[CAUT] Old Chickerings

[James Ellis]

Let's not be quite so quick to bad-mouth those old Chickerings, the latest
of which was a Quarter Grand.  Yes, the Quarter Grand was a fancy parlor
grand, and a departure from the big heavy models of the 1900-1910 period.  

As for the dampers that screwed on and damper wires that were threaded on
both ends - those were standard with Chickering for years.  Did anyone
notice that those wires are straight, with no "dog-legs" to make the
dampers line up? Those wippens and shanks at diverging angles, and those
repetition lever springs that loop into silk cords on each end are a pain
to regulate, but once you get them regulated, they provide repetition
that's second to none.  There are other features that may seem strange to
many of you, but if you will look more closely, you may see some logic to
what Chickering did from time to time - those pinblocks that were
integrated with the plate instead of the case, for example.

I own three 100-year-old Chickerings right now - a scale 116, a scale 119,
and a scale 131 concert grand.  Those wooden action brackets have not
swelled or shrunk one bit that I can tell, and the actions stay regulated.
They slide amoothly on the keybeds when the una corda is used, and do not
knock, despite the fact that there are no glides in the key frames.

Jim Ellis