Yes Charles, the "Golden Age" of American piano making ran from as early as 1885 to the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929, so anything later would not fit what we (what I on this forum) started calling the "Golden Age."
My boss has a 5'8" Golden Age Knabe that was recently completely rebuilt. It is an amazing, powerful, lyrical instrument with most of the properties of the original since the scale was not changed and the belly design was faithfully copied. Most Knabes of this age had pinblocks that just didn't last much over 60 years of hard use. They had good solid powerful bass sections, decent tenor with minimal noticeable break, but most amazing were the ranges above middle c where these pianos sang with a sparkling golden voice. This instrument's power to project tone was dramatically improved. It cost almost $20K to restore but was transformed from something worth maybe $1,500 (a dying piano) into an instrument worth in the low $20K's. The rebuilder elected to rebuild the existing action (it plays like greased lightening, a tribute to this rebuilder's skill at regulating) and use Abel hammers which were voiced back down to make the piano more mellow sounding than is usually the case. Old Knabes can be quite bright sounding. Side by side with most new pianos out of Asia, this piano would instantly win praise hands down. It just has far more character throughout. It's good for the next 60+ years.
Of course it might have been rebuilt carelessly (I have seen this) and none of these excellent qualities would have been brought out. There are many factors to consider when rebuilding an old piano. The goal is to make it look, sound and play as if brand new and had better be better than when brand new to succeed. My boss's piano plays and sounds like a new piano, but she elected to leave the antiqued case alone since her mother had done it. I would have had it refinished as a satin ebony.
What I'm concerned with at the moment is how wise it is to rebuild many of these, especially if the people doing it don't have the highest standards of workmanship and more, they have to have the spirit to make a great piano come to life again, and the more I look around, the more I'm convinced that many rebuilders simply don't have the skill or the talent. And consider that at the moment there are many very good pianos coming out of Asia, especially China, for very competitive prices. Does it still make sense?
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