Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Bluthner VS Hassler

Just wondering what's the difference between these two pianos. Are they under the same company or is it like the Steinway-Boston kind of relationship? Played the 6 footers there and was not really impressed with it. It wasn't prepared well i guess. The Bluthner didn't even come close to a 6'1 Steingraeber when i compared it side to side.(My opinion)Thanks for sharing any knowledge you guys have!

Ben, Hassler is under same company as Bluthner. It is a line of pianos that the company targets for consumers who can't afford Bluthner but wants the quality. My experience with Bluthner is that the sound seems is more rounded and warm, while Steingraeber is clear but cold. Bluthner should be priced cheaper than Steingraeber in Singapore. You should choose the piano depending on your needs. If possible, get the piano book by Larry Fine to find out more about these pianos. What's your budget? I believe you are looking for a 6ft grand...

Hasslers are very nice pianos. I played one years ago in Seattle and even met the lady that bought it. She must have been quite happy with her piano.
http://dpbmss041010.blogspot.com/2011/05/legend-of-1900.html

Not too sure about the grands but I tried both bluthner and hassler uprights a few years ago when I was shopping for a piano. The hassler didn't do a lot for me but the bluthner model A completely blew me away, unfortunately it was way beyond my budget. It seemed to me that bluthner/hassler was like Steinway/Boston, bechstein/Hoffman, schimmel/Vogel etc. Don't get me wrong, it was a good piano but there were better instruments for the money IMO.

Things might have changed but at the time the hassler pianos were similar in price to schimmel and sauter, both of which I preferred. The bechstein academy range was in the same area too. I'm talking about five years ago though.

There are not a lot of Haesslers out there. Some Bluethner dealers do not carry them. I do not think it is because they are bad pianos, but because they are different from Bluethner, but not that much less in cost.

I have only seen these pianos at NAMM and at one dealer friends place so I am not intimately familiar, but they are made in Germany, so I would not consider it a Steinway/Boston type relationship at all.

My 2 cents,

The family that own Bluthner, are called 'Bluthner-Haessler', so the Haessler name is a Bluthner family name.

The pianos are made in Germany, I don't know if they are made in the Bluthner factory or not. The plates are different, they are loop strung rather than single strung, and the action is set up differently. The tone is decent but it's not in the same league as a Bluthner.

It's probably a higher quality piano than the Boston, and it's not the same kind of relationship because they are two lines built by the same firm. Boston are built by Kawai in Japan. Incidentally Kawai is a much higher quality piano than Boston, and in my opinion (just my opinion, mind), Haessler.

Bluthner pianos, of course, are a class apart. They have a distinctive sound. Some people love it, some people don't. Some people grow to love it. They seem closer to the old european sound, like Bosendorfer in a way. Beautiful pianos, but they take a fair bit of setting up to get them right. Once they're right, they go on.