During their original life-span, Aeolian and American bought out other
piano companies, along with that the names of other brand pianos.
I remember seeing several filing cabinets (at the factory) filled with
piano fall board decals. Most of these decals were for pianos I have
never heard of, and to my knowledge were never used by Aeolian.
Under the original and prestigious ownership, Aeolian-American quality
was pretty good. About 1958, Aeolian-American was sold to the Winter
Piano company, and after that date corner-cutting began to accelerate.
Winter made pianos under the Aeolian name, as well as other Aeolian
names we are familiar with.
Many of the old-time factory workers who remained after the takeover
were not happy with cost-cutting techniques and methods. Some left the
company and started small tuning, rebuilding, and refinishing business
of their own, rather than do work that was not up to their standards.
Bruce Clark
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