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The Petrof piano factory was founded in 1864 by Antonin Petrof in Hradec Králové, an industrial town located 100 kilometers east of Prague in the Czech Republic. Five generations of the Petrof family owned and managed the business, during which time the company kept pace with technical developments and earned prizes for its pianos at international exhibitions. The Czech Republic has long been known for its vibrant musical instrument industry, which also includes makers of brass, woodwind, and stringed instruments. At present Petrof exports to about 65 countries of Europe, America, Asia, Africa, Australia.

Currently Petrof manufactures 5000 vertical pianos and 900 grands annually and company has been for a long time the largest European piano maker.

Petrof makes seven sizes of grands and three sizes of verticals. The majority of components including hardware, plates, and cabinetry, are produced in Petrof or other Czech factories.

Together with production of new pianos, the Petrof company is engaged in renovation of old valuable pianos of any brand. Petrof´s craftsmen are able to turn a destroyed wreck into a beautiful looking and playing instrument, complete with all its original attributes.

In addition to all the normal activities of a great piano maker, the Petrof factory, from time to time, builds extra masterful custom-made pianos for special customers. These pieces are specially designed, original works of art, using the rarest materials. In this sphere Petrof knows no limits, and virtually anything consistent with good musical qualities can be designed and built.

Since 2007 all the Petrof brand name instruments are signed by special holographic destructive label EEX (European Excellence Musical Instruments), which declare the European origin of each instrument. Certificate EEX is granted by Consortium of EEX and CAFIM (Confederation of European Music Industries). This label cannot be removed without its destruction and cannot be used for any other instrument. The label contains a secret safety design and is impossible to falsify it.

The Petrof company has a certificate of “Environmental Management Systems” according to standard ISO 14001:1997 and a certificate of “Systems of Quality Assurance” according to standard ISO 9001:2001. The certificating body is accredited agency ITI TÜV and TÜV CZ.

Soundboards are fashioned of solid Bohemian spruce. Grand piano rims are largely of beech and birch, and our plates are of the wet sand-cast type. The grands and all verticals use special compressed laminated beech pinblocks. All grands produced now use Abel or Renner hammers. Keys are individually weighted. The grands all have a sostenuto pedal, the verticals a practice pedal (except 53" model P135, which has a sostenuto).

For many years Petrof used either Czech Detoa actions or German Renner actions or German Renner action parts, assembled in Petrof factory, depending on the model. The company has recently designed entirely new grand and vertical actions, called “Petrof Original,” which are being manufactured in a separate section of the Detoa factory under the supervision of Petrof engineers.

New concert grands 284, 237, 210 use German Renner actions. In the smaller models 194, 173, 159 you will find German Renner action, or “Renner-Petrof” action assembled in Petrof factory from Renner parts, or “Petrof Original” action assembled in Petrof factory from Czech Detoa parts.

At present the highest uprights models 135 and 131 use German Renner actions. The middle models 125 use “Petrof Original” actions made by Czech Detoa or “Renner-Petrof” actions assembled in the Petrof factory from Renner parts. Most of the smallest verticals 118 use standard Detoa actions. Part of their production is equipped with “Petrof Original” actions made by Detoa or by “Renner-Petrof” actions assembled in Petrof factory from Renner parts as mentioned.

Petrof has also invented and patented a version of its new grand action that uses tiny opposing magnets on the wippens and wippen rail, called “Magnetic accelerated action” – MAA. These magnets significantly alter the dynamic properties of the action and allow reduced amounts of lead weights in keys as a side effect. Special neodymium magnets help to initiate only the initial movement of the action parts when the key begins to move from the rest position. When the key is fully depressed, the effect of the magnets disappears giving enough space to control the touch and dynamics by player. The result is agile action with faster repetition, less fatigue, and less physical work needed to reach higher dynamic levels. The action is adjusted in the factory for a standard touchweight and it can be serviced in exactly the same way as a standard action. Any additional adjustment is not recommended because it can change the proper dynamics properties of action.

Petrof has a large research and development department, which is very productive. In addition to the innovations mentioned above, Petrof introduced in 2006 the new 210 “Pasat” grand, which contains a myriad of novel and interesting technical features and presents a new design of Petrof grands. This grand piano was created as the first offspring from our new family of concert grands. There are new structural solutions coming from our decades of experience gained by judging grand pianos made up to now. Our research department did many trials of different materials and their combinations, as well as calculations of string scales and their optimization. Then the development department designed the construction and built new grands in 2006 – 2008. This new generation of Petrof grands in its new unified design will be finished at the end of 2008.

Our new grands have innovative scale designs, centered on greater acoustic output. Petrof respects the frequent requests of piano technicians for single hitch pinning so in the tradition of the world's finest pianos, these new grands are single-strung. Our new pianos are equipped with front and rear tuned duplexes (duplex scale) throughout the treble. Therefore, the iron plates were specially extended in the hitching zone. This single hitching can be used only on the larger concert grands such as P 210 Pasat (2006), P 194 Storm (2007), P 284 Mistral (2008) and P 237 Monsoon (2008). The smaller grand models P 173 Breeze (2008) and P 159 Bora (2008) are designed similarly, with front and rear duplex scales, but without single hitching. This new smaller model will be placed on the market in 2009.

Duplex scales are the string sections in front of and behind the main active string. These strings sound in harmonic intervals with the main string section, enriching the tone and making it colorful and interesting. The anthracite coated duplex bridges (frets) are placed precisely on stainless steel base plates and define the sounding length of duplex sections. Anthracite duplex bridges correspond with graphitized bridge top caps. The descant bridge is done in the traditional Petrof way but there are some new materials used. The bridges are of solid maple, but the treble bridge is capped with solid ebony wood to increase sound projection of the higher frequencies. Selection of materials was subjected to results of long experience, acoustic research and subjective aural tests. The final effect is the perfect transmission of high string frequencies to the soundboard.

The soundboards of new Petrof grands are made in the traditional Petrof way again but their forming is new for better tone creation. The soundboards are tapered in a totally new way and have an asymmetric crown with asymmetric individually shaped ribs. This soundboard is more resistant to the pressure of the strings and it creates better acoustic performance from the piano.

Also the new Petrof grand's rims are created a little differently when compared with earlier pianos. Their construction looks the same at first sight, but uses materials that are entirely different. Some parts in the descant zone are made from solid maple, and a newly added descant beam is made from special plasticated and then compressed beech wood called LIGNAMON, which is a product of Czech technology. This material has a high specific density which means advanced physical and mechanical properties. This descant beam further stiffens the treble area to enhance projection of the treble tone. The front cross block of the inner wooden frame of models P 284, 237, and 210 is reinforced by an inserted steel profile. Between this reinforcing profile and the front part of the iron plate is placed an adjustable steel bolt, which transfers part of the iron plate loading to the robust wooden frame. Then the iron plate is loaded less which greatly supports tuning stability. All these factors increase the rigidity of the structure for better tonal projection. Peripheral soundboard molding of the rim is designed without any sharp arcs or corners which enables better vibration of soundboard. Continuous shape in the rim makes it easier to achieve proper slope of the soundboard moldings and thus the soundboard is less stressed. The result is a very impressive sounding and playing instrument with a warm, rich, singing tone, full of color.

You can recognize the new Petrof grand models by looking at their interior. Their iron plates are bright gold, polished, with a “diamond effect”. The inner face of the rim is veneered with luxurious dark macassar ebony with a streaked surface pattern, which contrasts with the bright iron frame. Using this rare exclusive ebony wood increases the unique impression our new instruments make, in conjunction with the flawless execution of scaling, single string hitching and the dramatic combination of contrasting red and black felts. The outer design of our new Petrof grands is still formal, and creates a noble impression.

For years, Weinbach pianos were made by the Petrof company and were virtually identical to Petrof brand pianos. Starting in 2008, Petrof will produce Weinbach 198 grands in China as a piano for price oriented customers. Recently Petrof, in cooperation with Chinese manufacturing elements, began producing economically priced pianos: first uprights, and later grands as mentioned above.

Since 2006 Petrof has been producing its more economical uprights in China, sizes 118 and 126 under the brand name Rösler, for European market. Since 2007 they have been produced under the brand name Scholze for Chinese market. Uprights of both the brands are identical, designed by Petrof, produced under the control of Petrof technicians.

Since 2007 Petrof has produced their Weinbach uprights as middle class pianos, in cooperation with Chinese manufacturing experts. Make no mistake - Weinbach uprights are completely designed by Petrof. They are imported from China as a semi-finished component and are completed with Petrof keyboards and Czech actions here in the Petrof factory. The Weinbach 118 uses Petrof keyboards and Detoa actions, the Weinbach 126 uses Petrof keyboards and Petrof Original actions. All the important operations such as keyboard balancing, keyboard assembly, action positioning and regulation, hammer glueing, voicing and tuning are done in the Petrof factory in accordance with European standards with the same care as all Petrof pianos receive.