Walter Piano Company

Last updated

Walter Piano Company, Inc
Company type Private
Industry Musical instruments
Founded1969;55 years ago (1969)
FounderCharles R. Walter
Headquarters
Elkhart, Indiana
,
Products Pianos
Website walterpiano.com/

Walter Piano Company, Inc. (also known as Charles R. Walter Piano Company) is an American piano-manufacturing company in Elkhart, Indiana. Run by the Walter family, to which many of the workers belong, [1] [2] the company hand-crafts its pianos in an Elkhart factory. [3]

Contents

In 1969, Charles Walter, formerly the head of Piano Design and Developmental Engineering at C.G. Conn, [4] bought the Janssen piano name from Conn. He founded a company to make pianos under the Janssen name. [5] In 1975, Walter started his own line of console and studio upright pianos. In 1991, the company ceased to produce pianos under the Janssen brand. In 1997, the company introduced a grand piano under its own brand. [5]

Piano models

As of 2020, the Charles R. Walter line of pianos consists of four models: [6]

Grand Piano

Upright Console Piano

Upright Studio Piano

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elkhart, Indiana</span> City in Indiana, United States

Elkhart is a city in Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. The city is located 15 miles (24 km) east of South Bend, Indiana. Elkhart has the larger population of the two principal cities of the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn is part of the South Bend-Elkhart-Mishawaka Combined Statistical Area, in a region commonly known as Michiana. The population was 53,923 at the 2020 census. Despite the shared name and being the most populous city in the county, it is not the county seat of Elkhart County; that position is held by the city of Goshen, located about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Elkhart.

Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is a musical instrument manufacturing company headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan. It is best known for its grand pianos, upright pianos, digital pianos, electronic keyboards and electronic synthesizers. The company was founded in August 1927.

Kelvinator was an American home appliance manufacturer and a line of domestic refrigerators that was the namesake of the company. Although as a company it is now defunct, the name still exists as a brand name owned by Electrolux AB. It takes its name from William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, who developed the concept of absolute zero and for whom the Kelvin temperature scale is named. The name was thought appropriate for a company that manufactured ice-boxes and refrigerators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wurlitzer</span> American company of music boxes and instruments

The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments from Germany for resale in the United States. Wurlitzer enjoyed initial success, largely due to defense contracts to provide musical instruments to the U.S. military. In 1880, the company began manufacturing pianos and eventually relocated to North Tonawanda, New York. It quickly expanded to make band organs, orchestrions, player pianos and pipe or theatre organs popular in theatres during the days of silent movies.

C. G. Conn Ltd., Conn Instruments or commonly just Conn, is a former American manufacturer of musical instruments incorporated in 1915. It bought the production facilities owned by Charles Gerard Conn, a major figure in early manufacture of brasswinds and saxophones in the USA. Its early business was based primarily on brass instruments, which were manufactured in Elkhart, Indiana. During the 1950s the bulk of its sales revenue shifted to electric organs. In 1969 the company was sold in bankruptcy to the Crowell-Collier-MacMillan publishing company. Conn was divested of its Elkhart production facilities in 1970, leaving remaining production in satellite facilities and contractor sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ludwig Drums</span> American percussion instrument manufacturer

Ludwig Drums is a United States musical instrument manufacturer, focused on percussion. It is a subsidiary of Conn-Selmer.

Conn-Selmer, Inc. is an American manufacturer of musical instruments for concert bands, marching bands and orchestras. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments and was formed in 2003 by combining the Steinway properties, The Selmer Company and United Musical Instruments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimball International</span> American furniture manufacturer

Kimball International consists of furniture brands: Kimball, National, Interwoven, Etc., David Edward, D'Style and Kimball Hospitality. It is the successor to W.W. Kimball and Company, the world's largest piano and organ manufacturer at certain times in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Buescher Band Instrument Company was a manufacturer of musical instruments in Elkhart, Indiana, from 1894 to 1963. The company was acquired by the H&A Selmer Company in 1963. Selmer retired the Buescher brand in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Band Instrument Company</span>

The Martin Band Instrument Company was a musical instrument manufacturer in Elkhart, Indiana. The firm produced band instruments, including trumpets, cornets, fluegelhorns, trombones, and saxophones from 1908 through the 1960s. The brand was acquired by the Leblanc Corporation in 1971 and discontinued in 2007 after Leblanc's 2004 acquisition by Conn-Selmer.

Pan American Band Instrument Company was a musical instrument manufacturing company headquartered in Elkhart, Indiana. Elkhart has been known as "The Musical Instrument Capital of the World". The company existed between 1917 and ca. 1930, when it was absorbed by its parent company C.G. Conn Ltd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. Bechstein</span> German piano manufacturing company

C. Bechstein Pianoforte AG is a German manufacturer of pianos, established in 1853 by Carl Bechstein.

Leblanc, Inc. was a musical instruments manufacturing company based in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The company was a woodwind instrument manufacturer known mainly for its clarinets. In 2004 the firm was sold to Conn-Selmer, a division of Steinway Musical Instruments. As a result, Leblanc ceased to exist as an independent operation, becoming a brand.

Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producer George Martin and his business partner John Burgess, after their departure from Parlophone. The studio complex was founded in 1969. Since then AIR has operated its own professional audio recording facilities, AIR Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles G. Conn</span> American politician and band instrument manufacturer (1844–1931)

Charles Gerard Conn was an entrepreneur, band instrument manufacturer, newspaper publisher, and U.S. Representative from Indiana for one term from 1893 to 1895.

The Straube Piano Company (1895–1937) and its successor Straube Pianos Inc. (1937–1949) were American piano manufacturers of uprights, grands, players, and reproducing grands.

America Sejung Corporation was a distributor of pianos and guitars that operated from 2002 to 2013. It was a United States subsidiary of Sejung, a South Korean corporation with a factory in Qingdao, China. Headquartered in Ontario, California, America Sejung imported and sold acoustic pianos under the brand names of Hobart M. Cable, George Steck, and Falcone; digital pianos under the brand of Sejung; and guitars under the brands of S101 and Canvas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leedy Manufacturing Company</span> American drum brand

The Leedy Manufacturing Company was an American manufacturer of percussion instruments headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Leedy was highly successful in the early twentieth century, and was at one point the largest manufacturer of drums and other percussion instruments in the world.

References

  1. "Learn More About the Charles Walter Company in this Exclusive Interview". December 8, 2016. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
  2. "Charles R Walter Pianos from Chicago Pianos . com - All About Kingsburg Pianos".
  3. "Made In Michiana: Walter Piano Company". ABC57. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
  4. Good, Edwin M. (2014). "Walter Piano Co. [Charles R. Walter Piano Company]". Grove Music Online. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2258676. ISBN   978-1-56159-263-0 . Retrieved December 16, 2020.
  5. 1 2 "WALTER, CHARLES R." PianoBuyer. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
  6. "Grand Pianos - Console Pianos - Studio Pianos by Walter Piano". www.walterpiano.com. Retrieved December 16, 2020.

Internet videos