Who is European Pianocraft?

European Pianocraft was founded by Herbert Lurgenstein nearly three decades ago.  He comes from a family long connected with music and pianos.  His grandfather was a wood carver for Bluthner Pianofabrik in Leipzig, Germany.  His father was an engineer and accomplished musician, playing in local symphony orchestras.  Herbert was trained in engineering in his father's engineering firm and learned to love and play classical music on the family piano.

Herbert emigrated to the United States to study aeronautical engineering, but soon found himself in Detroit with only $10.00 in his pocket.  He used the money to buy a tuning hammer, some muting felt and two silver quarters which he knew when he stuck together would produce the tone A 440 (hz) to which all modern pianos are tuned.  He took his equipment to a local piano store and represented himself as a tuner.  After attempting to tune a piano on the floor, the owner hired him and apprenticed him to a respected Detroit tuner / technician / rebuilder.  Through hard work and love of his craft, Herbert was soon the stage technician for the premier concert venues in Detroit.  He has tuned and regulated pianos to the specifications of Arthur Rubenstein, Oscar Peterson, Vladimir Horowitz, Victor Borge and Van Cliburn.  Among his current clientele is exclusive Delos recording artist Carol Rosenburger.

Herbert moved to Southern California to become the head technician for demanding retailer Bernard Comsky and later chief technician for Colton Piano.  Wanting to set out on his own, Herbert founded European Pianocraft to restore the finest European and American Pianos.  Through hard work and superb craftsmanship European Pianocraft, by the mid 1980's, became one of the most sought piano restorers in Southern California.

By the late 1990's European Pianocraft had been able to procure a large number of Steinway and Mason & Hamlin pianos for restoration and by mid 1998 had opened a 3000 square foot retail showroom in Signal Hill, California as an adjunct to the rebuilding shop to offer the magnificent fruits of his labors to the piano buying public.