Steinway & Sons

Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway, is an American and German manufacturer of handmade pianos, founded in 1853 in New York City, by German immigrant Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a factory and employee village in what is now Astoria, Queens, followed by a second factory in Hamburg, Germany, in 1880. Its early successes have been credited both to the quality of its instruments as well as its effective marketing, including the company's introduction of Steinway Halls (German: Steinway-Häuser).
Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg's dedication was: "To build the best piano possible". He established at his company three basic principles: "Build to a standard, not a price", "Make no compromise in quality", and "Strive always to improve the instrument". Research and development by the company have earned them so far more than 125 registered patents, a greater number than any other piano company.
Steinway was the first piano company in the world to establish a concert piano bank, which is a collection of Steinway concert grand pianos chosen for their superior performance qualities. The idea is to provide a consistent pool of concert grand pianos of the highest quality for touring performers. Steinway takes responsibility for preparing, tuning and delivering the piano of the artist's choice to the designated hall or recording studio. Concert piano banks are established at several Steinway Halls and other Steinway-owned buildings in New York City, London, Los Angeles, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Lausanne, Vienna, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul and Beijing. The pianos for a concert piano bank are selected by Steinway experts and are kept in special rooms with controlled humidity and temperature. Performing artists choose a piano for use at a certain venue after trying each piano at the concert piano bank. This allows a range of pianos with various sound qualities to be available for artists to choose from. Steinway concert piano banks consist of more than 300 pianos valued collectively at more than $25 million.