1880

Arnold & Co. was established.

1880

The Cable Co., Chicago, USA, was established. (They also made Conover from 1883, Kingsbury and Wellington.)

1880

John Thomas Gilbert's company was founded.

1880

W. Harper was established.

1880

Oblong wrest pins went out, in favour of square pins. Also by this time machines were used more for hammer covering.

1880

Nordiska Pianos Sweden was est, They also made piaos under the name of Futura, Classsica & Bambino. In 1988 all machinery, tools, and piano scale designs, were purchased by Dongbei Piano Group China and moved from Sweden to China.

1881

Robert Moraley's company was founded. They made pianos and then older keyboard instruments and are now particularly associated with harps and harpsichords. Robert had been a tuner with Erard in 1871, before going on to Broadwood, and then starting his own company in Lewisham.

1883

Around this time Clarence Lyon founded a piano making firm at Medlar Street, Camberwell, known as Cremona Ltd. (The name was chosen out of admiration for the fine string instruments made at the Italian town of Cremona). It made trade pianos under various names and dealers, such as Paul Newman, Ronson, Barnes of London, Cranes of Manchester and Rushworth and Draper of Liverpool. All of these companies put on their own transfers. they also made Squire & Longson pianos. Clarence Lyon designed the Cremona pianos both internally and externally and in the 1920s his right-hand man was Alfred Knight, who was employed as works director and who must have played a part in improvements made. In 1929 the Cremona factory was burned to the ground. In 1934 Alfred Knight went on to start Knight pianos.

1883

Bansall & Sons was established.

1883

The now famous wire making firm of Roslau began business in Germany.

1883

Heckscher, the piano part suppliers, were established.

1883

Darwen Pianos was formed.

1884

In England the imperial standard wire gauge was sanctioned by the board of trade. Prior to this we used the Birmingham wire gauge. Most UK makers used Birmingham's piano wire. This was due to Webster and Horfall of Birmingham's who in 1854 invented a means of making tempered cast steel piano wire. The Germans had done this before, with little success. The wire from Birmingham's factory was much stronger than the German wire.

1844

Mr. Johnson started the Schaff Piano Supply Co., USA.

1844

Jean Schwander, an Alsation, opened his action making factory in Paris. He retired in 1882, but his name can still be found on many actions of fine pianos made today. Bechsteins for example, were later fitted with Schwander actions, up until about the time of the First World War. His successor was his son-in-law Joseph Herrburger, who formed a New York branch in 1900. Twenty years later Brooks of London and Herrburger amalgamated, so the firm of Herrburger Brooks came into being. The Paris branch of Herrburger Brooks closed in 1953, and moved to Long Eaton Nottingham.

1884

The piano making firm of Spencer was established. Spencer & Co. and Malcolm and Co, were two substitute companies of Murdoch and Murdoch, becoming one of the largest retailers of musical instruments in the UK who made their own pianos. According to the Pierce Piano Atlas, "Piano number 38833 was made for HRH the Princes of Wales" in the summer of 1986. Under new ownership, Spencer Pianos ceased to be known by that name. It became Miltone Spencer and soon after ceased trading.

1884

Brinsmead patented a wrest pin so designed that the stress was horizontal. A perforated metal flange in the cast frame took octagonal nuts around a screw-headed bolt where the strings were attached. The tuner needed a special T-shaped tool. The type, when applied to uprights, was called a "top-tuner" because the pins were above the plank, pointing upwards instead of forwards. See 1964.

1884

Zimmerman started up in Leipzig, after working for Steinway in New York. The company become a limited company in 1884 and by 1912 was said to be the largest piano factory in Europe, making some 12,000 pianos a year.