No, not /that/ Hamburg

[Tom Williams]

On the Pittsburgh CL, I found this "Hamburg" piano listed in a Dayton store.

 

https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/msd/d/dayton-new-hamburg-62-grand-piano-check/7119574394.html

 

Funny thing is, I can't find a non-Steinway reference to a Hamburg piano anywhere else on the web.

 

Do we now have generic factories custom-branding pianos for individual stores, the way Acer used to build virtually everyone's laptops?

[Joe Muscara]

That's really weird.

 

"Stencil" pianos have existed in the acoustic piano market for years, but they're almost always made in China or Korea or Indonesia. They buy an old American brand and start using that name on their pianos. It can be very confusing for some when someone says "I have an old Schwartz grand piano" and the other person says, "Schwartz? I looked up that brand in Larry Fine's book and they're cheap Chinese junk" because the new ones are stencils but the ones from the early 20th century were fine for their time.

 

But this thing? I know Steinway wouldn't do that. Could it be a rebuilt Hamburg Steinway but with a non-Steinway soundboard? (Steinway calls a Steinway with one of those a "Steinwas".)

[The Real MC]

Counterfeits have been a problem since the 19th century. Trademark IP protects the manufacturer in retail outlets but doesn't stop the counterfeits from online auction and classified websites, it's a whack-a-mole problem.

 

Retail stores don't typically list new pianos on classifieds like CL. I think they're trying to dump a counterfeit piano to evade the retail accounting trail, and the piano may actually have been taken off the sales floor to hide it from auditors from Steinway.

 

In the case of this brand, that could definitely constitute a legal case of trademark confusion because Hamburg has been associated with Steinway since the beginning.