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Music is a journey. And every journey begins with a single step.
Established in 1956 in Guangzhou, China, Pearl River Piano Group has become the largest piano manufacturer in the world, with a production of over 150,000 pianos annually and more than 4,000 employees. Our company builds the Kayserburg, Ritmüller, and Pearl River brands. In 2012 we completed construction of a new, state-of-the-art, 3.2 million square feet factory. It combines traditional craftsmanship with advanced CNC digital machinery, and complies with European high-level technology and process standards.
In recent years, Pearl River has revised and streamlined its model line with the assistance of a team of experienced European master piano designers. Many new instruments have been introduced, lately the Kayserburg Étoile Collection.
We focus on quality improvement at every stage of the production process and these efforts have produced spectacular success at every level. Pearl River Piano Group has set up the unique National Technical Center of the Chinese musical industry. We have also been awarded both the ISO 9001 Certificate for Quality Management System and the ISO 14001 Certificate for Environmental Management System.
Pearl River is committed to building the world’s best pianos on every level. When you shop for a piano, consider how much every Pearl River piano has to offer. While many pianos are now made in facilities foreign to their headquarters, Pearl River has for our entire history controlled every step of the manufacturing process, from the selection of woods, to the crafting of actions, soundboards, wet sand-cast plates, and every other integral part of the piano. This control ensures a consistently high quality piano true to the exact scale-design.
Pearl River uses only the best woods for each application in every piano we make. Our Grand Piano inner rims are made from Beech (outer rims are made from Maple), a dense hardwood that allows for our lower tension scale design. Lower tension scale design results in a warmer, richer tone with longer sustain, and is used in the world’s finest pianos. Our bridges and pin-blocks are crafted from Maple and Beech, and our tapered soundboards are created from close grained, high quality northern Spruce (100%). The use of high quality woods is critical when making high quality musical instruments.
Pearl River takes pride in using state-of-the-art kilns to dry our woods. However, there is much more to “seasoning” woods than that. Both before and after the kiln drying, woods are expertly cured to specific moisture contents, which reduces the natural tendency for wood to swell and contract with humidity fluctuation. With over 8,000 moving parts, a piano’s woods must be “seasoned” to ensure reliability wherever the piano ends up living!
The plate is a foundation of a piano, its strength supports the incredible tension placed on the instrument by the strings. Pearl River uses “pig iron” from high-quality foundries which is poured in wet sand molds. We use this method for every piano we make. Wet sand cast plates provide more mass for strength, and do not produce undesirable harmonic feedback. Wet sand cast plates are used in the world’s finest pianos.
A piano’s bridge is vital to the tone of a good piano. The bridge transfers sound from the strings to the soundboard, and it is crowned to match the crown of the soundboard. The convex crown of the soundboard is what produces tone, so the integrity of the bridge will affect the longevity of a piano’s tone. Our bridges are vertically laminated layers of beech, and are capped with solid beech wood. Vertically laminated bridges provide superior strength and durability.
Quality felt is important when making quality pianos. Pearl River hammers are made with high quality felt from the most respected German manufacturer Wurzen™, resulting in superior tone and durability.
The soundboard of a piano is its voice. The careful selection of wood and the design of each piano’s soundboard are crucial in creating a piano’s tone. Pearl River’s 100% close-grained spruce soundboards are tapered, allowing improved flexibility. The freedom of movement from our tapered soundboards provides for greater dynamic range and improved sustain.
