A piano arrived at a workshop in Byblos as a box of fragments, recovered after the Beirut port explosion. It was put back together by hand, the first time a piano had been reassembled that way in the Middle East, and LBCI filmed the result. The work was done at Basbous & Sons, the piano house Pierre Basbous founded in 1995 and still runs today.
Three Pianos and One Refusal
Basbous opened the business in Byblos with three instruments and a clear decision about what he would not sell. Cheap pianos were flooding the Lebanese market at the time, and he would not put his name on any of them. He chose to carry Steinway & Sons, Yamaha and Kawai, and nothing else.
With that came the guarantee the house is still known for: a lifetime warranty on structure and workmanship, on every piano sold. Thirty years later the rule has not changed, and neither has the list of brands on the floor.
The Pianist Behind the Showroom
Basbous came to the trade as a player, not a dealer. His career took him to the concert stage and on tour through France and Qatar, then into residencies in Lebanon's hotels. He spent more than twenty five years as resident pianist at the Phoenicia, and performed at the Four Seasons, Hilton, Kempinski, Radisson Blu and Rotana. He still performs.
What Sits on the Byblos Floor
Built alone and by hand over three decades, the Byblos space is now the largest piano showroom in Lebanon. Grands and uprights share the floor with rare original art-case instruments, the kind bought as much for the cabinet work as for the sound. Buying is only part of the business: the house also tunes, restores, and rents instruments for concerts.
Customers range from families buying a first upright to venues and performers who need an instrument prepared for a specific night. Because Basbous plays, every piano that leaves the showroom has been judged by someone who would have to sit at it.
The Atelier That Takes What Others Turn Away
Restoration is where the house separates itself. Basbous & Sons runs the only French-certified atelier in Lebanon, and its technicians are the only French-certified piano technicians in the country. Instruments that other workshops refuse are accepted here, the port explosion piano among them. Steinway itself has recognised the house, and original art cases prepared in Byblos have been shipped to Qatar.
A Registry for Every Piano in the Country
In 2026 the house launched the Basbous & Sons Piano Registry, the first record of its kind in the region. Any piano in Lebanon can be entered, free of charge, whether or not it came from the Byblos showroom. It is an attempt to keep track of what is actually in the country, instrument by instrument.
Basbous sums up thirty years in a single line. "I am a pianist first. I only ever sold what I would still want to play in thirty years."
See the collection at Basbous & Sons.
