Kimball Grand resembles B'dorf'

[J Patrick Draine]

I seem to recall reading or hearing at the time that Kimball brought  
over Bosendorfer techs to build prototypes, presumably in the process  
of developing the Kimball Viennese line. While I would tend to doubt  
they'd be building with all Bosendorfer parts etc., I suppose a group  
of real factory trained KlavierBauer would be able to create a hand  
made Bosey in French Lick with local materials. And I expect the  
prototypes would have been quite saleable.
Post some photos after you inspect it, please.
Patrick

On Mar 21, 2006, at 9:13 PM, Kent Swafford wrote:

> 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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