My visit to the Sauter factory in Spaichingen

[wzkit]

Posted this in Pianoworld, but anyway here it is for the benefit of those who don't go there.
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So here I am, back from my visit to the Sauter factory at Spaichingen just before Christmas. After a long 14 hour flight, my dealer Alvin, and I finally arrived at Frankfurt airport, headed down to Stuggart to stay for a night, and then took a 2 hour train ride from Stuttgart to Spaichingen. What a pretty sight town it was - right in the middle of winter, with the Swabian Alps in the background, and everything blanketed in snow. I quickly whipped out my camera and started snapping photos. Interestingly, Alvin and I also met Sauter's newly appointed US sales director at the hotel restaurant, whereupon we had a most interesting conversation over dinner.

Anyway, I digress. The next morning we took a short 5 minute drive to the factory, whereupon we were warmly greeted by Ulrich Sauter himself, who quickly brought me to the showroom. Apart from the Deltas, the other pianos there were all uprights - and beautifully looking and sounding ones at that, especially the Peter Maly series. Apparently, production is just barely able to keep up with demand, and I was lucky to have two Deltas side by side to choose from.

Both pianos were so different in character that I might have mistaken them for different models. However they did have one thing in common: the 185 Delta is an incredibly powerful piano, almost equal in power to the Shigeru SK-5 that I was considering. This may be hard to believe coming from a 6 foot piano, but it really outperforms some 7 footers I have seen.

I had two Deltas to choose from. The first, which was on a stage, had the standard action for the Delta, with a warm but somewhat thick and opaque sound. The bass was especially warm full and powerful, completely different from the Alpha which I had seen in Alvin's showroom. This was a piano I thought, which would be excellent for playing Beethoven and especially Brahms, and perhaps some Rachmaninov. Interestingly, in terms of touch and tone, this piano reminded me of an upsized version of Sauter's own M-line uprights, their premier upright range. In previous posts I had complained about the touch of the Alpha in Alvin's showroom being too heavy, but I actually felt this Delta's action was somewhat light but with a deep key depth. My main concern with this piano was that with its incredible resonance, I would have difficulty playing softly and intimately in my small apartment. I like pianos that can produce a very lean, soft and intimate tone, that borders between silence and sound (think of Horowitz's incredible pianissimos and you know what I mean). Initially, I thought that the resonant tone was due to it being on stage, so I had the piano brought down to the floor, but I still found the piano too "big" for my tastes. I was wondering if those who liked the power of Mason and Hamelins might actually like this piano better than I did.

The other Delta, which I ended up choosing, could not have been more different. It came with an 'accelerated' action, and I was told this is the last Delta to be fitted with this new action. (I can't remember the German name for the action - I think it was the 'Enzenauer' action). This accelerated action, though somewhat heavier than the first, was much bouncier and for me, capable of faster repitition and better control. Tone wise, while it shared the depth of sound of the other Delta, the "accelerated action" piano was almost opposite in other respects. The tone was with a much clearer and transparent, with a beautiful crystalline singing tone in the trouble, with a growly and very clear bass, somewhat reminding me of the 7 foot Ibachs I had recorded on while in university. If the sound of the other Delta could be described as being akin to a thick coffee, this particular Delta I chose was like tonic water, fresh, bubbly and efferverscent!

My only complaint was the top octave, which was just a little too bright for my tastes. So, Ulrich brought Master craftsman Kauffman to voice that octave voiced down a little. I also had the una corda pedal adjusted, so that the hammer hits just 2 strings instead of the 2 1/2 strings in the original setting. Some more adjustments to voicing and regulation will be made by the dealer once the piano arrives in Singapore, but before that I will have to wait another 2 months or so to have the black fallboard replaced with burl walnut design. All in all, this was a piano which surprised me with its power initially, but over two days of extensive testing of the instrument, I have learnt to control it better, and with the additional fine tuning by the dealer, I think the piano should be able to produce an even wider dynamic range than I had witnessed in the showroom.

I also had a chance to visit the factory upstairs. Among the more interesting sights was the 275 Titanium concert grand under construction, the Japanese edition Alpha, and the 130 M-Line, which was magnificent for an upright. Interestingly, the most common grand piano in Sauter production was the 220 Omega, which I am told are mostly for the U.S market. The workers too, seemed to be utterly dedicated to their job and relations between management and the workers seemed open and excellent - important since it could affect worker attitude and hence quality control. Speaking of quality control, I also noticed the high degree of rejection of defective materials and parts, which translates into high wastage of materials and higher costs.

Overall the 2 days spent at the factory was a very enjoyable experience, not only for the chance to see my piano first hand, but also the wonderful hospitality shown to me by Mr. Ulrich Sauter, who drove us up to the Swabian Alps near the factory to enjoy the wonderful view, and treated us to some really good German cuisine. I would also like to express my thanks to Alvin, my dealer, for making this trip possible, and paying for my air ticket to Germany! Now, I'm thinking of visiting again in summer, just to check out the different scenery...