The Great British Piano Population

Kemble: Britain’s favourite piano?

How many pianos are there in Britain? What makes and models are represented most and how old is the population? These are all great questions and very important to piano tuners to help us know what to expect on our rounds as we navigate the differences between a 19th century Broadwood and a 2020 Yamaha Transacoustic or Disklavier, and all things in between.

Roberts Pianos in Oxford has a very informative website that tries to answer these questions, as well as providing a guide to the quality of different makes, ranging from unacceptable to dream piano. It is well worth a look on: https://www.robertspianos.com/common-piano-makes-in-the-uk/.

As to how many pianos there are, Roberts goes for 2 million (some estimates are as high as 5million). They identify around 125 makes, from Adam to Zimmermann. Roberts estimate that the highest numbers of pianos in the UK are made by Kemble (120,000), Challen (90,000), Broadwood (80,000), Chappell (80,000), Steinway (65,000), Yamaha (50,000), Robert Morley (40,000), Collard and Collard (35,000), Bechstein (30,000), John Brinsmead (30,000), Knight (30,000), Welmar (25,000), and Blüthner, Boyd, Bentley, Danemann and Zender (20,000 each).

There is much of interest here. The preponderance of traditional UK makes is perhaps unsurprising given the scale of manufacturing that used to go on here, especially in London. Since all of these firms closed some time ago (albeit some brands such as Broadwood and Bentley continue to be made in the Far East), it also suggests that the average age of the piano population is quite old.

I was surprised that there are over twice as many Steinways as Bechsteins, and also by the low showing from US brands such as Baldwin, Chickering, and Mason and Hamlin, which hardly featured despite their importance in the history of piano making.

I will look at some of these brands in future blogs.