Carl Bechstein founded the "C. Bechstein" factory in 1853 in Berlin with previous experience as an apprentice with companies such as Pleyel or Pape. He then began building and designing high quality pianos that were better than the weak pianos of the time. These pianos were a great success, winning many gold and silver awards. C. Bechstein was then given to Carl's sons and became increasingly more successful.

    

Carl Bechstein

 

However, the company suffered terribly during the war and the Great Depression. To make matters worse, all of Carl's sons died, leaving his daughter to carry on the business in East Berlin - which was controlled by the Soviet Union. Baldwin, an American piano company, purchased Bechstein in 1963 and then sold it to Karl Schulz, a West German piano technician and retailer, who brought the business back to its feet. Schulz was able to make the business successful once again, even buying the factories Zimmerman, Euterpe and Hoffmann.