American Made Pianos

An Outstanding Manufacturing Tradition

Service Icon

Knabe

Factory Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Serial Number Dates: 1859 - 1983

History:

The Knabe Piano company was established in 1837. The company made pianos for over a century, and was eventually aquired by the Aeolian-American and American Piano Companies. Knabe is especially known for its concert grands made in the early part of the 20th century.

 

Information source: Pierce Piano Atlas

The Resonance of a Continent: The American Piano Tradition

The American piano manufacturing tradition is a story of unparalleled craftsmanship meeting the boundless natural resources of a new world. At its heart lies the selection of materials—most notably the vast, old-growth spruce forests of the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast. These superior stands of Sitka and Adirondack spruce provided the tight-grained, resonant timber essential for crafting the world’s finest soundboards, offering a tonal depth and "singing" quality that European makers envied. Combined with a relentless spirit of industrial innovation, American makers refined the overstrung scale and the heavy cast-iron plate, creating instruments of such structural integrity and powerful projection that they redefined the modern piano.