Serial number: 12447. This Cameo model Kemble was manufactured by Kemble & Co. in London and rebranded Bernhard Steiner in South Africa.
This incredibly cheerful piano is a wonderful statement in positivity and joy. Finished in Granny B’s chalk paint (July 2025), the colour is Poison Ivy, perhaps in contrast to the smile it brings.
The tone is amazing and incredibly rich, something that is rather unexpected from a British-manufactured small piano. It’s a how-do-they-do-it situation. It has 88 keys – with a medium firm touch weight – and 2 pedals. The pianos dimensions are a height of 102 cm (in grand mode with the top up, it reaches 142cm on the right), a width of 144,5 cm and a depth of 59 cm.
The JAE 413 Kemble (Rebranded Bernhard Steiner) upright piano and stool is currently hired out.
The following photographs show how the piano looked when it was being painted. The chalk paint looks rather ‘chalky’ before it is sealed.
We had plans for a rather unusual finish for this piano: a brushed green-stained over wood finish. The graining was amazing! Unfortunately, the green stain just did not show well enough, and it just did not work out. These photos also highlight the damage that one can do to the casing of a piano by putting a water-filled vessel on it
