After all, the premise behind acquiring a noble marque is to misappropriate the cachet associated with the name!

Well, yes, of course.... The cachet is make-believe. Everybody defends their own make-believe.

Come to think of it, Essex and Boston belong in a much different category based on make-believeness: The company that distributes them is a real piano company, not a department store. They use new made-up names, not a fake link to past glory. All in all, they're more honest. Can anybody think of a word for that?

Steincil?

Yes, JohnSprung, there is a word for that, and you used it in your own question. That word is "honesty".

Hehehe… good one!

Just thinking out loud and taking this one step further, under the "ghost piano" definition, couldn't you argue that any past company is now a different company today operated by different people, possibly a different philosophy yet still profiting from use of the past name? Are Steinways today the same as they were back when Henry Steinway owned the company? Aren't all current owners using a "name" and design today? And what happens when a company is owned by a different parent company (i.e., Samick and Seiler)? Is it still the same company? As soon as ownership passes, the only thing I believe that links a company to its past is the "know-how" and philosophy that is passed on. And even that changes (for example, Steinways use of the Accelerated Action in later pianos).

Groan

Not sure if it's a "Stencil" piano or not, but I have a Howard (Baldwin product) made by Kawai (same as a Kawai model 550) from 1969. It's actually a pretty nice piano, for what I paid for it.

So, I guess the moral of the story is that maybe some "Stencil" pianos ain't all that bad.

Rick

Rick, you make a very good point.

Sometimes there is an immediate negative connotation to the term. Yet, in some instances, it is merely used as an explanation. Certainly, most people who have some knowledge of the workings of the piano biz would not considered a Kawai built Howard to be anything other than a Baldwin.

I'm not sure it was first done by them, but the pre-emminant stencil pianos were made in the 60s-80s by Aeolian.

They made the same piano, under the following labels (as my poor memory serves me):

Winter & Co.
Geo. Steck & Co.
Henry f. Miller
Hallet Davis
Hardman
Haines Bros.
Fischer

and others.

In many instances the only difference was the name, while sometimes the music desk varied.

This allowed them to sell each dealer, even in a dense market, their own brand name to sell.

If you ordered 18 or more, you could have them private-labels. My uncle Marty owned the Martin Piano Company in Philly close to my uncle Lou's Cunningham Piano Co. - now owned by Rich Galassini and Tim Oliver. Marty featured his house brand "Martasonic" which was an Aeolian stencil.

I want me a "Martasonic" !!!!

Too Cool !!!!

And I got a groan for Steincil???

Hi Eric.

Your definition wouldn't include the Aeolian pianos.

It's was one of those excellent groans!

Wouldn't you want an Andolavier?

Put me down for a Retsacnola. Can I get orchestral voicing?