“Platinum Edition Series” Conservatory Grand Piano.

  Joseph J. Pramberger was a longtime Design and Project Engineer and Vice President of manufacturing executive at Steinway & Sons in New York (1958 – 1987). He was descended from a long line of piano and musical instrument builders dating back to Joseph Johann Pramberger born in 1779 in Tyrol, Austria. His father Anton, who immigrated from Austria worked at Steinway & Sons before him, as a pattern maker designing equipment to build and perfect the pianos. Other family members worked there also, dating back to 1913 on. He left in 1987 to start his own piano company with his father, Pramberger Piano, Ltd.

In 1995, he was hired by the Young Chang Piano Company of South Korea to redesign their models and make improvements. The result was the “ Pramberger Signature Series” that had better sustain and more tonal color than the Young Chang model of the same size and was more pleasing to listen to and play. After the success of this series, Young Chang took it another step with more improvements and brought out the “Platinum Edition Series” in 2000 and it immediately became a popular choice for discerning piano buyers. The Pramberger model JP-185 grand piano was designed and marketed to compete directly with the popular Yamaha professional-grade C-series piano and the Kawai RX-series, but it was 30-40% less costly.

The model JP-185 features a hardwood maple inner rim that holds the energy of the soundboard vibrations within the piano better than softer woods can, for a longer sustain and duration of tone. Most Asian manufacturers use the less dense Luan mahogany in their more affordable models. The solid spruce soundboard has a better quality of Sitka spruce that improves the purity of the tone. For a better feel and response, he chose a German high performance Renner piano-action and for a better tone-quality he chose upgraded Renner hammers mounted to a Pramberger designed action frame that improves the overall musical performance. This piano was finished in 2004 and sadly, Mr. Pramberger passed away in December 2003, so this piano is one of the very last of his original design to be built under his watch.

This model JP-185 is an elegant, classic polished ebony beauty with a Bubinga mahogany wood finished fallboard, music desk and music rack. At 6’-1”, it is long enough to have the graceful beauty and curvaceous shape of bigger pianos. Most venues that have live piano music feature a conservatory size 6-foot instrument. It has spent several years here in Albuquerque and before, in a desert region of the west so it is happily acclimated and well-adjusted to our unique, arid climate. It is in excellent condition, structurally and aesthetically. There is minimal wear in the piano-action, and the piano wasn’t played very much, so it should provide many more decades of musical pleasure. We had to do very little to improve the piano due to its excellent condition and the high level of service it has received. We are happy to offer a two-year warranty. The original bench with music storage is included. Local, first-floor professional delivery is also included.

Concert tuned, action regulated and ready for the next performance!

This serial number was one of the very last pianos started during the legacy of Joseph J. Pramberger.

Shortly after this piano was built, another piano manufacturer purchased the rights to the name and manufacturing was shipped off to Indonesia.