Klira (Otto Johs. Klier GmbH) was a German string instrument manufacturer, from 1887 until 1982. Starting with the classic violin family of instruments, the production range was extended by acoustic and electric guitars around the 1950s. Klira was founded in 1887 by Johannes Klier in Schönbach, today Luby u Chebu in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. His son Otto Josef Klier took over the company in 1914. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the Klier family left the company in 1946. The company was soon re-formed in the

Franconia Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian languages, Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three Regierungsbezirk, administrative ...

region of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, in the city of

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 116,062 inhab ...

. This coincides in time and place with the founding of the

Framus Framus is a German string instrument manufacturing company, that existed from 1946 until going bankrupt in 1975. The Framus brand was revived in 1995 as part of Warwick GmbH & Co Music Equipment KG, in Markneukirchen, Germany. The company's cu ...

company by Fred Wilfer, also from Schönbach. In 1950, the Klira company was moved more permanently to

Bubenreuth Bubenreuth is a municipality in the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, in Bavaria, Germany. Location Bubenreuth is located near the river Regnitz and ca. 4 kilometers north of Erlangen with which it's structurally connected. Neighboring towns are ...

Sources

* Tony Bacon, Dave Hunter: ''Totally Guitar – the definite Guide'', Guitar encyclopedia. Backbeat Books, London 2004, {{ISBN, 1-871547-81-4.

External links

* http://www.vintageaudioberlin.de/vabframe/Gitarre.htm Guitar manufacturing companies Musical instrument manufacturing companies of Germany Companies based in Bavaria