Knake Munster symmetrical Grand

[Aran.Nagendran]

Hello all,

I have acquired/rescued a knake symmetrical grand piano; intended for the skip. I have done some research and have identified that it might have been made between 1808 and 1917, when the company was liquidated.

This piano has seen the sun but all the the hammer mechanisms work fine.

There are no numbers on the keys but it does have a number on the soundboard: 11212. Is this the serial number?

I would be ever so grateful if someone could provide me more info on this model. Also, i would like to find out when this particular grand was made.

Thanks

Aran Nagendran

[Bill Kibby]

Sadly, no archives or dates of serial numbers are available, but the company certainly continued long after 1917. They did have a patent for a symmetrical grand in 1904, and a copy of this is on the internet, but I can't find the link at the moment.

Is there any chance you could post some photos here, or email them to me to post? I would need to see what the whole piano looks like on the outside, and any interior details would be a bonus.

For general notes on grands, see
http://www.pianohistory.info/grand.html

That page also mentions that "Several makers produced grands which were designed to be symmetrical, either semi-circular like Knake’s 1904 patent, or a longer shape with a bentside on each side, such as those made by Bluthner, Bosendorfer, Hoelling & Spangenberg, Ibach, etc.. Morley and Emil Pauer made something between the two, short, but with the two bentsides." Interestingly, the internet being as it is, some of the Knake grands described as symmetrical are not!

If the piano has been in direct sunlight, it may be untuneable, see
http://www.pianohistory.info/central.html