Tallinn, Estonia —- Buying a grand piano from Estonia might seem as absurd as looking for fine champagne at McDonald's.

But what were once Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's favorite pianos are now in hot demand at dealerships across the United States.

Last year the Estonia Piano Factory exported 300 pianos, with 90 percent of them headed to the United States.

In quality and reputation, Estonia pianos are giving legendary Steinway & Sons a serious challenge. And many discerning musicians say that owning an Estonia piano —- almost completely made by hand —- is akin to owning a Stradivarius, the legendary violin famous for the quality of its sound.

Don Bennett, owner of PianoWorks in Duluth, sells Estonia pianos to buyers across the U.S. Southeast.

"Estonia pianos have a memorable tone, and hearing it is just like the first time you hear Frank Sinatra sing," he said in a telephone interview. "There are lots of fine instruments and all have unique characteristics, but Estonia has one of those memorable 'voices' you never forget," he said.

Steinway Piano Gallery in Austin, Texas, just received its first shipment of Estonia pianos.

"We may only get 10 a year because they don't make that many and they really are pieces of art," showroom manager Matthew Bird said. "The technicians that tuned the ones we just got in already have been raving about their sound and quality."

"We carry Steinways, and they do well, but the Estonia is something even more rare," he said.

In Georgia, PianoWorks has been selling Estonia pianos for about five years. They range in price from about $25,000 to upward of $65,000.

"There's been a buzz running on the Internet about Estonia pianos," Bennett said. "They cost less than a new Steinway or other premium European pianos, but that's not because of any shortcuts."

Indeed, the company only makes grand pianos, and the process to produce one takes three months.

"These pianos are works of art," said Venno Laul, Estonia Piano Factory's general manager.

A gift for Stalin

Estonians have been making pianos for more than 200 years.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries there were nearly 20 independent piano companies in a country of 1 million people.

The most notable of these was run by an Estonian craftsman and one-time Steinway & Sons employee named Ernst Hiis, whose handmade pianos from 1893 became the prototype of today's Estonia piano.

When the Soviets occupied and then annexed the Baltic state in 1940, the conquered country was required to present Stalin with a gift for his birthday. The Estonian Parliament chose a Hiis-made piano.

Stalin apparently loved the soft sound so much that he gave Hiis a huge factory so that all other Estonian piano workshops could be consolidated under his leadership and under the "Estonia" brand name.

Production peaked under the Soviets at 475 grand pianos a year. But with high-quality parts and materials increasingly hard to come by, the Estonia factory inevitably fell into decline after Hiis' death in 1964.

Once Estonia regained its independence in 1991 the factory's 130 employees bought the factory.

But without a global network of distributors the company failed to regain its earlier prominence. By 1995, production had dropped to 49 pianos a year.

Then in 2001, an Estonian concert pianist with a doctorate from the Juilliard School of Music in New York named Indrek Laul purchased the company.

Having grown up in Tallinn playing on Estonia grands, he'd never forgotten the way Chopin etudes, in particular, sounded when played on these models.

The musician, who moved to New York 18 years ago, began reaching out to the American market by altering the pianos' design, giving them shinier finishes, and making them not only in black but also in mahogany, walnut, rosewood and African bubinga.

"We are making an entirely different instrument now compared to what was made before," Laul said. "There are still 88 keys and the same amount of strings, but everything else changed."

Today his choirmaster father, Venno Laul, is in charge of running the factory while his mother, formerly the chief accompanist at the Estonian National Opera, has been enlisted to run her fingers over every piano before it is shipped off in U.S.-bound containers.

"America has bigger homes so it is a really good market for grand pianos, whereas there is more demand for uprights in Europe," Indrek Laul said.

Many of the 82 employees have worked in the company's dusty, noisy, five-story factory for decades.

Ilmar Soomre, who has worked here 27 years, tests the balance on nearly completed pianos by playing Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World."

"I'm proud to work here, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," Soomre said. "The country has a real pride in how these pianos are made."

The soundboard, the piano's heart, is made from spruce harvested in the European Alps. The felt comes from Belgium and the wire comes from Germany.

"We get nothing from Asia, as it's not as high quality," Venno Laul said.

The attention to detail is attracting fans from around the world.

Andy Quin, a British pianist who writes music for television, film and advertising, has just placed an order for a 9-foot grand piano for his recording studio.

"The Estonia is one of the very few pianos still handmade to order and ranks amongst the finest in the world," he said on his Web site. "After careful consideration of makes such as Steinway, Bluthner, Grotrian Steinweg, Yamaha and Schimmel, it was decided that the Estonia had the best tonal quality for my requirements coupled with superb craftsmanship."