American Made Pianos

An Outstanding Manufacturing Tradition

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Aeolian

Factory Location: New York, New York
Serial Number Dates: 1887 - 1932

History:

The Aeolian Company was established in New York, NY in 1887. The company merged with the American Piano Company in 1932, joining a long list of manufacturers to be included under the American Piano Company name (including Chickering, Mason & Hamilin, Stoud, Vose, Weber, and a host of others). With this merger, the Aeolian and American Piano Company names joined to become the Aeolian-American Company, which continued to make pianos until 1985. Aeolian had its own subsidiary in London, England.

 

Information source: Pierce Piano Atlas

The Resonance of a Continent: The American Piano Tradition

The American piano manufacturing tradition is a story of unparalleled craftsmanship meeting the boundless natural resources of a new world. At its heart lies the selection of materials—most notably the vast, old-growth spruce forests of the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast. These superior stands of Sitka and Adirondack spruce provided the tight-grained, resonant timber essential for crafting the world’s finest soundboards, offering a tonal depth and "singing" quality that European makers envied. Combined with a relentless spirit of industrial innovation, American makers refined the overstrung scale and the heavy cast-iron plate, creating instruments of such structural integrity and powerful projection that they redefined the modern piano.