Pfeiffer (piano manufacturer)
The piano factory Carl A. Pfeiffer GmbH & Co. KG in Leonberg is a well known manufacturer of upright pianos and wings in traditional technology.
The company was founded in Stuttgart in 1862 by Joseph Anton Pfeiffer . His father Carl A. Pfeiffer was already working as a piano maker in Glogau . The latter built the first double grand piano with a double soundboard. Today the company is in the fifth generation of family ownership.
His son Carl Anton Pfeiffer (1861–1927), after whom the company has been named since 1912, developed a number of tools for piano making, e.g. B. the so-called crimping pliers for precise bending (crimping) of mechanical wires. His son Dr. Walter Pfeiffer also dealt scientifically with the piano, especially with the piano mechanics. His writings on this subject belong to the generally accepted standard literature in piano making.
After the end of the GDR, the Leipzig- based piano factories Ludwig Hupfeld AG and Rönisch were taken over. Pfeiffer has been based in Leonberg since 1994 and is one of the few remaining manufacturers of pianos of the highest quality. The annual production is around 10 grand pianos and 100 pianos (as of 2005).
Literature (selection)
- Walter Pfeiffer: The extensions in the hammer mechanism of the piano . Berlin-Schöneberg: 1924.
- Walter Pfeiffer: From the hammer. Investigations from a part of the wing u. Piano making . 1948.
- Walter Pfeiffer: The piano hammer: a detailed investigation into an important facet of piano manufacturing . Frankfurt a. M. 1978.
- Walter Pfeiffer: Pfeiffer pianos . Leonberg 2000.