Baldwin Piano Company

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The Baldwin Piano Company was the largest American manufacturer of keyboard instruments , mostly pianos . The company is now a subsidiary of Gibson Guitar Corporation , but American production of pianos was discontinued in December 2008.

history

The company dates back to 1857 when Dwight Hamilton Baldwin offered piano, organ and violin music lessons in Cincinnati , Ohio . In 1862 Baldwin began working as a piano dealer for Decker Brothers and in 1866 employed Lucien Wulsin as an office assistant. Wulsin became a partner in the trade, known as DH Baldwin & Company since 1873. Under Wulsin's leadership, the Baldwin Company became the largest piano trading company in the American Midwest in the 1890s.

In 1889–1890, Baldwin swore that the best piano that could be built would be built (“ the best piano that could be built ”). As a result, two companies were formed: Hamilton Organ, which made pipe organs, and the Baldwin Piano Company, which made pianos. The company's first piano, a pianino (high piano), went on sale in 1891. Baldwin began selling the first grand piano in 1895.

Baldwin died in 1899, leaving his property to finance missionary societies. Ultimately, Lucien Wulsin acquired Baldwin's property and transformed the company from a wholesaler to a manufacturer. The company won its first major award in 1900 when its Model 112 won the Grand Prix of Competition at the Paris World's Fair , the first American-made piano to win the award. Baldwin-made pianos also won major awards at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and the 1914 Universal Anglo-American Exposition . In 1913, in addition to sales in the USA, Baldwin was already supplying dealers in a further 32 states.

Baldwin began making player pianos in 1920, like many other manufacturers . A new piano factory was built in Cincinnati , Ohio . These models became unpopular by the late 1920s. In connection with the great economic crisis, these times almost turned into a disaster for Baldwin. However, the company's boss, Lucien Wulsin II, had made provisions for such circumstances by means of large cash reserves, and Baldwin was thus able to survive the crash of the market.

During the Second World War, the US War Production Board ordered the suspension of all piano building activities so that the capacities could be used for purposes important to the war effort. The Baldwin factories were converted to the manufacture of composite wood structures for aircraft wing profiles. The Aeronca PT-23 trainers and the Curtiss-Wright C-76 Caravan cargo aircraft received Baldwin wings. While the manufacture of wooden components for airplanes could hardly be rated as an economic success, Baldwin nevertheless drew benefits and knowledge from these activities, which benefited the manufacture of sound posts from 41-ply glued laminated wood, which Baldwin began to install in pianos after the Second World War.

After the end of the war, Baldwin continued to sell pianos, and in 1953 the volume had doubled as it was before the war. In 1946 Baldwin introduced his first electronic organ, which had been developed in 1941. This organ became so successful that the company changed its name: Baldwin Piano & Organ Company. In 1961, Lucien Wulsin III became president. In 1963 the company bought the German piano manufacturer C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik and remained its owner until 1986. In 1965 Baldwin built a new piano factory in Conway , Arkansas , originally purely for the purpose of building pianinos (high pianos). In 1973 the company had produced a million pianinos.

Next, the company tried to participate in the growth of pop music . After an unsuccessful attempt to acquire Fender Musical Instruments Corporation , Baldwin bought Burns of London for £ 380,000 in 1965 and began selling guitars through the group's piano stores. Inexperienced with guitars, Baldwin missed the interest of most guitar buyers, and sales were unsatisfactory. In 1967 Baldwin also bought the guitar manufacturer Gretsch , who brought their own highly experienced sales force to the guitar business and also a network of guitar shops. However, Fender and Gibson stayed ahead in the markets and sales never reached their targets. Gretsch guitars were later sold back to the Gretsch family in 1989.

During the 1970s, Baldwin tried sizeable funds into financial services. Baldwin bought dozens of companies under the leadership of Morley P. Thompson. In the early 1980s, Baldwin owned more than 200 savings and loan banks, insurance companies, and investment banks.

In 1980 Baldwin opened a new piano factory in Trumann , Arkansas . In 1982, however, piano manufacturing only contributed 3% of Baldwin's annual revenue of $ 3.6 billion. Meanwhile, the company had amassed considerable debt and found it increasingly difficult to fund its new acquisitions. In 1983 the company was forced to file for bankruptcy with a debt level of US $ 9 billion - the largest ever bankruptcy case at the time.

During the 1984 bankruptcy process, Baldwin's piano business was sold to its managers. The new company advertised the purchase of shares in 1986 as the "Baldwin Piano and Organ Company". The company went public again when it was sold to a group of investors in 1993 for approximately $ 62 million.

In any case, the difficulties persisted in the wake of demographic changes and as a result of foreign competition, piano sales fell. The company tried to increase its market share by purchasing Wurlitzer and to curb costs by relocating production overseas. Baldwin moved its administration from Loveland , Ohio to Mason , Ohio. Business improved through the 1990s, and in 1998 the 270 piano-making workers at the Conway , Arkansas factory built 2,200 grand pianos per year. Baldwin was in trouble again in 2001, however, filing for bankruptcy again when the company was bought by Gibson Guitar Corporation . In 2005, the company fired some employees from its Trumann, Arkansas manufacturing facility and underwent a restructuring.

Baldwin, now a subsidiary of Gibson Guitar Corporation, manufactured instruments under the Baldwin, Chickering , Wurlitzer, Hamilton and Howard brands . Baldwin bought two piano factories in China to build grand pianos and pianinos there. New versions of the pianinos that were previously built in the United States are now being made in the factory in Zhongshan, China. These include the Baldwin-Hamilton studio models B243 and B247, which are the most popular school pianos ever made. The much larger factory in Dongbei builds grand and upright pianos in many new models. All new models are sold under the name "Baldwin", not as Wurlitzer, Hamilton or Chickering.

In December 2008, Baldwin ceased most of the manufacturing of new pianos at its Trumann, Arkansas factory. A small staff was retained to build custom grand pianos and to build a number of high quality pre-order artist pianos and grand pianos. Baldwin plans to continue manufacturing as demand demands.

Famous artist

Many musicians have chosen Baldwin pianos for composing, performing, and recording. Well-known classical pianists used Baldwin grand pianos on at least one occasion: Walter Gieseking , Jorge Bolet , Earl Wild and José Iturbi and the composers Igor Stravinsky , Béla Bartók , Leonard Bernstein and John Williams . Baldwin pianos have been used by popular entertainers: Amy Lee , Liberace , Clay Aiken , Ben Folds , Billy Joel , Richard Carpenter and Carly Simon , Ferrante & Teicher , and jazz pianists Dave Brubeck and Dick Hyman at concerts .

literature

Web links

Commons : Baldwin Piano Company  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. a b Baldwin CEASES production, lays off workers . Trumann Democrat . December 8, 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2009.
  2. Baldwin Pianos . Baldwin piano. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
  3. ^ Gibson Guitar Corporation, Baldwin Division, About Baldwin http://www.search.com/reference/Baldwin_Piano_Company
  4. ^ Hans-Joachim Braun: Music Engineers. The Remarkable Career of Winston E. Kock, Electronic Organ Designer and NASA Chief of Electronics. . In: CHE2004 of IEEE . 1982.
  5. Per Gjörde: Pearls and Crazy Diamonds . Addit Information AB, Göteborg, Sweden 2001, pp. 35-37.
  6. a b KAIT8 News, Trumann Piano Plant Lays Off Workers While Undergoing Restructuring ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kait8.com
  7. ^ GE Credit Signs Deal With Baldwin , The New York Times. June 19, 1984. Retrieved December 17, 2007. 
  8. ^ Eward Rothstein: For the Piano, Chords of Change , The New York Times. September 27, 1987. Retrieved December 15, 2007. 
  9. ^ Baldwin Piano Agrees To Be Acquired , The New York Times. January 29, 1993. Retrieved December 17, 2007. 
  10. ^ COMPANY NEWS; Wurlitzer Sale To Baldwin . In: The New York Times ( Reuters ) , The New York Times Company , December 24, 1987. Retrieved October 25, 2008. 
  11. ^ Gibson Guitar to Buy Baldwin Piano . In: Los Angeles Times , Tribune Company , Nov. 2, 2001, p. C2. Retrieved October 25, 2008. 
  12. ^ Page 168 of the Piano Buyer by Larry Fine.
  13. a b Page 168 of the Piano Buyer by Larry Fine
  14. Baldwin Pianos . Baldwin piano. Retrieved March 26, 2010.