1926

  • Steinway & Sons factory in America builds 6,294 pianos: 6,081 grands and 213 uprights. This constitutes 53% increase compared to 1921. During 6 years of Frederick T. Steinway presidency, Steinway & Sons has added roughly 2,000 units to its yearly production.
  • Steinway Pianofabrik in Hamburg builds 2,700 pianos.
  • 8,356 new Steinway & Sons pianos are sold worldwide (a new sales record) – despite the word-wide decline of piano popularity, due to increase in radio ownership.
  • Steinway & Sons’ net profit is $1,425,000 – almost 500% increase compared to 1921.
  • Steinway & Sons’ per-piano profit is $225 (300% increase compared to 1921). This has been achieved without any increase of Steinway & Sons piano prices (not changed since 1920, ranging from $875 for Model V mahogany upright to $2,700 for Model D ebony concert grand), as a direct result of work process improvements, made by Theodore Cassebeer and Paul Bilhuber. A certain percentage of the profit increase comes from the company’s shift from wholesale to retail (selling pianos directly, bypassing the dealers).
  • Frederick T. Steinway orders to build a new plant, adjacent to the Ditmars Avenue factory. The cost of the construction is approximately $1,000,000, and the foundation of the two-story building is designed to allow for more floors in the future. The rooms of the new factory are filled with piano-building equipment designed by Theodore Cassebeer and Paul Bilhuber. The new factory brings Steinway & Sons’ total production capacity to about 10,000 pianos per year. However, within the next six years, this factory will be closed due to the Great Depression.
  • Primarily to communicate with pianist Vladimir Horowitz, who speaks mostly Russian at the time, Ernest Urchs hires an assistant, the German-Latvian refugee from Communist Russia, Moscow Conservatory graduate Alexander “Sasha” Greiner. (Two years later Sasha Greiner will become the head of Steinway & Sons’ Concert and Artists department, and will remain on that post for the next 30 years.)