The Knabe brand has its place in the history of legendary American upright pianos

William (German: Wilhelm) Knabe, like Henry Steinway or Franz Rudolph Wurlitzer, was a German emigrant - a carpenter who learned the art of making keyboard instruments already in Germany. He emigrated to Baltimore, Maryland with his family in 1831. After moving to the States, he planned to become a farmer, but managed to get a job as a piano maker for Henry Hartye. A few years later he decided to repair used pianos himself at home and sell them. This lasted a few years, and in 1837 he created his own brand of pianos, Wm. Knabe & Co. After a few years, William was joined by his partner Henry Gaehle, and together they created their own pianos, "square" upright pianos and high quality Knabe baby grand pianos under the name Knabe & Gaehle Co., winning recognition and first prizes. In the 1950s they had the largest workshop in the southern part of the United States.

The crisis and the rebuilding of Knabe

The sudden turn in 1854 and 1855 was very unfortunate for the Knabe piano factory, as two of their factories burned down in just 2 months! The financial losses were very serious. However, there were still other workshops of the company where it was still possible to produce instruments. Knabe decided to continue production and dissolve the company (Wm. Knabe & Co.) - Henry Gaehle soon died and his relative William took care of the separate production.

William Knabe was not discouraged and over the following years he undertook to build more factories, still maintaining the very high quality of his award-winning instruments. In 1860, a civil war broke out, which disrupted this good luck, and 4 years later William Knabe died leaving the company in the hands of his sons. During this period the business also expanded to the west coast, the factories employed over 200 people, producing over 1000 Knabe upright pianos and Knabe baby grand pianos per year. The manufacturer held a high position in the market after Steinway & Sons and Chickering brands.

The golden years of the Knabe brand

The company’s development was still gaining momentum, and the funds allowed for the purchase of prestigious locations for further workshops. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the brand reached Canada and the UK, and the number of people employed increased greatly. The Knabe brothers organized tours in places as prestigious as the Carnegie Hall or New York Metropolian Opera. Over the years, they have promoted Piotr Tchaikovski, Camille Saint-Saëns and Arthur Rubinstein and many others. In 1908 W. Knabe & Co. became a part of the American Piano Company, merging with the Chickering brand and others. Gradually the Knabe brothers’ influence was limited and they no longer had control over the details of production as before. A new branch of Knabe Brothers was also created.

Ownership changes and contemporary production of Knabe pianos

Subsequent transformations involved the merging of American Piano Corporation with Aeolian Piano Company into Aeolian-American Corporation. After the end of World War II, when the workshop was busy supplying the military, Aeolian-American, along with the Knabe brand, was bought by leading Winter & Co., then by Sohmer & Co. and Mason & Hamlin. Currently, since 2001, the Knabe brand has been owned by the Korean corporation Samick, whose branch is also located in Tennessee (office, factory and distribution center). The company maintains that the instrument mechanism is regulated in the American branch. Samick claims that in the production of Knabe pianos, it refers to the traditional construction of these instruments, maintaining the overall design. It is also the unique shape and size of the resonance bottom as well as the specific location of the bridge. However, these are upright pianos produced on a mass scale. The quality and the Knabe piano value can be proved by the fact that they have stood in the homes or offices of such famous figures as Walt Disney, Albert Einstein or Elvis Presley!