Knabe serial #

[Delwin D Fandrich]

John R Fortiner wrote:

> I made contact with a couple that live in a different city ( 300 miles
> away ) that own a Knabe grand.  They have been told all kinds of negative
> things about their piano - some of which may be true, but not all of
> them.  Anyway, I gave them my e-mail address and offered to date the
> piano if they could provide me with it's serial #.  Yesterday, the owner
> phoned and said that all they could find was A2 on the plate.  I have
> told them about other locations - soundboard, keyframe, under the
> instrument, tuning pin area, etc.  Do any of you know where Knabe most
> frequently placed the serial # ????  If so please let me know as these
> people would really like to know the age of their piano.  The Knabes that
> I have seen have always been worth putting major work into as the quality
> has been very high and I may have some major work coming out of this.
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>         John R. Fortiner

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John,

What kinds of negative things have they been told? We just got back from delivering a 7'
6" Knabe grand that was a real jewel. The delivery was a jewel, as well. Second floor
restaurant. It was lifted by crane, deposited on a small balcony and then dollied through
a sliding glass door into the building. Keeps life interesting.

It came to us in pieces -- literally. The lid was broken. The legs and lyre looked like
(and now are) kindling wood. Who knows what the original finish was.

It is now a rather nice mahogany. It has a nice, new exposed pinblock with a burl maple
face veneer. A rim and belly assembly (original) that will rival the best built by anyone
anywhere. A new board with a new cutoff bar and a redesigned rib set. New bridges shaped
cut to accommodate a new stringing scale. A new action stack and damper action, etc. This
piano will hold its own against anything being built today under 9' in length.

So, like I said. What kinds of negative things have they been told? (I'm assuming that
this is one of the Baltimore Knabe's, not one of the Korean/Chinese Knabe's.) If its just
that the piano is old, that can be remedied. Otherwise I'd suggest that perhaps the
tellers simply didn't know much about old Knabe's.

Del

PS. Their SN's are usually stamped on the plate under the lid prop. If the plate has been
refinished or scrubbed with something like 409, you may be out of luck.