Last night we returned from a very enjoyable and informative visit to the Schimmel factory in Braunschweig for their 2011 Dealer Meeting and we have plenty of exciting news to reveal over the coming days.  It was a wonderful opportunity to see Schimmel at work, and also to meet with our piano industry colleagues from the UK, Germany, Australia, Vietnam, China, Poland, and Norway.Our visit began with a tour of the piano factory which showed just how much meticulous care and attention goes in to designing, building and finishing Schimmel instruments.  Every part of the factory and its staff clearly demonstrates Schimmel's unwavering ambitions to produce the finest quality instruments.  A recital on two Schimmel Konzert 280 concert grands on Monday evening demonstrated the impressive results of this passion, filling the concert room with a depth of sound and dynamic range that would be a superb achievement for any manufacturer.  The flexibility of the K280 was further displayed as two Schimmel employees provided background popular music at an external venue during our evening meal.At the core of yesterday's programme was the unveiling of a re-launched Vogel line-up, including a superb new V180 grand piano which is likely to become major competition to the established contenders at its size and price.  More information, including pictures of this excellent new instrument, will be posted here later!