piano logo from the early 1900s type private subsidiary of young chang industry musical instruments founded october 1 1851 1851 10 01 1 founder albert weber sr. number of locations worldwide authorized dealers and showrooms area served worldwide products grand pianos upright pianos parent young chang website www.weberpiano.com the weber piano company was a piano manufacturing company based in new york city and east rochester new york from the middle of the 19th century through the beginning of the 20th century and continued as a division of aeolian american at east rochester new york until 1985 when aeolian went out of business . 1 2 the weber name was then sold to korean piano company young chang which in turn sold the weber name to samsung group in 1987 . 2 young chang remains responsible for manufacturing the pianos which are sold in two product lines weber with entry level and mid level pianos and albert weber with higher level products . 3 4 contents 1 history 1.1 weber piano company under albert weber sr. 1.1.1 competition with steinway & sons 1.2 weber piano company under albert weber jr. 1.2.1 endorsements 1.3 weber piano company under william e. wheelock 1.4 weber piano company under aeolian 1.5 weber piano company sale to young chang 2 weber pianos today 2.1 weber piano models 2.1.1 summary of grand piano models 46 2.1.2 summary of upright piano models 46 3 serial numbers 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit weber piano company under albert weber sr. edit drawing of albert weber sr. 1828 1879 pianist and founder of weber piano co. new york date unknown . the weber piano company was founded in 1852 by albert weber born 8 july 1829 heiligenstadt bavaria ; 5 died 25 june 1879 new york . 1 6 weber emigrated to the united states at the age of 16 and while his first intent was to support himself by teaching music and playing the organ 5 he soon was employed first as an apprentice of charles j. holder a piano builder and then as a piano builder by the d.j. van winkle piano company . 1 during this time weber supplemented his income by giving music lessons in the evenings and by playing the organ in churches on sundays . 6 in 1851 he set up a small piano business on west broadway and white street in manhattan . 5 7 on october 1 1851 weber completed his first piano working with two assistants and by the beginning of 1852 they had completed five additional pianos . 1 in 1852 weber moved to a larger facility at 103 w. broadway & 28 jones street . 8 a fire destroyed weber s broadway workshop in 1854 but weber stayed in the manhattan area moving to 103rd & 105 w. broadway and later to 155 w. broadway . 8 by 1864 weber had achieved some success with the then popular square grand piano 1 and opened a larger factory nearby at 41 wooster street in manhattan and later expanded that facility several times . 8 between 1864 and 1869 weber s pianos became popular in new york music circles . 5 in 1869 weber opened a large luxurious showroom on 108 fifth avenue and 16th street in new york city . 1 this was seen as a bold move by weber s larger competitors but it paid off establishing the weber brand as a premium product in the mind of customers . 6 this new location became a rendezvous of musical people and weber became wealthy . 5 weber s products were arguably some of the highest quality pianos of their day famous for fine materials and exacting attention to detail . 1 lacking a background in piano construction weber focused on proven methods of piano construction as opposed to innovative new ideas . 9 weber s pianos were also some of the most expensive of the day the price of a rococo weber grand piano in 1874 was 1 400 approximately the cost of a large mansion . 10 weber piano fortes 1860s weber square piano advertisement as weber s business grew his pianos received recognition . the company received medals at the philadelphia worlds fair 1876 the london world s fair 1887 and the paris world s fair 1889 . 10 weber also advertised his pianos aggressively and is believed to have coined the term baby grand to describe a small grand piano . 11 weber was described as a skilled pianist with genuine enthusiasm for music . 12 he was well educated and well read and was described as a keen observer of men and things and a most interesting entertainer . 12 weber was also a socialite founding the arcadian club in new york as well as being a member of the manhattan club the palette club the arion society and the liederkranz society . 5 13 albert weber died relatively young at the age of 50 . 1 like many creative professionals weber was highly passionate about his work ; however this came at a cost to his health . 1 he worked long hours and also attended opera theaters and clubs at night . 14 described as having a bohemian temperament it may be that weber s health failed due to his hard work and restlessness or it may that he taxed his body with various vices such as smoking and drinking . 6 according to his obituary he was ill for nearly a year before he died with the final nine weeks being serious enough to cause him to withdraw from his business . 5 at the time of his death weber lived at no. 32 west nineteenth street in new york and his remains were interred at green wood cemetery . 13 weber s funeral was attended by over 300 employees friends and family . 13 weber s fortune estimated at over 1 million 15 about 24 million in 2012 dollars 16 provided a comfortable living for his widow martha weber maiden name martha woodward and his three children albert weber jr. martha weber and robina weber . 17 less than a year after weber s death however a suit was brought against the estate by an alleged illegitimate child miss josephine todd who claimed that she was weber s daughter and that he had supported her throughout her life and had promised to name her in his will . 15 miss todd asked for a settlement of 30 000 15 about 702 983 in 2012 dollars . 16 the jury found in favor of miss todd and a new york state appeals court affirmed the judgement for a total of 10 868 with interest from the time of weber s death . 18 competition with steinway & sons edit steinway & sons arguably one of today s most recognized piano manufacturers was founded by german immigrant heinrich engelhard steinweg in 1853 only a few years after albert weber founded his company . 19 the two businesses have many similarities . both companies were founded by german immigrants both started building primarily square pianos both focused largely on high quality top of the line instruments and both companies were based in the lucrative piano market of new york city . 19 during the latter half of the nineteenth century steinway and weber competed closely . 20 for example in a new york times piano buying guide in 1874 which was possibly a paid advertisement steinway and weber are the top two brands with the longest paragraphs . 21 the article also includes other high quality piano makers of the day including chickering knabe and decker bros. 21 one example of weber s ongoing feud with steinway comes to light in the piano industry s attempts to reign in unauthorized counterfeit pianos . by 1876 the piano was a popular home entertainment device with sixty to seventy thousand pianos and organs being manufactured and sold in the united states per year . 22 many strong brands were established and despite the protection of trademarks many counterfeit pianos were also being produced with low quality materials and sold at a deep discount . 22 brand counterfeit names used 22 23 chickering & sons chickring & sons chichering & sons decker bros. decker and bros. becker bros. hazelton bros. hazeltine bros. hazelman & co. mason & hamlin nason and hammin steinway & sons stanley & sons steinman & sons steinmetz & sons steinmay & sons weber webber weber & co. weber scale in an attempt to curtail the trade in counterfeit pianos representatives of sixty five piano and organ manufacturers 23 met to form the piano organ and music trade association of new york on january 31 1876 . 22 when voting for the directors of this group an upset occurred when joseph p. hale and albert weber were elected as leaders . 22 albert weber later wrote that all sixty five firms voted openly and the results were counted openly but the men who expected to get elected did not get votes enough 23 weber an admirer of the american system of social mobility that had allowed him to rise so far in society quipped the poorest is as much entitled to an office as the richest if he gets the votes . 23 the election of weber and hale offended some of the largest piano and organ makers of the day who sought to control this industry group . 22 the representatives of chickering decker mason & hamlin steinway & sons and some smaller piano and organ makers resigned from the group forming their own piano forte and organ manufacturers and dealers protective association of new york . 22 the likely cause of the upset was that with sixty five companies present the smaller piano companies controlled the majority of the votes and voted for those that they believed would represent the interests of smaller companies . weber was seen as an upstart success story someone who had risen rapidly from a sole proprietorship to one of the most prominent piano makers in new york with lavish showrooms on fifth avenue and prominent endorsements . 6 as far as joseph p. hale he too had traveled a similar path but focused on production efficiency and assembly line work methods . 24 his bold new ideas made him rich made the piano more affordable for the middle class and made him strongly disliked by his competitors . 24 both weber and hale could therefore be seen as credible threats to the larger and more established companies like steinway . weber piano advertisement 1890s weber ever bold did not believe that protection of an industry group was even necessary at all even though he was elected to lead it writing about a month ago a society was projected . i did not believe in it . i had fought my way up to the top felt secure in my position and believed that each manufacturer would accomplish more by being untrammeled ... . the name webber with two bs weber & co. weber scale had appeared on a number of bogus pianos but i did not whine about it or hire a scurilous publication ... to tell the world my griefs as they did ... . i found the place where the bogus webber instruments were made and put a stop to the work . those of the bogus makers who proved obstinate i handed over to my attorneys ... who speedily procured an injunction on the work and recovered judgement . the same law protects my neighbors rights and will act as effectually in their case as it did in mine . 23 although weber s boldness had benefited him and allowed him to win many battles steinway & sons ultimately won the war . 20 unlike steinway weber focused his efforts on refining quality materials and worksmanship rather than technological