Klira was a German string instrument

String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...

 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 1950:s.

Klira was founded in 1887 by Johannes Klier in Schönbach

Schönbach

Schönbach may refer to the following places:* Schönbach, Austria, in Lower Austria, Austria* Schönbach, Saxony, in the district Löbau-Zittau, Saxony, Germany* Schönbach, Sebnitz, a former municipality in Saxony, now part of the town Sebnitz, Germany...

, today Luby u Chebu in the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

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

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

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

Franconia

Franconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a small part of southern Thuringia, and a region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Tauberfranken...

 region of Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

, in the city of Erlangen

Erlangen

Erlangen is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located at the confluence of the river Regnitz and its large tributary, the Untere Schwabach.Erlangen has more than 100,000 inhabitants....

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

Framus

Framus is a German guitar, bass, lap steel guitars and banjo 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 ....

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

Bubenreuth

Bubenreuth is a municipality in the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, in Bavaria, Germany....

.

Sources

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