Young Chang is a Korean manufacturer of piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

s and industrial wood working machinery, headquartered in Incheon

Incheon

The Incheon Metropolitan City is located in northwestern South Korea. The city was home to just 4,700 people when Jemulpo port was built in 1883. Today 2.76 million people live in the city, making it Korea’s third most populous city after Seoul and Busan Metropolitan City...

, South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

. Young Chang also currently holds 50% of the Korean piano market.

Currently, Young Chang has more than 2000 full time workers, designing and building its upright and grand pianos, and also the electronic Kurzweil Music Systems.

History

The company was founded in 1956 by three brothers, Jai-Young Kim, Jai-Chang Kim and Jai-Sup Kim. As South Korea emerged as a major economy and producer of high quality goods, Young Chang has also emerged as one of the largest manufacturers of quality pianos in the world. It produces and markets the Bergmann, Weber and Pramberger models, and used to manufacture the Essex line for Steinway & Sons

Steinway & Sons

Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway , is an American and German manufacturer of handmade pianos, founded 1853 in Manhattan in New York City by German immigrant Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg...

.

In 1990, Young Chang purchased Kurzweil Music Systems

Kurzweil Music Systems

Kurzweil Music Systems is a company that produces electronic musical instruments for professionals and home users. Founded in 1982 by Raymond Kurzweil, a developer of reading machines for the blind, the company made use of many of the technologies originally designed for reading machines and...

, a maker of high end electronic and digital musical instruments.

Joseph Pramberger

Joseph Pramberger

Joseph J. Pramberger was a manufacturer of pianos and the founder of the Pramberger Piano Company.-Lineage:The Pramberger family's history of piano craftsmanship dates back to the late 18th century in the Black Forest of Germany. Johann Joseph Pramberger, born in 1779, began making pianos in...

, a former vice president from Steinway & Sons and an experienced piano designer, joined the company in 1995. Pramberger brought many new innovations to piano design, including the "Platinum Touch Action" and the patented asymmetrically tapered soundboard.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Young Chang manufactured Squier

Squier

Squier is a musical instrument brand name owned by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.-History:Fender, under the ownership of CBS, acquired the Squier brand name in 1965 when it bought a USA based string making firm , but it lay dormant for many years...

 electric guitars and basses for Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, and also manufactured acoustic, acoustic/electric, electric guitars and basses under their own "Fenix" brand. However, because of the similarities to the Fender brand and instruments, Young Chang could not sell the Fenix instruments due to licensing issues with Fender, and production stopped. In 1998, Young Chang built a new $40 million dollar factory in Tianjin

Tianjin

' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...

, China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 to manufacture its new Bergmann line. The Pramberger Platinum series , introduced in 2001 was modelled after Hamburg Steinway's discontinued Model C piano, and incorporated top quality German materials, and many of Prambergers revolutionary design innovations. This new series, manufactured in Incheon, brought Young Chang into the league of world class piano manufacturers.

Joseph Pramberger died in 2003, and the following year, his estate sold the Pramberger name to Samick

Samick

Samick is the name of a Korea-based musical instrument manufacturer, one of the largest in the world.The name refers to the entire Samick Musical Instruments, which owns several manufacturers of pianos, guitars, and other instruments. The company started as 'Samick Pianos' in 1958, manufacturing...

. Young Chang continues to make pianos with the Pramberger design, but can no longer use the name. At the same time, Samick is licensed to use the name, however, they can not utilize the technology developed by Pramberger.