Kimball Grand resembles B'dorf'

[Carlos Ralon]

Kent:
No Bosendorfer pianos were made at the Kimball factory.  I was a Kimball 
dealor for 30 years, and have been to the factory many times.  They made the 
Classic Series grands in 2 five foot models, and the 6'8 or 10" size.  These 
were similar sizes to the Bosy.  They even made a few 9' models but not too 
many.  On one trip they invited us dealers to inspect about six demo grands 
at the factory.  They had burned in the Bosendorfer logo into the soundboard 
of all of them and asked the guest to identify the solid as opposed to the 
laminated boards.  We listened for tone, carry, power, etc.  It was hard to 
tell by that method.  As a dealor/technician it was easy to notice the grain 
pattern was different from the top to the bottom of the laminated boards. 
They had no Bosy parts, and very few if any Bosey techs worked on any 
Classic models.  I started as a dealor with Kimball in 1969.  They acquired 
Bosendorfer in the late 70's.. You can check Fine's Piano Book.  We used to 
call them "KimballDorfers".
Carlos Ralon, RPT
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kent Swafford" <kswafford at earthlink.net>
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 9:13 PM
Subject: Kimball Grand resembles B'dorf'


>I got a call a few days ago from a man who swears he owns a pecan  finish 
>french provincial Kimball grand that was built by Bosendorfer  techs with 
>Bosendorfer parts, material, and design here in the United  States in the 
>late 1960's. He says for all intents and purposes it is  a Bosendorfer but 
>with the Kimball name on it.
>
> At first I figured he had a Viennese model Kimball grand that some 
> salesman had oversold, but he eventually got me convinced. His 
> description of the piano was very detailed and seemed to describe a 
> Bosendorfer. The man knew Roger Weisensteiner and had recently talked  to 
> Jon Light. Light only goes back 20 years or so with the company  and knows 
> nothing of this.
>
> This would have been from the time after Kimball bought Bosendorfer.  Does 
> anyone know when that was?
>
> Does anyone know of any other pianos like this? There were supposedly  as 
> many as 100 of these.
>
> The owner wishes to properly value the piano for insurance purposes. 
> (Yeah, I know. If it has a Kimball name on it, then it probably has a 
> Kimball value as well.)
>
> Thanks for any info anyone might have.
>
>
> Kent
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