Nothing to do with pianos but, my brother and sis in law in N.C. after the hurricane Irene last month.
http://ping.fm/vAVMp

Business is coming together nicely. The Piano Social Directory is well on its way to being finished.

Sauter Pianos

I have begun a study of the history of some of our famous piano makers over the centuries.

There have been some absolutely captivating builders. Among them of course has been Sebastien Erard, Jonas Chickering, Theodore Steinway, Johan Ibach, Ignaz Bosendorfer and of course Joseph Brodmann along with one of my favorites; Carl Sauter.

Little is known of some of these guys in the U.S. because the importing of pianos at that time but, Europe has a totally different idea of music, making music and the building of fine instruments than in other parts of the world. But I am very captivated by Mr. Sauter.

Here is the story. Johann Streicher owned a piano company called Streicher pianos. Streicher had risen to fame because Ludwig van Beethoven had purchased several instruments from them and the Streicher was his personal favorite, in fact he often requested that a Streicher piano be provided for his concerts. The company had attracted much attention and got the attention of a young man named Johann Grimm.

Some time after Johann had joined Streicher Pianos, Mr. Streicher passed away and left his company to his daughter Nannette, a freind of Beethoven and extremely close to another composer and artist of this era named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. They actually performed together on Streicher pianos on several occasions.

After several years of service to Streicher, Mr. Grimm decided to branch out on his own. He created what was to become the Sauter Piano Company in 1813. To date this piano company is the oldest family owned piano manufacturer and the oldest continuous running piano maker in the world. The company has always been controlled, owned and operated by a Sauter.

Today, Urlich Sauter is in charge and continues to make pianos in his factory in Spaichingen, Germany at the foothills of the famous Black Forest. They continue to manufacture pianos with the concept that Johann Grimm used in 1813 but have integrated modern day technologies. Today the factory is a state-of-the-art factory that is quite impressive and builds approximately 450 pianos a year. In Europe, Sauter is highly regarded as one of the finest instruments available. In the U.S. there are only a few dealers that carry the instrument.

Once you have the opportunity to experience the Sauter piano I am sure you will agree that this instrument is one that quietly grabs your attention and seems to say "is that all you got, come on get with it".

More on some of the other famous manufacturers coming soon

Until then-

Ric Overton

posted by Ric Overton of http://PianoSD.com via http://MaxMorganDesign.com

This Past Month

The past month I have been out of touch for the blog. We have been making many changes, one of which is going to be released by the end of the month.

I have long been concerned about the fact that shopping for pianos can be rather difficult when you are not sure what you are doing. You’re not sure if there are questions that should be asked, if you are asking the wrong questions, the right questions, or if there is something thatis missing.

I have watched many customers that are not sure what to ask, get in a lot of trouble because they forgot the right questions or asked all together the wrong questions. Searching for a piano can be exhausting to the person who knows nothing at all.

Searching for a teacher, tuner, technician, artist or any other thing in the piano business can be difficult at times. In the age that we live in it is usually about electronic gadgets or cars that are all over blogs but, finding piano information can be challenging at very best.

Next month PianoSD is planning on a complete overhaul that will hopefully take the guess work out of buying a piano anywhere in the U.S. finding a teacher in Los Angeles, or a tuner in San Francisco, perhaps you need to know more information about pianos in Sacramento I hope to help put the end of quess work for you.

As we move forward I would like to tell you how excited I am to now be handling all of the social media and internet marketing for Brodmann pianos in the U.S. We have been talking about this for about 7 months and finally landed the contract in July. As you know I am managing the Piano Outlet in Nipomo, Ca. We are a part of a much larger branch in Oxnard. i have been so happy with the area and what it has to offer. So if you are up in the San Luis Obis