The Golden Ticket: Contest Winners Tour Pearl River Factory

Thirty Pearl River, Kayserburg, and Ritmüller dealers from the United States and Canada recently returned from four days visiting Guangzhou, Southern China’s largest port city where they were able to tour the new Pearl River piano factory.

Dealers earned the opportunity to participate in the trip during a promotion to celebrate the company’s 30^th anniversary in North America. Although parts of the factory are still under construction, when completed it will be the world’s largest piano factory with the capacity to build over 100,000 pianos a year. The five year move to the new factory will be completed in 2017.

Li Jian Ning, general manager of the Pearl River Piano Group, as well as a committee of group managers welcomed the visiting dealers. Together, they examined Pearl River’s scale of production, which blends old world hand-craftsmanship with cutting-edge technologies. Some were surprised to see how much of the piano building process is still “hand made.” The hand notching of bridges, planning, gluing, and cutting are all controlled by Pearl River technicians. In some parts of the process, highly sophisticated CNC machinery ensures precision, yet in the making of a quality instrument, Pearl River believes there is nothing that can replicate the refined skill of experienced men and women working with all of their senses.  

The factory tour was followed by a stop at Pearl River’s World Headquarters. The seven-story building still produces pianos, and also houses most departments including Research and Development, Sales, and Import/Export. Stephan Mohler – formerly with Bechstein, now Pearl River’s quality control manager – greeted the dealers. The timing of the trip coincided with a visit by the world-renowned Swiss master designer, Lothar Thomma, who joined the group in the company’s showroom. Together they reviewed the latest models and finishes for Pearl River, Ritmüller, and Kayserburg pianos. Thomma has been with Pearl River since 2007, advising and overseeing the transformation of the company’s product lines. The result has been the creation of a series of instruments earning international critical acclaim. Thomma has overseen or advised in the design of many famous European piano brands such as Bechstein and Steingraeber. He is also the co-inventor of the TF-65 “slide” calculator, a system used by many piano manufacturers over the years to correctly design the “scale” of pianos. 

From the showroom, various musically inclined Pearl River employees treated dealers to performances. Acts included a dance troupe, a ukulele player, and others, ending in piano performances by company managers. Pearl River employees can enroll in company sponsored music programs at no cost. 

Day-two of the tour began in the company wood yard and wood processing facility. Dealers saw a five-year accumulation of lumber, stacked in covered buildings. One of the winners, Shawn Hoar of Shawn’s Piano in Hartford, Connecticut, is a soundboard maker who possesses knowledge and experience with many aspects of piano building, and expertise in woods. Hoar helped the group understand the purpose, quality, and cutting strategy of many of the woods seen in the facility.

From the wood yard the group proceeded to the wood processing facility. Here the cut lumber is fashioned into a variety of parts and pieces used in production. A piano has over 8,000 moving parts, so the over 100,000 pianos made by Pearl River last year required 800 million parts to be fashioned from this lumber.

The dealers also indulged in the local cuisine. The Chinese regard the cuisine of Guangzhou as a national highlight; it’s considered the epicenter for Cantonese style cooking. On the last day of the tour, dealers visited the Famous Guangzhou Safari Park, one of the world’s largest, and home to the first ever triplet Pandas born in captivity. The zoo features an array of exotic animals with some roaming free in an area where visitors can drive through in cars or trolleys.

Jeff Tasch of Grand Piano Haus Speaks on His Experience Visiting the Factory.

First, I would like to mention during our visit to Guangzhou on how wonderfully we were treated by the Pearl River piano group people; I mean absolutely first class. Second, the factory. We had no idea what to expect. Even though the factory was brand new, the first thing I discovered was how the condition of the factory was for the workers. Guangzhou is tropical.  It can become very hot and humid during the summer months. If you wish to build hi-quality instruments it makes sense to make the working environment as comfortable as possible. Their air-conditioned factory was a blessing. Not too many buildings in China are air-conditioned. 

Third, we were amazed how much handwork goes into each and every instrument. We always think that these pianos are machine produced. Yes a lot of machines are used for drilling and routing but I was impressed to learn that in the grand pianos that even the bridge is notched by hand. I have witnessed other piano manufacturers using CNC machines for this process. With the production of Kayserburg pianos, Pearl River piano group went where no other Chinese piano manufacturer went. They built a small European/German piano shop in the factory where Stephan Mohler oversees year-round the production of the Artist series Kayserburg pianos by a handful of highly skilled piano builders. 

We were literally blown away with everything we were shown from the huge lumberyard, to the new air-conditioned piano factory. We know that Pearl River, Ritmüller and Kayserburg have set a new standard in superb quality and value in Chinese piano craftsmanship. In our opinion no other Chinese piano manufacturer can produce a piano at the level of precision and quality for the price.