Bluthner Pianos – All You Need to Know | Luxury Pianos Inc. (2024)

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin… Over 150 years ago in the Eastern German town of Leipzig, something very special came to be – a jewel of a piano that will endure and define what a musical instrument is for the new century. But let us begin at the beginning…

The brand’s history was not without a tragic turn – during WWII, the factory was destroyed in a bombing raid. After the war, the Blüthner family was able to rebuild it. When the Soviet Union nationalized everything in East Germany, the Blüthner family was allowed to remain in the brand’s reign as the Soviet Union needed massive quantities of high-quality pianos.

The factory returned to its rightful owner after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the liberation of Eastern Europe. Blüthner pianos are still a family business owned and operated by the sixth generation of Blüthners.

Today Büthner pianos have beech rims, solid spruce soundboards, Delignit pin blocks, and Renner action. Industry leader Abel makes the hammers. Blüthner builds about 100 uprights a year in four sizes and 500 grand pianos yearly in six sizes.

The crown jewel of today’s Blüthner output is designer crystal grand pianos, Blüthner Lucid. These remarkable instruments are absolute industry leaders and standard bearers for pianos of the 21st century. More about those later…

Under the hood, Blüthner pianos are proper German precision machines. Each string is hinged individually to the pin as opposed to being looped. This allows for more precise super-tuning and keeps the piano in tune longer. The soundboard is made of Alpine Spruce, seasoned for over ten years. The soundboard profile is a cylindrical crown rather than spherical, which contributes to better tuning and sound resonance. The above-mentioned 4th string is the fabled aliquot stringing, and it remains a mainstay for over a century, lending Blüthner pianos their signature singing treble. The entire spectrum of the keyboard is so well-balanced that even though the bass octaves are rich and dark, they don’t overpower the middle register where the melody usually resides. As the register climbs higher, the ripe brightness of Bluthner’s tone remains supple and silky while blooming from within with a full range of overtones. Indeed Blüthner grand piano is a pianist’s dream: not to have to rebalance your hands while playing and constantly adjust to register imbalances prevalent in most grand pianos.

There is also a unique feature of the way Blüthner aligns hammers. The hammers are cut at an angle to match the string line and subsequently attached straight on the shanks instead of being cut straight and secured at an angle like on all other brands. It allows for an even distribution of the strike energy from the hammer to the string, which affords a more even and uniform sound and playing experience.

A Map of the Market For New Pianos (‘Ratings’) - Piano Buyer by Larry Fine, Spring 2020 Edition

The Blüthner Classic is a performance instrument line Grand pianos (prices for standard ebony and without e-Volution system):

• Model 1 (280 centimeters or 9.2 feet) from $203,000
• Model 2 (238 centimeters or 7.8 feet) from $151,000
• Model 4 (210 centimeters or 6.10 feet) from $134,000
• Model 6 (190 centimeters or 6.3 feet) from $114,000
• Model 10 (166 centimeters or 5.5 feet) from $100,000
• Model 11 (154 centimeters or 5.1 feet) from $87,000

• Model S (145 centimeters or 57.3 inches) from $68,000
• Model B (132 centimeters or 52.2 inches) from $50,000
• Model A (124 centimeters or 49 inches) from $44,000
• Model C (118 centimeters or 46.2 inches) from $38,500
• Model D (116 centimeters or 45.7 inches) from $34.600

Blüthner Supreme Edition is a lineup of traditional art case pianos that can be ordered in a variety of grand piano sizes and further customized. The lineup is:

• Julius Blüthner Edition (all grand piano models)
• Queen Victoria (models 1,2 and 4)
• Dynasty (1, 2, 4, 6, and 10)
• Kaiser Wilhelm II (all grand piano models)
• Louis XIV Rococo White with Gold (2, 4, 6, 10, and 11)
• Ambassador (all grand piano models)
• Senator (2, 4, 6, and 10)
• Nicklaus II (all grand piano models)
• Jubilee (model 6 only)

Prices for Supreme Edition range from $98,500 to $291,000 based on the size and model. Further customizations are likely to raise the prize into the mid-to-high $300,000s.

Blüthner crystal transparent pianos are the absolute leader in the industry. Regarding high-concept designer pianos, nothing is impossible with Blüthner Lucid. This line of reinforced acrylic pianos uses the least number of bolts and co-joining of parts instead of molding larger piano elements out of a single piece of lucite. This technique results in the most genuinely transparent pianos on the market. The illusion of see-through fragility conceals these remarkable instruments’ incredible strength and durability. Models like Lucid EXO utilize the latest aluminum 3D printing technology, allowing impossibly intricate detailing and shapes to come to life.

• iDyllic
• Elegance
• Hive Xtravaganza
• Hive Elegance
• Panoramic
• EXO
• Translucid
• Translucid Tiara

The price range of Blüthner Lucid pianos is $59,950 to $950,000 based on the model, size, and customization. Some further add-on options of precious materials (stones, gold, and carbon composites will raise the price to the $1-1.5million range.

If you have further questions about Blüthner pianos our team works closely with the factory and has comprehensive knowledge of the entire range. If you are interested in crystal pianos – look no further as we have curated and delivered a number of one-of-a-kind custom pianos and will be happy to guide you through the process so that you will have an absolute piano of your dreams. Contact our team member here.

We hope this article was informative and gave you a full view of this amazing legacy piano brand.