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Danemann Pianos. Historic Company with New Life?

November 13, 2017 By Julian Leave a Comment

Hello Everyone,

This post is in a way a little history lesson of an illustrious corner of British piano building. Do stay  with it because there is an interesting and happy turn of events at the end…

At their height,  Danemann pianos were a very significant manufacturer of high quality pianos. They were a British company based in Islington in North London and were famous for their beautiful tone and touch. Their reputation was such that they were suppliers of pianos to the rich and famous of the day, as well as to academic institutions and concert halls.

The company was established by William Danemann. He trained with London based John Brinsmead who himself was a piano builder with a fine reputation. Brinsmead was born in Devon in 1814 and was a piano builder from 1836 later joined by his sons, John and Edgar. With the excellence of training from Brinsmead behind him Danemann Pianos were established in 1893. Production continued until 1983.

They produced a wide range of pianos from small uprights to large concert grands, supplying British Embassies, P&O and even the Royal Festival Hall when it opened in 1951. Not only did they supply the local UK market, they were also keen exporters worldwide, adapting their pianos for all the various climates around the world.

There was a focus on very high quality after WW2 rather than selling to the mass market, there were even commissions to produce pianos for Harrods. To underline this point of quality, Danemann were fitted with the renowned actions from Renner and Schwander. Renner is still regarded in the front rank of makers of piano action today. The decision to focus on high quality was probably very sensible given that most people were just about surviving with ration books and didn’t have the means to purchase luxuries such as pianos in the early post war years.

Their designs in the 20s and 30s were quite adventurous, happily embracing the Arts and Crafts movement. During the 1930s they made extensive use Italian walnut adding to their air of quality.

We are more familiar with Danemann as pianos in our schools. We should not be dismiss an instrument builder supplying schools as moving down market. Materials used in schools need to be robust and of the highest quality to survive in this tough environment. Danemann were the perfect company to supply schools as their products were very robust, being made from the best quality materials available. They even had safety features which included rubber casters for ease of moving around schools. Many thousands of Danemann pianos were produced for schools and it is very likely that there are still thousands seeing active service today.

There are all sorts of twists and turns in the Danemann story. They built pianos for other companies such as Pohlmann as many Chinese companies do today. There was the Harrods commission and later. Since 1982 the company and factory has been sold to various owners bringing with it each time fresh hope for Danemann. Sadly, each time production was short lived, however the name with the illustrious past lives on.

The future in fact is looking very bright. Broughton Pianos headed up by Glenn Morris now owns the Danemann name and is carefully planning a revival of this wonderful name. As with all manufactured products now, from cars, to electronics and to musical instruments including pianos, it is a multinational effort. The drive, energy and a long term plan for Danemann led by Morris has seen production already starting.

We have just one model at Pianolobby at the moment, a Danemann 118 and it is a very promising start. At the time of writing we understand that there is a great deal of research and design underway and many new models of quality is heading our way.

Watch this space.

Thank you for reading.

 

 

Filed Under: Blog, Danemann, Featured, More New Pianos

The Autumn Collection From Pianolobby

September 4, 2017 By Julian Leave a Comment

Hello Everyone,

The weather seems to be turning pretty quickly into Autumn and the feeling of the coming Winter of shorter days and the cold for me comes with the feeling of slight dead. Luckily there are lots of really great pianos at Pianolobby to keep us cheerful.

I have to say slightly immodestly that I think this Autumn collection is our best both in terms of range and price. Overall I think the quality is higher.

Here is an outline of a few pianos that are available.

Lets start with Danemann. This is a name from the past but it was a name that was very much associated with top quality pianos sold to the rich and famous around the world and to concert halls as well as schools. They were known for their robust build quality just as much as for their beautiful sound and touch. There were also many adventurous designs especially in the 1920s and 30s not just the slightly plain functional designs of their school pianos. We have in stock one of the first of the new generation of Danemann pianos and we think it is an excellent first step.

The model we have currently is 122cm tall, 147cm long and 60cm deep. The case is gloss black with beautiful chrome hinges, pedals and nameplate adding to its air of modernity. There are also subtle details in the casework giving further feel of quality.

It looks great and as for playing I think they have got it about right. There is weight in the keys, but it is nicely balanced and would suit players who are beginners through to those who are more advanced. As for the sound, there is warmth as in traditional English pianos, mixed with an element of clarity of a modern instrument. It is definitely worth putting on your list of pianos to try out.

Next is our Lippmann. I have to confess here that I really like these instruments. They are very well made, feel great to play with a lovely rich clear tone and are great value. We were very excited when we stumbled on this piano. It has been difficult to find brand new Lippmanns in recent times as fewer are coming into the country. This Lippmann is also fitted with rather tasteful chrome hinges and pedals. As you can see it has a high quality finish, there is even a pedal plate to protect the case from shoes when pedaling.

No collection would be complete without Yamaha. Here are 2 examples of U1 pianos. Both are wonderful pianos which feel and sound as a good Yamaha should. One was built in 1965 and the other in 1975 but both perform as if decades younger. Yamaha is of course one of the most famous manufacturers of quality musical instruments. Their attention to detail and quality is very much in the top rank of piano builders nowadays, which means when we buy a used Yamaha we know that it will still function reliably for very many years.

If you would like more information please do get in touch. There are plenty of other pianos ready for you to try out, this post is just to give you a little flavour of what we have.

Next month should make for an interesting read for you. It is all about Danemann, past present and future.

Julian

Filed Under: Blog, Danemann, Lippmann, Yamaha Tagged With: Danemann

AUTUMN RENTALS WITH PEDIGREE

August 28, 2017 By Julian 1 Comment

We have discussed rental pianos elsewhere on this site and I am not going to go over the same ground exploring which way to go. The purpose of this post is to simply show you some of the stock available for rent this Autumn. This is not an exhaustive list and some of the pianos may no longer be available when you visit. Our rental stock does change fairly quickly, we will do our best to keep the website up to date. As I write this, there are 5 pianos heading our way and will be with us in the next couple of weeks. Here are 5 pianos that are available today. It looks as though 5 is my favourite number!

Three of the pianos are from manufacturers with a distinguished history and the other two are modern companies looking to the future.

 

Let’s start in the USA. Here’s a Baldwin piano, this company was once the largest US-based manufacturer of pianos and other keyboard instruments and known by the slogan, “America’s Favorite Piano”

The company began in 1862, when the Cincinnati-based piano teacher Dwight Hamilton Baldwin launched a Decker Brothers piano dealership and with business partner Lucien Wulsin became D.H. Baldwin & Company.

They were to make and distribute quality pianos in all price ranges and became famous for their touch, tone and durability and have a long history of creating high quality upright pianos that sound great and last. Today, most Baldwin pianos are built in the China.

Our next stop is the UK and to Chappell piano. This company was founded in 1810 by Samuel Chappell with 2 partners. They had showrooms for pianos, sheet music and other musical instruments.  The firm’s reputation grew fast publishing music, promoting concerts and manufacturing pianos from the 1840s.

During the 20th century, Chappell became one of the leading music publishers and piano manufacturers in Britain which were well made with good tone and touch.

We now head to Poland to look at our Calisia piano. Calisia is a good quality Polish piano brand which have been around for about 130 years founded by the Gustaw Arnold Fibiger family. Luckily the Calisia piano we have is considerably younger than that!
And to China for our last 2 pianos today. We have a Waldstein piano built in the 1990’s is

a delightful instrument with its sweet sound, it is easy to play and is perfectly suited to beginner pianists and those who are more advanced.

Finally the Hamlyn & Klein. These pianos are German Designed instruments and built with the benefit of low-cost Asian manufacturing, resulting in a good piano at a very reasonable price. It is well made from good quality materials and has the feel of a more expensive instrument. The feel of the action is responsive, balanced and easy to play. This 2004 model has a warm to medium bright tone and has the feel of a new piano.
These are all available to purchase starting from £900. All are available to rent at £35 per month.
Feel free to get in contact if you would like to try out our pianos. We would also welcome any comment or suggestions you may have.
I hope this was of interest for you and give you an idea of some of the pianos available for rent. Thank you for reading.

Filed Under: Blog

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