 The company says that the Lothar Thomma-designed Ritmuller pianos feature European scale designs and use high end European components, and smaller, slower production to allow more hand-finishing work.Some of the differences between Pearl River and Ritmuller include the Thomna designed lower tension German scales, piano felt from Filzfabrik Wurzen GmbH in Germany, Roslau higher level (than Pearl River brand) German strings, real Ebony wood sharps in place of plastic sharps and Abel German hammers in the Performance Series and Renner German Hammers in the Premium series.The Performance series also has a different action design, different rim design material spec and a great deal more hand work reflecting its position as the finest piano the company builds.