Ni Hao in the Piano Business
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After an absence of about 15 years from regular access to a piano, husband and I are looking into acquiring a piano. Not that I’m any good, mind you, but in lieu of wee bairns and hyperactive dogs, we’re looking for a bit of self-development-oriented entertainment.
Apparently, American piano making stank in the 60s and the 70s, before Yamaha and Kawai gave domestic piano manufacturers some helpful competition. I grew up with two Baldwins (a company now bankrupt and owned by Gibson Guitars), a 5′6″ grand with some of the stiffest keys imaginable (hence my bony fingers today) and a studio upright used by my mother, the former concert pianist, to teach her reluctant students. So imagine my surprise when the first dealer I encounter tries to push a CHINESE piano on me.
That’s right. Made in China. You thought they just made cheap flashlights, cotton underwear, and the occasional laptop or two. Being game, I tried a Chinese-made piano. Alas, a brand new “Nordiska” (they all try to use Euro names like “Ritmuller” or “Strauss”) was nothing to an out-of-tune, decrepit upright vintage 1920s Steinway that looked like it served out its days in a dusty Western saloon.
So there are a lot of tangents from here. Will it ever be possible for Chinese piano manufacturers to achieve the quality of a Bosendorfer (Austria) or a Fazioli (Italy)? If no, why not? If we all know that “Nordiska” is a Chinese piano, why are they hiding behind these quasi-Euro names? (Finding out that Nordiska, started in the 1920s, went belly-up and had its name purchased by Dongbei Piano Company did little to increase its credibility for me. Call a spade a spade, for heaven’s sake!) Is it ethical to purchase a high-value Chinese import when the US trade imbalance with China is so dangerously lopsided? Do I support the land of my ancestors (and teach Robert Chinese) or do I rail against the injustice?
“Will it ever be possible for Chinese piano manufacturers to achieve the quality”
No clue about pianos, but I have no doubt that they can (or even surpass it). As with any technology, access to knowhow, raw materials would be important. If the Japanese can build a better car, the Chinese can most definitely build a better piano.
“Why not call a spade a spade”
Buying an existing brand name for its perceived value is pretty common business practice. Misleading, maybe. Unethical, I dont know. I must admit, I felt somewhat conned the first time I realized that Haagen-Dazs was not some exotic European brand, but had its origins in the Bronx.
As for the trade imbalance question, probably a whole discussion in itself
Quite the timely post. Today, the Chinese took a first step in easing that trade imbalance by revaluing the yuan and instead of pegging it to the dollar it is now dependent on a bunch of currencies. The Economist has a good writeup on it here:
http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4199196
“Call a spade a spade, for heaven’s sake!”
Isn’t that a bit disingenuous? A brand name is a valuable commodity, and since the piano is a traditional Western musical instrument, it would seem perfectly appropriate that it has a European sounding name, irrespective of where it’s made. Just as I would expect an Italian outfit selling collectible samurai blades to not be called “Tony’s Samurai Swords” but rather something vaguely Japanese.
I am with Papi on this one. People value brands and seldom look at the under-belly to determine where it was made. Remember that the brand Pan-AM survivied long after the company itself went under- and there are scores of similar examples. Brands are what most people attribute value and other charecteristics.
Have we forgotten that the Japanese took the auotmobile market by storm and keeping with the times most of the cars that they introduced had names ending with an ‘a’. (Yes it was a fad in the 80s and the Japanese rode that well). It was the thing to do iif you wanted someone to kick the tires and take a test drive. It helped that the Japanese build some decent reliable cars for the American family.
So why is a different yard-stick being used for Chinese Piano makers?
On a similar note, one wonders if Infosys would be multi-billion dollar IT corporation leading the way in reshaping the oursourcing industry if it were named ‘Narayanamurthy Venkataswamy Chidambaram and sons software company (pvt) Limited’ or something similar.
/Ravi
Dont know if the Infosys analogy is the right one though - the analogy would be more appropriate had it been named ‘Made as USA software consultants’.
I suppose what gets me isn’t so much that they’re playing the Brand Shell Game. In all the examples, from ice cream to Japanese cars to tech companies, no one does the bait and switch — they just “make up” catchier, more market-friendly names. (Haagen-Dazs apparently doesn’t mean a thing.)
What the Chinese piano makers are doing is appropriating the names of real-but-now-defunct piano makers, most of them makers of very fine, hand-made pianos, and using those names on poorer-quality, mass-produced instruments. It’s like putting the name “Rolls Royce” onto a Hyundai. At minimum, it’s misleading. And, in the hands of an unscrupulous piano sales man (my God they’re worse than used car salesmen), it’s downright unethical.
Whether Haagen-Dazs means anything, it was still intended to conjure up images of Europe. But I see your point. (Though it seems like a bad business decision to buy a name and then destroy the brand).
coodos to cowmoose for hitting the nail on the head! it is truly unethical to use famous brands to promote a lesser quality product.
Rolls Royces are now made in Germany by VW.
Have a heart. Due to communism in the past much of their R and D has taken a back seat.
and thus quality suffers. So now the tag ‘China made’ pianos has a stigma attached to it. I t will take years to reverse it. Japanese pianos were not accepted just not so long ago. But now since the economy opens and China seeks to join the world trade.With the younger generation of chinese manufacturer who are more tech-savvy and knows how to collaborate with the Europeans,Japanese and the Americans, they do make better pianos now. Give the Chinese some time. With their hunger level to catch up with the rest of the world, they will improve and if we are not careful even overtake us.
I’ve heard that Japanese products had a stigma due to poor quality back in the ’60’s, but by the ’80’s generally the best-quality products were Japanese. Similary, Korean products in the ’80’s were not terribly great (remember those junky early Hyundais?), but are now known for much better quality (Hyundais now have one of the best warrantees in the industry). While Chinese quality right now is getting a lot of press for being rather sub-standard, I agree with Eric that they will likely catch up, and possibly in less than two decades.
The branding is an interesting, separate issue. In the motorcycle industry, many once-revered but long-bankrupt marques have been resurrected by firms buying the rights to the names Excelsior-Henderson, Indian, Vincent, and others, and building new bikes even though there’s generally no connection whatsoever to the original companies. Note that the first two of those resurrected companies have, like their namesakes, gone out of business too.
In a related development, a Chinese company has bought the rights to the old British sports car company MG, and will build models in the U.S., England, and China. Hopefully they’re more successful than the motorcycle companies.
What comments can you give me regarding the Chinese made upright Haileer piano? I’m new to pianos but It sounded pleasing in the store. Made of solid wood and European parts. I compared it to a similar Baldwin and the Haileer sounded much better. Is a Haileer worth the investment?
HI I have a Haileer 52″ Upright that I bought new. What a fool but it looked nice and sounded nice in the store too. The only complaint I have is after 3 years it still needs a bit of tweaking on the tuning side. It will sound great for a few months after a tuning then it tends to drift a little on the low side. Faster than I would like. The longer I have had it the less it drifts out of tune so maybe I hope it is just the break-in process and the wide temperature and humidity changes we have in New England and not a quality issue. Time will tell. Maybe I should have bought a weighted electronic piano keyboard but I am relatively happy with the choice.
Just like jewelry their is a hefty markup on pianos. I could of saved another $100 or so but live an learn. Best Luck to you Steve A.
Update. My Haileer 52″ seems to be behaving much better now on the tuning side. But 3 years is a long time to wait for it to settle down. Every now and then I would hear a noise come from the piano and at first I thought it was mice “ha ha” but it was from the sound board settling. It seems to be holding well now on the tuning side. I will check for cracks on the sound board. Just to make sure there are no problems. That is it. For a few more grand buy a real Kawai or Yamaha if you are serious. IF you just play for enjoyment the Haileer is fine. The Piano tuner gent from Rogers Piano is very talented and does a great job tuning it when we have it done. Mr. Rogers at Rogers Piano is like a used car salesman but not a bad place to buy a piano. But they should follow up after a while to see if their customers are happy with their choice.
Not a hijack, but a comment. I own a beautiful, marvelous sounding 5′0 Nordiska, It’s now two years old. I love it’s playability, character and even it’s looks. The ONLY problem I’ve had is with it drifting. My tech, a very well known member of the PTG here in the Detroit area, pointed me to some literature distributed by the PTG which summarizes the recommendation of many piano manufacturers. Kawai, Steinway, Yamaha, Pearl River…a whole bunch. ALL of them point to the observation that a new piano takes a LONG time to settle down to any kind of tuning stability, and should be tuned quite often early in it’s life for that reason…to help it mature into stability. That helped me to no longer second guess my original buying decision (and placated my wife, who was getting tired of seeing the tech!!!)
I had my guy install a Pinao Life Saver system just last week to help with that issue.
I’m an acoustic guitarist, and know what changes of climate do to my fine instruments. Why should a piano differ…it’s made of wood and metal!!!