Charles Frederick Stein established his firm in Chicago in 1924 after many years of working with Mr. Hampton L. Story (of Story & Clark).  The factory was located at 3047 West Carroll St., Chicago.  Mr. Stein’s personal vision was to build the world’s finest pianos, and his instruments were known to be of superior quality and craftsmanship.

At first the firm built only grand pianos and grand player pianos, but later introduced upright and studio pianos to their line in 1931.  One of Charles Frederick Stein’s more memorable inventions was a “tone chamber” located between the strings and soundboard, patented in 1934.

Charles Frederick Stein went out of business in 1942 with the onset of World War II.  The firm only built pianos for 18 years, and instruments by Charles Frederick Stein are quite rare today.  The few surviving instrument we have restored do reflect Stein’s vision of building top quality instruments.

Note: Some mid-century modern piano manufacturers like Story & Clark and Lowery produced console pianos during the 1960s – 1970s using Charles Frederick Stein scale designs. Some of the labeling on these pianos can be misleading while making it appear the instrument was built by Charles Frederick Stein when in reality the instrument is an entirely different brand name that only uses the C. F. Stein scale design.