How long have you been consulting for Young Chang pianos? Young Chang, for readers who aren’t aware is considered one of the “big 5” Asian pianos ~ being Yamaha and Kawai (from Japan), Samick and Young Chang (from Korea) and now Pearl River (China) who collectively manufacture hundreds of thousands of pianos annually. In my opinion-and I freely admit to some bias, here-this is still one of the best under-six-foot pianos available. A few years later Charles Walter asked for a second, smaller grand piano design and I drew the Walter 175 design. Our little company built a hundred of these instruments and CNN did a story which resulted in George Harrison purchasing one for his home in England. This piano had a unique soundboard design that I was able to patent, and I licensed my brother Darrell’s patented vertical action design. My wife and I then returned to the Northwest and I began developing what ultimately became the Fandrich 122 Upright. He asked if I would design a grand piano for them, which I did: The Walter 190. The day after leaving Baldwin I received a phone call from Charles Walter who had heard from a mutual friend that I was now independent. The title was a little misleading however I was able to expand my knowledge some before coming to a parting of ways. I was hired by the Baldwin Piano & Organ Co. In 1981 my wife had an opportunity for a management job in California so we moved there while I studied and conducted quite a lot of experimental work and piano rebuilding in my piano shop in Sacramento. Ultimately I came to the conclusion that most of these were design-related issues and I started searching for answers. During this time I became increasingly frustrated with certain specific timbral abnormalities that were consistently found in certain models. In the late ‘70s I had a job-along with much of the concert work in Portland-that included prepping new, high-end pianos prior to sale. I’ve never had any formal training as a piano technician. I did mostly grunt work refinishing and “refurbishing” uprights. I started in this business in 1961 in Southern California. What’s your background that has led you to this place?
Your name is prominent in North America for piano design. Although there are numerous topics we could’ve discussed, this one I find particularly interesting and hopefully we’ll have him back to discuss some other interesting (and rather groundbreaking) ideas he has in his back pocket.
Most noteworthy is his experimentation and implementation of floating soundboards. Years ago he worked his way up from (as he calls it) ‘grunt work’ to concert technician. His career has spanned nearly 5 decades and has been a contributor in companies such as Baldwin, Charles Walter and most recently Young Chang. When you short list prominent piano designers in North America, you will always run into Del Fandrich.
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