Swiss-born Henry Wegman, who had worked at Steinway, started making pianos in Ithaca, New York, in 1882 and moved the firm to Auburn in 1887. Wegman pianos used a patented tuning pin meant to hold tune longer, and output reached about 1,200 pianos a year. After financial trouble around 1915 the name passed to new owners, and from 1922 Estey used it.