The Schubert Piano Company was established in New York City in 1880 by Mr. Peter Duffy, and then incorporated in 1885 with Mr. Duffy as president. The firm built very well made pianos, with several rather extravagant models were available.  By the turn-of-the-century, Schubert was building an impressive line of upright pianos, player pianos and baby grand pianos.  Schubert also produced a very successful line of player pianos under the “Automatic Player Piano Company” brand name.

Perhaps Schubert was best known for their “Mandolin Piano”.  The “Mandolin Piano was an upright piano equipped with a mechanism that dropped metal tabs between the piano hammers and strings via pressing the middle pedal.  This effect gave the instrument the sound of a mandolin, zither, banjo or guitar.  The Schubert Piano Company even composed and published special sheet music for the Mandolin Piano, and it was marketed very aggressively. This unique sound quickly caught on and became widely known as the “rinky tink” or “honky tonk” piano sound used in saloons and bars across the land for decades.

The Schubert Piano Company was purchased by The Lester Piano Company in 1932.  Lester continued to build pianos under the Schubert brand name until 1937.