Young Chang - History

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 (formerly) Pramberger models, and used to manufacture the Essex line for Steinway & Sons.

In 1990, Young Chang purchased Kurzweil Music Systems, a maker of high end electronic and digital musical instruments.

Joseph Pramberger, 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 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, China to manufacture its new Bergmann line. The Pramberger Platinum series, introduced in 2001 incorporated some German materials, but was ultimately yielded less than impressive results. This new series, manufactured in Incheon, brought Young Chang into the league of Chinese piano manufacturers, several steps down from Korean quality.

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