Does anybody know how Canadian pianos rated, back in their prime? There are obviously going to be personal preference factors, but in term of quality of workmanship does anybody have any information resources they can share?

    Heintzman pianos were rated very highly. A local tech says they were at least equal to Steinways if not superior, but nobody knows about them because Canadians are not good at selling anything, unlike Americans😆. I'm from Canada btw.

    Heintzman was the only brand name out of Canada. Some pianos has the name Gerhard on it also made by Heintzman. From what I read on Wikipedia the company started in 1866 by German immigrants in Toronto. In the 1980s went through a few owners outside the Heintzman family and eventually became a joint venture with the Hsinghai (Xinghai) Piano Group.

    Once I was at the Steinway showroom in Boston. The people there knows about Heintzman pianos. Haven't seen new Heintzman pianos lately but a lot of people still have them in their homes.

      thepianoplayer416 I guess it would depend on what you call a brand name. For instance, Mason and Risch were based in Toronto and produced pianos starting in the latter part of the 19th century for about 100 years. In Montreal, Willis pianos were also producing pianos over a similar time period. There are other makes as well. Source - I owned such and provenance was clearly indicated on the instruments. I particularly appreciated the touch and tone of the M&R.

        TLH21 My Mason and Risch was a beast and virtually indestructible 🙂 They were extremely popular back in the days and known as « workhorse » instruments. That does not directly answer your question, but I really did like quite a bit the one I had. When pushed, it had guts !

            kanadajin
            Maybe it has to do with Canada's mostly horrible weather conditions for pianos!

              thepianoplayer416 Heintzman may have been the only name out of Canada but within Canada there were several. I just don't have a 'feel' for the relative quality when they were in their respective heydays. In addition to the ones already mentioned I have seen names including Lesage, Bell, Sherlock-Manning, and Nordheimer. There may well be others, since it seemed to be a thing that furniture makers and others pivoted to in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

              I'm not aware of any major manufacturers, or commercial scale manufacturing within Canada today, although there may always be some enthusiasts or small-scale prototype builders that are only known to those in the business.

                  TLH21 Yes indeed. An uncle had a Sherlock-Manning purchased brand new in Sept. 1978 however his was rather unremarkable and I found it a little difficult to make it really sing. I suspect that would be largely due to his model being an apartment size console piano.

                  I am certainly familiar with the other names, but not Nordheimer. Interesting.

                    TLH21 You probably have already seen this interesting article, but here it is anyways.
                    https://www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/2018/10/25/feature-time-toronto-piano-building-capital-world/

                    It mentions that there is a piano museum in Napanee, and to think I was just there recently at some Belgian friend's rental cottage. I only very very rarely venture out that way, had I only known, darn !!!!

                        kanadajin Thanks, I hadn't seen this.

                          So far not many Canadian inventions became world famous. The one that lasted is the discovery of insulin which allows patients with diabetes live longer.
                          The Avro Arrow was one of the fastest fighter jets in the 1950s but production was eventally scrapped. The other invention out of Canada in early 2000 before the Apple iPod & iPhone was the Blackberry coming out of Waterloo Ontario in Canada. Research in Motion was the first company to market smartphones successfully for about 15 years and then faded into history. People in the US government once used Blackberries.

                          Compared to countries like the US. Germany, Austria, Italy and Japan, Canada had never been known for piano production. Even the best pianos didn't get world recognition.

                            thepianoplayer416 You missed the Hawaiian pizza 😉

                            Being a Canadian living in Canada, I see a lot of pianos described as Canadian, but as you alluded to, there is precious little information about them on the web, and specifically their relative quality (or otherwise). Most of what I know is anecdotal stuff I've heard from other Canadian piano players. I was hoping the was a secret resource I'd missed.

                              Let's not forget the cocaine piano. Canada being underrated again.