American Made Pianos

An Outstanding Manufacturing Tradition

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Marshall & Wendell Piano Company

Factory Location: Albany, New York
Serial Number Dates: 1875 - 1953

History:

The Marshall & Wendell Piano Company began manufacturing pianos in the last quarter of the 19th century and continued for nearly 75 years. The company was eventually subsumed by the Aeolian-American Piano Corporation.

 

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.