PERZINA

Pianos made by: Yantai Perzina Piano Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Yantai, Shandong Province, China

The Gebr. Perzina (Perzina Bros.) piano company was established in the German town of Schwerin in 1871, and was a prominent piano maker until World War I, after which its fortunes declined. In more recent times, the factory was moved to the nearby city of Lenzen and the company became known as Pianofabrik Lenzen GmbH. In the early 1990s the company was purchased by Music Brokers International B.V. of the Netherlands. Eventually it was decided that making pianos in Germany was not economically viable, so manufacturing was moved to Yantai, China, where, under license, Perzina verticals and grands were made for a number of years by another company. In 2003, Music Brokers International established Yantai-Perzina, a joint-venture factory in Yantai, where it now builds Perzina pianos.

Perzina verticals have several interesting features rarely found in other pianos, including a “floating” soundboard that is unattached to the back at certain points for freer vibration, and a reverse or concave soundboard crown. (There may be something to this; Perzina verticals sound very good, particularly in the bass.) The veneered soundboards are made entirely of Austrian white spruce, and the hammers are from C. Bechstein, in Germany.

A new line of Perzina grand pianos was introduced in 2011, designed and manufactured by Perzina in cooperation with a major European manufacturer. All contain veneered soundboards of Austrian white spruce, duplex scaling, and Abel hammers, among other high-quality components. All models come with a slow-close fallboard, and an adjustable artist bench. The distributor says that each grand is unpacked in the U.S., inspected, and adjusted as necessary before being shipped to the dealer.

The company’s European headquarters says it ships many European materials to Yantai, including Degen copper-wound and Röslau strings, Delignit pinblocks, Renner and Abel hammers, English felts, European veneers, and Austrian white spruce soundboards. New manufacturing equipment is from Germany, Japan, and Italy. According to the company, all the piano designs are the original German scales.

The Perzina factory also manufactures G. Steinberg (formerly Gerh. Steinberg) pianos for distribution in the U.S. Gerhard Steinberg began making pianos in Berlin in 1908. The firm he established changed hands several times during the 20th century, most recently in 1993, when it was acquired by Music Brokers International. G. Steinberg grands are lower-cost versions of Perzina grands. They use standard factory hammers instead of Abel hammers, and the cabinets are cosmetically simpler. The verticals, also a lower-cost alternative, are of an entirely different scale design from that of Perzina verticals, and do not use Perzina’s floating soundboard design.

Warranty: Gebr. Perzina and G. Steinberg: 10 years, parts and labor, to original purchaser, except for the soundboard, which carries a lifetime guarantee to original purchaser.