Piano-making in UK.

Once again the less-than-perfect state of new pianos has been highlighted this week. This week, I have seen or worked on 4 pianos not yet 2 years old that have needed extra technical attention before they can be considered satisfactory. Nobody likes hearing the same old moan time and time again, but the customer has to live with the reality of their choice of piano. Most of these keen pianists are paying good money and are at a loss to understand why their pianos are not as good as was expected.

I have been reading Alastair Laurence's book Five London Piano Makers, and I am sure I have detected in the book, hints of a similar mood of disappointment. He says in his introduction, "The near total collapse of British piano making means that there seems to be little likelihood of those fascinating centres of musical workmanship - the small piano factories - ever being seen again on these shores."

Anyone who has worked in a piano workshop will know something of the atmosphere of constant and affectionate labour over the many apparently lifeless components of a piano. Workers feel a strange and invisible force urging them towards the later stages of repair work - that stage when the piano is touched with the magic of creativity and is now finished! Maybe in other professions, something of the same drive is at work, but wherever there are pianos and music, the mixture is intoxicating.

The fact that there are fewer 'centres of musical workmanship' in the UK is partly due to the poor standard of piano produced during the late 1970s. Piano makers were now competing with imported pianos from the far east which, frankly, were better. Cost cutting meant, the fine finishing of the pianos was cut to a minimum, thus bringing forward the eventual demise of the industry.

Alas, many of the cheaper imported pianos are as less-than-perfect as was the case in the UK in the late 1970s. The best we can do is to make good what we can and hope that one day finesse, better reliability and the positive feedback that should follow a piano purchase will be rather more common than it is today. Let us hope that the tide of piano-making doldrums might be on the turn! 

Whether what remains of the piano industry in the UK can get its act together strongly enough to meet the challenge remains to be seen. I share Alastair Laurence's finishing word of hope: "With luck, a new, younger generation of piano makers here will help to ensure the survival of piano-making skills in Britain throughout the twenty-first century." 

We have work to do!

The Piano World

© Steve Burden
Pianology
  

Welmar Pianos

The story of the Welmar piano begins at the end of the first world war. The hardships of the post-war economy gave the piano trade an uphill struggle as it sought to re-establish sales and profitability. Whelpdale and Maxwell began business in 1876 importing Bluthner pianos from Germany and until the war, they had built a strong business on the qualities of the Bluthner pianos. In 1919, the public were now unhappy about buying German pianos, and Whelpdale & Maxwell had to find an alternative source of income until the mood against German pianos had softened.

Cremona Ltd. of Camberwell, London, made pianos for the trade and used names like Squire & Longson, Ronson and Paul Newman. In 1919 Whelpdale & Maxwell commissioned Cremona Ltd to make pianos using the trade name Welmar.

The Cremona team continued to develop and improve their pianos - particularly the metal frame and the soundboard. But in 1929, disaster hit when the factory was burnt down. The company never recovered from the catastrophy and closed the business in 1934.

Whelpdale Maxwell & Codd (as it now was), managed to acquire the Cremona designs, jigs and templates and began making Cremona-designed pianos but using the Welmar name at a new factory at Clapham Park Road. 

Production continued at Clapham until 2001, when, at an extremely difficult time for the piano trade, all was moved for a short time, to Stroud in Gloucestershire.

The Welmar piano has always been appreciated by serious piano players and students. They were built with the Bluthner tone in mind, by craftsmen devoted to the art of piano-building. Welmar pianos are almost universally admired by piano tuners! And, as they are generally hard to please - this is no small achievement.

Welmar Serial Nos.

Directory of Piano Makers

© Steve Burden    

The Early History of the Piano

The Piano was invented and developed to give keyboard instruments the ability to express a full range of dynamics. The harpsichords and spinets of the early 1700s could give out a big sound, but they lacked power of expression. The Clavichord was capable of expression but due to its small size, it was suited only for private playing.

Bartolomeo Cristofori was a maker of harpsichords and, aware musicians wanted a greater capacity to convey the full spectrum of passion and emotion - from the thunderous right through to the tender. With this in mind he set out to invent a mechanism that would produce this dynamic range for keyboard instruments. Taking the harpsichord as an experimental model, he replaced the plectra with a set of hammers. This was a radical shift away from the traditions of instrument makers and was a bold step into the unknown. Eventually his Piano e Forte was exhibited in 1711. 

By 1720, much less like an adapted harpsichord, the piano had become an instrument in a class of its own, it was a work of ingenious originality. Cristofori died in 1731. Leaving no pupils to continue its development along the lines he might have pursued himself, he entrusted his ‘piano e forte’ to the next generation of instrument builders to make of it, whatever they could.

During these early years, the piano was found only among the very rich and affluent. It was closely associated with culture and refinement, and its survival depended upon generous sponsorship from High Society and Royalty. For the piano to reach the greater part of society, it would have to be manufactured in large numbers and sold at affordable prices.

The piano quickly made its mark on the world of music and was fast becoming a very sought-after musical instrument. Inevitably it attracted the notice of enterprising businessmen who saw an opportunity to make healthy profits. 

Producing large numbers of pianos during the 19th century was no small achievement. In a few years differences of style developed in the piano-making countries. The Vienese School was initially very popular as their action was light and easy to play, but the English School produced a stronger, more sustained sound. The layout of the hammer action also differed - eventually what worked well, was adopted by all makers - even if some individualism of style and design was maintained.   

With a steady demand firmly established, the piano earned its permanent place in musical history. The world of music, without a piano, is impossible for us to imagine. Mankind would be so much the poorer if Bartolomeo Cristofori had not sought to satisfy the keyboard musician's craving for expression. 

The Piano World

© Steve Burden
Pianology