August 17, 2006 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Online Editor Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or ©2006 Chestnut Hill Local Winner of One |
Cunningham Piano Co. plays again
The silky black and white keys play a tune as fine as if the piano was a day old. The wood gleams from its latest polish, and the piano’s elegant sound echoes through the expanse of the second-floor showroom. Rich Galassini, sales manager for the Cunningham Piano Co. in Germantown, played on a Cunningham vertical piano after Doris Reber, the company president, politely declined “I haven’t played in so long, I’d just embarrass myself,” she admitted modestly. Galassini and Reber were eager to show off some of the pianos Cunningham has restored for customers for more than 65 years. Reber was most proud of the fully restored Bösendorfer grand piano from 1902, a 1903 Wm. Knabe grand piano and a Steinway from the 1860s that was sent to Cunningham from Mexico City. But the high point of this visit to the Cunningham firm are the 10 Cunningham pianos on display in the store’s second-story showroom. Another 50 pianos are expected to arrive this September when, according to Galassini, the company will formally announce the manufacturing of its own pianos. These pianos – both grand and vertical – are five of the first hundred Cunningham is manufacturing this year, the first time the firm has manufactured its own pianos since the factory closed its doors to piano production 65 years ago to specialize in piano restoration. Other companies have manufactured pianos under the Cunningham name, but this line of Cunningham pianos, which has been on the market since early last winter, takes the Cunningham firm back into the manufacturing industry. Reber said the dream to re-introduce manufacturing at Cunningham has been continuous throughout the more than 20 years she’s worked with the company. The line of pianos includes six models – three verticals and three grands. The verticals come in the 43.5-inch console model, the 48.5-inch studio and 50-inch concert vertical. The grands are made in heights of 5 feet 6 inches, 5 feet and 5 feet 9 inches. The pianos were developed to compete with piano companies such as Yamaha, Kawai and Boston, according to Galassini. He said 100 pianos will be manufactured this year, with plans to expand production to 300 annually.Then he plans to distribute the pianos to retailers throughout the country. At that point, “you could go to Miami and see a Cunningham piano,” Galassini said. Reber said Cunningham decided to manufacture a more modern, competitive piano rather than the ones they used to create. “It’s important to make the right decisions when running a business,” said Reber, who is in her 80s and still works at Cunningham each day. The Cunningham piano is a conglomerate of piano parts from four different countries, and assembled in Shanghai, China. The piano’s scale design was developed by an Italian family firm, and the black and white keys are from Italy. The hammers inside the piano are from Japan, and the bass strings are from Germany. “This part is from Japan and this is German,” Galasinni said, pointing to pieces inside a Cunningham piano, “yet they all fit together, it’s amazing.” The rock maple bridges and pin blocks are made in America, as well as the treble strings. And all the pieces are assembled in China before making their way back to the states as a Cunningham piano. Once here, Galassini said, Cunningham has its own technicians look at and “make small changes” to the piano before putting it in the showroom. This is what Galassini called “the icing on the cake.” “It’s what makes a good piano a very good piano and a very good one great,” Galassini said. The Cunningham piano was manufactured for 50 years before the business switched its focus in 1941. Patrick Cunningham founded the company in 1891, at 13th and Chestnut streets in Philadelphia, before moving it to Germantown. The showroom consists of two floors at 5427 Germantown Ave., with the four-story factory right around the corner on Coulter Street. Patrick loved the piano so much that he had one in each room of his home at East Falls, including the bathroom and kitchen. When Patrick Cunningham passed away in 1941, his employee Louis Cohen, who never even knew how to play a piano but loved the craft of tuning, took over the business and changed the company’s direction. “He carved the way into the reputation in restoration we have today,” Galassini said. It was right after the Great Depression and before World War II when the piano, previously a “staple” in the home – which lacked computers, televisions and other forms of modern entertainment – became less common. With the decline in disposable income, Cohen saw restoration as a stronger enterprise than the manufacturing of pianos, though the dream to reignite the manufacturing of the pianos never died. Cohen’s daughters, Rose and Doris Reber, took over the company in 1978, when their father was getting ill and caring for their sick mother, Doris Reber said. Rose has since retired. The Cunningham Piano Co. has a worldwide reputation, and many celebrities have purchased pianos from the Germantown-based company. Chubby Checker, who grew up in Philadelphia, purchased his first piano at the Cunningham store, and Max Weinberg, musical director of the Conan O’Brien Late Show and former drummer for Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street band, bought a Bösendorfer piano there. M. Night Shyamalan, who, Galassini said, did not exude the creepiness of his recent films and “was a nice guy,” purchased a piano from Cunningham, as did Channel 6 sports anchor Gary Papa, Congressman Chaka Fattah and former Eagles player Vai Sikahema. But you don’t have to be a celebrity to view the sleek pianos at the Cunningham Piano Co. or even get a tour of the four-story factory, which they often conduct for tourists and children. “You don’t see anything like it anywhere else,” Reber said. Contact staff writer Kristin Pazulski at 215-248-8819 or Kristin@chestnuthilllocal.com. |
