Broadwood pianos

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 19 Apr 2008, 22:36

on the 2nd of April 2008 Broadwood pianos was taken over by Alastair Laurence. All Broadwood pianos made in the far east will stop and limited production will move back to the UK

the office will be at
John Broadwood & Sons Ltd.
Finchcocks
Goudhurst
Kent
England. TN17 1HH
Tel: 44 + (0)20 01580 212713

Barrie,

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 20 Apr 2008, 10:37

What a nice feller.

Most people upon acquisition of such potentially valuable property would simply licence the name to the Chinese and make some money out of it.

Let's hope the Barless will go into production with the build quality and finesse it never got from the mechanicals at Ladbrookes.

mdw · Post by **mdw** » 20 Apr 2008, 20:36

PianoGuy wrote:What a nice feller.

Most people upon acquisition of such potentially valuable property would simply licence the name to the Chinese and make some money out of it.

.

Is it realy that valuable though. For years the grands were hyundais and the uprights ok but nothing too special. IMHO the world has moved on and other brands have the image and name Broadwood once had. Infact apart from Kemble and their misc names all other British names are as you said on cheap imported pianos sold at higher prices than the OM brand name. In todays market he must be mad to start making pianos over here, unless the pound goes in to big time decline.

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 20 Apr 2008, 20:49

mdw wrote: Is it realy that valuable though. For years the grands were hyundais

Daewoos I think.
Broadwoos in fact!

mdw wrote:and the uprights ok but nothing too special.

Some of the last BPMC/Whelpdale ones made in the Bentley factory were shite.

mdw wrote:IMHO the world has moved on and other brands have the image and name Broadwood once had.

Sure, but I'm sure a Chinese company would love it like they loved Rover.

Woof!

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 20 Apr 2008, 20:54

He is not going to make them in the normal way as in supplying retail outlets you will buy direct. Production could be in Holland but he would rather have it in the UK but it will be limited

Good luck to him I say

Barrie,

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 20 Apr 2008, 20:56

Best of British to him. Hope it's a success.

But who makes pianos in Holland these days? All Dutch makes are Chinese.

mdw · Post by **mdw** » 20 Apr 2008, 21:43

We never stocked them after they moved so cant comment. I agree good luck to him. I cant see it working and think he must be mad to even contemplate it but good luck anyway.

sirprize · Post by **sirprize** » 29 Apr 2008, 09:45

This is most interesting news! If he concentrates on making top-quality barless pianos (and restoring vintage barless ones) he might very well succeed. 'Barless' was always the true USP of Broadwood and Alastair is a great enthusiast for the concept

pianobrereton · Post by **pianobrereton** » 03 May 2008, 14:11

This is brilliant news ! and it could work. You can't compete at the bottom end of the market with the chinese .
As Fazioli and Stuart's have demonstrated if you make top quality pianos there is a market for them and they started from scratch , with no history of excellence unlike Broadwoods .
A resurgent Broadwood going back to it's roots and building quality instruments could start a renaisance in English piano building and that would be good for all of us. Alistair Laurance is just the man to do it he was the one who reserected the Broadwood barless design in the 1st place. Im fed up with seeing manufacturing in this country closing down with people saying "its too expensive to manufacture here" well how come the Germans the French and the Japanese can do it with similar economies . Martin Bloor who brought the old clapped out Triumph motorcycle manufacturer back from beyond the grave , proved this wrong.
Triumph like Broadwoods was an old well loved marque that had fallen on hard times due to bad products . By reserching the market and producing well built well designed motorcycles they are back on top again winning a queens award for exports . If Triumph can shake of the bad image they had acquired so can Broadwoods. Good luck to them !

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 05 May 2008, 13:21

Alastair could well pull this one off.

If you use the Bloor analogy, he'd need to base his design around a good quality readily available 'engine', so maybe using an existing frame and a Renner action could well do the trick.

Additionally it would be great to see the Barless back in production made by real craftsmen rather than Ladbrooke monkeys; maybe the success of a conventional design built properly could fund the latter.

A440 · Post by **A440** » 05 May 2008, 22:05

He will need some very good advice. I agree he is a very nice chap with perhaps more knowledge than anyone. But he needs to be backed by good financial thinking. His last venture (lawrence and nash) foundered due to little or no management skills. Perhaps a wealthy and understanding backer is what is needed.Yamaha perhaps? (just kiddin') Indeed, good luck!

sussexpianos · Post by **sussexpianos** » 06 May 2008, 17:43

Ive seen one of the green frame Broadwood uprights he has made recently, made it for someone working for him. I hope it goes well but I know for sure its going to be expensive but the British buyers might spend more to buy British ( they did/do for Kembles).
The actions will probably be Renner but I can only guess that the strungbacks will come from abroad ( Europe)

joseph · Post by **joseph** » 06 Sep 2008, 16:17

any more news on this one?

pianobrereton · Post by **pianobrereton** » 06 Sep 2008, 16:49

Dr Alastair Laurance is curator of Finchcocks ( its a large country house nr Tunbridge Wells in Kent full of historic pianos ) and its there that Broadwoods are now based, his son Sam is company secretary. They are buliding a new workshop for Broadwoods there . The Laurance family ties with Broadwood go back to the 18th century when they worked as Tuners , as did Alistair Laurance . I sent them a congratulatory note when they took over and got a nice post card picture of a Broadwood grand from the collection and a thank you note. Apparently they have been making the green frame Broadwood uprights in Moss Norway since about 2003 and have supplied one to the Norwegian opera house . Not sure how many they have made , but wish them good luck and hope they will start making some here soon , especially the barless grand.

joseph · Post by **joseph** » 06 Sep 2008, 19:24

It would be amazing to have a high quality range of british grand pianos. Could you imagine, one day a Broadwood concert grand on stage at the proms? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Steinways, have just recorded a CD on one, but I love variety and it would be nice to have a Broadwood 9 footer again one day.

Of course, the Kemble grand is a Yamaha C2 with different voicing and slightly different cabinet. Slightly disappointing really isn't it! (I know, its a nice piano, but you know what I mean in relation to this thread).