...Partner with a Family-Owned Builder... 

In today’s world, a few Chinese built pianos represent the best value in piano performance. It has taken twenty years, but the quality has improved dramatically. With hundreds of companies producing pianos, I feel very fortunate to have found a small family owned builder looking for a joint-venture partnership with an American company. This builder wants to improve our pianos by incorporating ideas from my rebuilding experience.  

Thus, Rawlins & Co. pianos came to life.  It took many trips to China. It took many hours working with our factory personnel. The result?  A piano I am proud to put my family name on. In our modern production campus, craftsmanship rules. Rawlins & Co pianos compare to other high quality instruments and will last a lifetime.

For as long as I can remember, I have been around pianos.  My Father worked for one of the largest piano manufacturers in the U.S.  My Dad was great. He always dragged me with him so I had a chance to see pianos being produced.  The noise, the smell, the number of people working to produce quality musical instruments left a lasting impression on me.  He would also take me with him on trips to see retail piano dealers.  On one such trip (I was about fourteen at the time) he took me to visit a dealer and friend in the Los Angles area.  David Saphir, was one of the largest piano re-builders in the United States. David came from a family of Viennese piano builders.

European apprenticeships are offered to a very select few.  David Saphir afforded me that opportunity. I took advantage of this apprenticeship and worked in his shop during my summer breaks from high school. 

I was hooked! The people that I worked with were a mix of nationalities. The roots of most workers stemmed from European shops. Working alongside old -world craftsmen proved to be a lasting learning experience.  From this beginning, I embraced the pride they instilled of true craftsmanship. “If you’re going to do it, do it right!” they told me. Many times the idea was instilled: “Don’t worry if you mess it up.” This style of education gave me the ability to understand many different types of pianos.

My Mother started a small retail piano store in Southern California in 1976. There I started tuning new pianos, making them ready to arrive in their new homes.

In the past thirty-four years I have had the opportunity to tune, repair and rebuild hundreds of pianos from as many different factories.

One common factor learned: no piano builder sets out to build a bad piano.  Sadly, many do. There are more mediocre pianos in peoples’ homes then nice ones.

In the early 1970’s none of the American piano factories had retooled. Machinery that had been purchased in the 1920’s and 30’s (or before) was still in use.. Most of the pianos being built at that time were not as nice as they should or could have been. Many of the piano builders started to build pianos to a “price standard” instead of a “quality standard”.

Concurrent with the arrival of Japanese cars that offered better value than their American counterparts, Japanese piano manufacturers entered the U.S. market. These pianos were produced in state-of-the-art modern factories and were dramatically less expensive due to production efficiencies and low labor costs.  They performed well and looked great.

In the late 70’s pianos began to arrive from Korea. Their initial quality was terrible. However, by the early eighties they were the price/value pianos in the market.  Korean pianos required additional voicing, regulation and fine-tuning to bring them up to spec.

Pianos built to a higher standard age and perform better than those that were not. This quality will benefit every Rawlins & Co. buyer for generations. I sincerely hope you will find Rawlins & Co. pianos as exciting as I do.

Ray Rawlins,