>>Were the Mason & Risch pianos not actually Mason & Hamlin (mostly)? I seem Time for a Canadian piano history lesson... I'll make it short. B-}) The Mason & Risch piano company was begun by Thomas Gabriel Mason (a former accountant for Nordheimer) and Vincent Risch along with Octavius Newcombe in Toronto in 1871. In 1886 they formed a partnership with Gerhard Heintzman and Albert and Samuel Nordheimer to produce the "Lansdowne" piano (a brand designed for stencils) for their companies. They built excellent pianos until 1950 when the company was taken over by the Winter company of NY, and the quality of their pianos and their CDN distribution system through department stores both dropped off rapidly. The company closed its doors in 1972. Prior to 1950 the company made excellent pianos. Their uprights were particularly fine. Once Winter and Aeolian got hold of them their products were hardly worth playing, unfortunately. For more information on Canadian pianos see Wayne Kelly's excellent book "Downright Upright - A History of the Canadian Piano Industry". John Musselwhite, RPT Calgary, Alberta Canada musselj@cadvision.com
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