The Feurich M Series debuted in Chicago at the Piano Technicians Guild National Convention this summer.
Massgefertigt means tailor made, and in this case, pianos. It’s a “tweaked out” Feurich Ningbo 218, with some special parts and processes which leads up to a special piano!
The concept had been bubbling in my head for some time as I thought about the wide variety of modern hammers and action components available these days. I’ve been around volume manufacturing so I know that even with ISO standards, something is always left on the work bench. I believed, especially in the case of the Feurich 218, that there was another level of performance hidden below the surface, waiting for the right combination of pieces to bring it out.
Turns out, I was right.
This 218 blossomed into a piano with an amazingly smooth action coupled with a warm, rich, romantic tone. “A perfect recording piano” said one knowledgeable tech from Los Angeles. To get it there wasn’t rocket science but it did take some careful thinking and even more careful work.
Boaz Kirschenbaum of Cherry Tree Pianos on Martha’s Vinyard designed this M example, with custom touch design work, WNG capstans and a great set of Ronsen custom cold pressed hammers with Bacon felt. The Ronsen hammers, and subsequent voicing were critical to the overall success of the project. These hammers are VERY soft and must be judiciously juiced (lacquered) to build the tone up rather than voicing the tone down. Tone building using lacquer is not my specialty so I was happy to have Boaz handling that part of it. The results were spectacular.
