Max Richtsteig

Biography

Max Richtsteig studied under Henry Kroeger of Steinway fame in New York before returning to the foremanship of the finishing department at Bush and Gerts of Chicago, his former employer. In 1898 he became designer and constructor for the Starr Piano Company of Richmond, Indiana, where he designed scales for upright and grand pianos, including a concert grand. In 1905 he opened his own business in Milwaukee, and in October 1908 formed a partnership with Edmund Gram as the Gram-Richtsteig Company. Believing that artistic piano building required educated workmen, Richtsteig founded the first technical school for piano makers in America at his factory in 1908, teaching his employees the fundamentals of piano construction free of charge in the evenings. He later took up and improved F. C. Billings's metal flange and metal action-frame inventions, and a corporation, the Gram-Richtsteig Metal Frame Action Company, was formed with Richtsteig as president to manufacture the patented metal actions for the trade at large. Max Richtsteig was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1869 and received the thorough grammar, manual-training, and evening-school education typical of German schools, acquiring the mathematics and drafting knowledge needed for piano construction. He trained personally under the well-known Berlin piano maker Eduard Werner, mastering the details of piano making, then emigrated to America in 1888 and joined Bush and Gerts of Chicago, seeking further to perfect himself in the art of scale drawing. He later partnered with Edmund Gram to establish the Gram-Richtsteig piano factory in Milwaukee.

Highlights

• Trained under the well-known Berlin piano maker Eduard Werner before emigrating to America in 1888
• Worked at Bush and Gerts of Chicago to perfect his skill in scale drawing
• Partnered with Edmund Gram to found the Gram-Richtsteig piano factory in Milwaukee
• Studied under Henry Kroeger at Steinway's factory before becoming a designer and constructor for the Starr Piano Company
• Founded the Gram-Richtsteig Company with Edmund Gram in 1908, building it from fifty pianos sold in 1908 to sales doubling in 1910 and 1911
• Started the first technical school for piano makers in America at his factory in 1908, teaching men free of charge in the evenings

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. II (1913), pp. 96, 97, 98, 100.

Public domain.