“It’s a symphony of manufacturing on the production line at the historic Steinway & Sons piano factory once again,” writes Clodagh McGowan in last Wednesday’s (7/22) NY1.com. “For 150 years, pianos handcrafted to withstand the test of time have been made in this Astoria factory. But for the first time in the company’s history, the doors closed for nearly four months, due to the coronavirus pandemic. ‘During Work War II, we had a very minimal staff in here building various things for the war effort,’ said Ron Losby, the president and CEO of Steinway Musical Instruments. ‘But we were never closed.… Even during the 1918 flu pandemic, we remained open.’ … The company was forced to furlough the majority of its workers in March, though the factory partially reopened earlier [this] month, bringing back about 20 percent of its total workforce. This week, the company is at now officially at full production, with more than 200 artisans and craftspeople.… While the factory is following new sanitary and socially distancing guidelines … production is back on track…. According to Losby, sales have been surprisingly strong, about 60 percent of normal, despite the pandemic and the economic fallout.”
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