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Vol. 86 July 18, 2026 No. 19

Paul M. Zeidler

b. 1862 · German

piano maker founder
  • Steinway and Sons
  • Strich and Zeidler

Biography

Paul M. Zeidler was born in Braunschweig, Germany, in 1862, into a family of piano makers -- his father and grandfather had both built pianos in that town, the same one where Theodore Steinway had once worked. Zeidler emigrated to New York with his father in 1869. After public school and an evening engineering course at Cooper Institute, he entered the Steinway factories in 1876 to learn piano making, training there for eleven years, followed by several years working in western piano factories. He returned to New York in 1889 to join his friend William Strich, and the two formed the Strich and Zeidler piano-making partnership, earning a reputation for high-quality, artistically cased instruments and holding patents for soundboard improvements.

Highlights

  • Son and grandson of piano makers in Braunschweig, Germany; trained eleven years at the Steinway factories
  • Co-founded the Strich and Zeidler piano firm with William Strich

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. II (1913), p. 192.

Public domain.

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