Here's Larry Fines take on the best Chinese Pianos including the Rittmuller, which he gave mostly positive review. Some drawbacks, but hey, 20% the cost of a German or American built? Guess there has to be a compromise in there somewhere.
https://www.pianobuyer.com/fall11/49.html
As has been done before on this topic, I'll add some add'l info years later. :-)
I recently bought a Ritmuller GH-160 and love it. I read up on it afterward. There's more on it, with regard to Larry Fine's Pianobuyer Guide:
The smaller Ritmuller GH-148 is a 4' 10" baby grand that's a staff recommendation and receives their "Musical Standout" rating:
https://www.pianobuyer.com/spring15/45.html
It was reviewed by Larry Fine (after the release of the newly designed models by Luther Thomma) with the help of James Carney (and others for other pianos) for an article on many recent grand pianos UNDER 5' -- and the results are at
https://www.pianobuyer.com/fall09/w2.html
Carney checked out the Ritmuller and 5 other pianos and Larry Fine quotes him as saying, "I tested the 4' 10" Ritmüller GH-148R, which I found lovely overall. The keyboard and action on this piano, complete with real ebony-wood sharps, was my favorite of all the instruments I played, with a refined feel and excellent controllability. The top three octaves of the GH-148R have a front and rear duplex scale, and the workmanship of the plate finishing, bridges, tuning pins, and stringing resembles that found on much more expensive instruments. The very high quality of the bass tone extended all the way down to note A1, a trait I rarely encounter on pianos of any length..."
And that's the smaller Ritmuller 'Premium' Grand by Thomma.
There's also another review of the 5' 3" model, the GH-160 (the one I bought), this one written by Mary Cushing Smith, a registered PTG member and who was Editor of the Piano Technician Journal. Reviewing 6 makes, she said this about the Ritmuller:
"My hands-down favorites in this category were the redesigned Ritmüller grands made by Pearl River, available in three sizes: one small (5' 3") and two medium (5' 8", 6' 2") ...
... This arrangement permits the bass bridge to vibrate more freely, among other things giving the bass sound greater clarity. Although this phenomenon was amply demonstrated by all three pianos, it was especially noticeable on the 5' 3" model, which lacked the "muddy" bass often characteristic of small grands. The new Ritmüllers also have solid spruce soundboards and vertically laminated bridges, better-quality features that arguably enhance tonal color.
I liked the sound quality and sustain of all the Ritmüller models. The medium-tension stringing scale avoids the excessive high harmonics and inharmonicity characteristic of the higher-tension scales sometimes found in modern pianos, producing instead a clear, bell-like, uncomplicatedly "European" sound. And these models' light, responsive action makes it easy to attain a great dynamic range from very soft to very loud and full."
When I tried it after almost buying a really good upright (the Kayserburg AR-132, also by Thomma for Ritmuller), which won that unusual 'shootout' a couple of years ago, against upright pianos almost 3 times its cost), it took me about 2 minutes to decide. Amazing little grand for the price especially (these days).
Topic: Ritmuller