Auguste Foerster Pianos

matthiesen · Post by **matthiesen** » 02 Nov 2007, 18:10

Does anyone have an opinion or experience of Foerster pianos built in the 1960s and 1970s and how would you rate them? The piano adviser to Bonhams tells me that she rates these instruments way above say a Zimmermann of the same period.

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 02 Nov 2007, 20:37

boxes with strings comes to mind and not very nice looking boxes at that

They were not very good pianos at all when the wall came down Zimmermann moved on and are now a very nice piano as to AF no comment

Barrie,

matthiesen · Post by **matthiesen** » 02 Nov 2007, 20:52

that is curious Barrie. We ARE talking gran pianos and not uprights?
The Virtual piano Shop rates them
August Foerster ***** and the technician at Bonhams said they were infirnitely superior and more valuable than Zimmermann. Admittedly i remember a 1930s Zummermann as being close to a Bluthner in tone. We tried a 1076 Foerster in the piano deposyory and it did not play badly though the sound was perhaps a little 'dry' or muted and the pianist had to work to get the best out of it.....................

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 02 Nov 2007, 23:51

matthiesen wrote:that is curious Barrie. We ARE talking gran pianos and not uprights?
The Virtual piano Shop rates them
August Foerster ***** and the technician at Bonhams said they were infirnitely superior and more valuable than Zimmermann. Admittedly i remember a 1930s Zummermann as being close to a Bluthner in tone. We tried a 1076 Foerster in the piano deposyory and it did not play badly though the sound was perhaps a little 'dry' or muted and the pianist had to work to get the best out of it.....................

I can only speak as I find 1930 Zummermann is a different piano than the 1960 ones, as to the August Foerster I had 2 grand s and a few uprights on my round from the 60 70 they were like a Baldwin piano in sound but again the 1920 August Foerster were OK pianos

Tone is subjective build quality is not

Barrie,

sussexpianos · Post by **sussexpianos** » 03 Nov 2007, 10:12

The August forster piano is a good well made instrument. They suffered a bit after the war but they are still being made and still in the family. New, they are expensive, but well made. The only way to tell is to play it as there are good ones and bad ones, but generaly they are good. Zimmerman were cheap East German after the war and only after Bechstein bought them ( i think in the last 5 years) did they get better.

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 03 Nov 2007, 19:53

sussexpianos wrote:The August forster piano is a good well made instrument. They suffered a bit after the war but they are still being made and still in the family. New, they are expensive, but well made. The only way to tell is to play it as there are good ones and bad ones, but generaly they are good. Zimmerman were cheap East German after the war and only after Bechstein bought them ( i think in the last 5 years) did they get better.

Actually, post-war they were both poor, but the Zimmermann utter crap. They were both East German, part of VEB Piano-Union DDR and therefore State-owned and controlled. It mattered not what was written* on the fall, what you got was a heap built with indifferent materials by a frustrated or disillusioned workforce. As also evident in Commie-era Blüthner instruments, family control meant diddley squat in those days. Förster and Blüthner at least tried, but it was largely against the odds. If DDR-sourced parts were available to be made into pianos they had to be used, and they were dire. Only a shortage permitted West German or British components to be used. Blüthner at least had the illustrious name to fall back on and the help of Whelpdale's in London to provide Western marketing and cash.

Förster and Blüthner designs were certainly the best of the DDR bunch, but those nasty parts came from a central source, which generally meant odd keyboard dimensions and crap Pianic actions with plastic bits in uprights and the atrocious Flemming actions and rotatey-floppy dampers in grands. Admittedly a tiny few of the Commie Försters had Renners fitted, but it's a bit like sticking a BMW engine in a Trabant. Avoid a '70s DDR piano at all costs unless dirt cheap and fitted with a Renner.

Zimmermann are now Bechstein owned and good value. I can't say I've seen a recent Förster, but I'm sure they're OK and overpriced as much German stuff is these days.

PG

* Hupfeld, Gebr.Steinmann, Zimmermann, Eisenberg, Wilh.Steinberg, Zimmermann, August Förster, Niendorf, Rönisch, Hoffmann & Kühne..... And others......

David B · Post by **David B** » 07 Nov 2007, 10:57

Interesting discussion. The rating for AF on the virtual piano shop is 5 star(out of 5).

I had an upright at home when I was learning and it was great. A very large harp for its size and better than a baby grand in terms of tone.

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 07 Nov 2007, 18:36

O I wish I had more customers like you, David; the number of people who get rid of a decent big upright for a tiny ashtray of a baby grand...!

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 07 Nov 2007, 22:29

David B wrote:Interesting discussion. The rating for AF on the virtual piano shop is 5 star(out of 5).

I expect they rate Blüthner 5*/5* too, but the "VEB Blüthner Klavierfabrik Leipzig-DDR" ones of yore were a good 2*/5* at a push.

Avoid DDR-era East German pianos. That includes Förster and yes, even Blüthner.

The original poster of this thread will buy into big trouble if he/she believes the hype being fed by the auctioneers and the Virtual Piano Shop.

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 07 Nov 2007, 23:22

Just visited the Virtual Piano Shop site for the first time.

Quite honestly the ratings are pretty much nonsense. Even the author admits that they're his own subjective findings, and are based on what? A quick playing of one or two examples of each make at the most.

I won't even start to pick holes in such a patchy and inconclusive piece of work.

sussexpianos · Post by **sussexpianos** » 08 Nov 2007, 19:11

the amount of time I spend with customers who have seen the piano site, saw their piano maker and think its a 5 star! when its not. Like all manufactures, they have models which are priced to build quality. I would say the Yamaha 109 utter rubbish but the U1 excellent. So how can you rate a company? you can not!
Also, I remember seeing regulating measurements on the site, so whats going to happen? well when I regulate a piano, the customer is going to check it against the website. Pianos are not always regulated to a set of measurements, you regulate a piano to how it works best at. And if that means a set off of 5mm, then its 5mm!!
Wise mans guide, poor mans bible.

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 08 Nov 2007, 21:17

sussexpianos wrote: Pianos are not always regulated to a set of measurements, you regulate a piano to how it works best at. And if that means a set off of 5mm, then its 5mm!!
.

even new ones don't always work well to factory specks

Barrie,