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Revision as of 17:20, 25 February 2018 by 2605:e000:1301:c05b:223:dfff:fedf:4013 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Pearl River Piano Group (广州珠江钢琴集团有限公司) is China's largest piano manufacturer and has the largest piano factory in the world producing more pianos than any other factory. The company was established in 1956 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. Pearl River is capable of producing over 100,000 pianos a year, and exports them to more than 80 countries. Today Pearl River pianos are are manufactured under a wide range of models and brands similar in cars to Volkswagen making everything from a Volkswagen to an Audi to a Porsche to Lamborghini. Pianos like the Pearl River, Hallet & Davis and OEM no name pianos are like a Volkswagen. Pianos like a Ritmuller Performace series or Essex are like an Audi. The Ritmuller Premium series are like the Porsche of Pear River's manufactured pianos. Each of these series have similar sizes with different scale designs, materials and vastly different sound.
In January 2016, the company took over 90% of the shares of Wilhelm Schimmel, a German piano manufacturer in Braunschweig. This purchase and collaboartion is pusing the company to even higher levels of quality and tone.
Operations in Germany remain unchanged and the Schimmel factory is still managed by the Schimmel family.
Certifications
In 1998, Pearl River became the first piano company in China to receive International Standards Association ISO 9001 Certification (ISO 9001) for its complete line of grand and vertical pianos, including all parts and components. ISO 9001 Certification is awarded by an independent auditing organization, following a lengthy audit of quality systems, ranging from the procurement of raw materials to manufacturing systems, assembly procedures, and customer service. Pearl River also recently was awarded ISO 14001, which is similar, but relates to environmental standards. Pearl River is the first manufacturer in China to receive this award.
The Pearl River name
Pearl River ran a company-owned US distribution until 2000, when they turned the distribution over to North American Music. Pearl River was one of the first Chinese piano companies to market pianos in the United States under its own company name and have been well accepted by piano teachers and tuners. International concert pianist Oksana Kolesnikova is a spokesperson for the Pearl River Company.
Other instruments
Pearl River is also one of the world's largest guitar and violin manufacturers, and is a primary supplier for the popular "First Act" brand of guitars commonly found at Target stores among others. The company also sells drums, brass, and woodwind instruments internationally. In the People's Republic of China, they produce guitars with the own brand name, "Kapok Guitar" (红棉).
Ritmuller
Pearl River hired piano designer Lothar Thomma to create the new Ritmuller lines. Eventually Thomma had designed or helped design both of the Ritmuller series of pianos, Performance and Premium. The company says that the Lothar Thomma-designed Ritmuller pianos feature European scale designs and use high end European components, and smaller, slower production to allow more hand-finishing work. Some of the differences between Pearl River and Ritmuller include the Thomna designed lower tension scales, piano felt from Filzfabrik Wurzen GmbH in Germany, Roslau higher level (than Pearl River brand) strings, real ebony wood sharps in place of plastic sharps and Abel German hammers in the Performance Series with Renner Hammers in the Premium series. The Performance series also has a different action design, different rim design material spec and a great deal more hand work reflecting it's position as the finest piano the company builds.
O.E.M.
Three large retail piano companies in the US use Pearl River as their OEM entry level house brand supplier: Jordan Kitts Music, Sherman Clay(now closed), and Schmitt Music. These three retail chains use their own brand name (Henry F Miller, Christofori) on the front of the pianos and in a couple of isolated cases feature slightly different specifications than the Pearl River brand models distributed by Pearl River Piano Group America, based in Ontario, California.
Connections with Yamaha, Steinway, and Hallet Davis
Yamaha
Yamaha formed a joint venture with Pearl River in 1995 to establish a factory to build pianos for the Chinese market. This factory is east of Guangzhou in an "economic development zone", approximately 35 miles from the Pearl River factory. This factory produced two models for the Pearl River Piano Group: the UP125M1 and the Ritmüller UP126R. Ritmüller brand pianos sport upgraded cabinetry, a different plate, upgraded felt and several different scale designs. Both product lines were marketed in the United States by retail piano stores and had additional branding to the side of the keys reading made by "Yamaha Pearl River".
Steinway
Pearl River also manufactures all models for Steinway & Sons' "Essex" brand piano line, including grand pianos and uprights, in their factory in Guangzhou. On May 1, 2005, Steinway & Sons and Pearl River Piano Group jointly announced an agreement. The companies began developing several new Essex models, which Steinway & Sons designed for affiliate company Boston Piano Co., Inc. The piano line reached the marketplace early in 2006. It was Steinway's first venture in China, and Pearl River's first OEM relationship with a Western piano maker.
Hallet Davis
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Hallet, Davis & Co. Boston (HD&C), is a piano line commonly referred to as Hallet & Davis or H&D. It is the oldest U.S. brand name of pianos still being made today with the first piano created in 1835. The Pearl River Piano Group has produced the HD&C line since 2014 prior to 2014 the name was made by the Dongbei Piano Co. Hallet & Davis today is an OEM line of pianos manufactured for North American Music to distribute. While today all H&D pianos are made by Pearl River over the years this brand has a sketchy past with vastly different designs by multiple piano makers including Dongbei, Silberman, Parsons, and Peal River.
The Signature Series was made by either Pearl River or Beijing HsingHai Musical Instruments Corporation, with both uprights and grand pianos. The largest grand piano in regular production at 6 ft 2 in (a 7-foot Signature Series Grand Piano is available upon special order) Imperial Collection with ornate woods and finishes (was made by Parsons Music)
References
- ^ Pearl River Archived 2009-08-27 at the Wayback Machine Pearl River Pianos's USA site. Retrieved on September 29, 2007.
- Hompeage of Noerr company, retrieved on 2016-02-27
- Oksana Kolesnikova website, Pearl River.""
External links
- http://www.pearlriverusa.com
- http://www.steinway.com/essex
- https://www.forbes.com/global/2002/0513/040.html (article about Pearl River on Forbes.com)
- http://halletdavispiano.com/