Not really. Newton Les Smith wrote: > > On Wed, 7 Jan 1998, thart wrote: > > > Dear List, > > > > I recently purchased an upright piano, circa.1866 ,in totally > > original condition.........with a "bird-cage" type damper lever system , > > made by .....CHICKERING.....! Ever heard of that one? > > > > Sincerely, > > > > Michael W. Hart > > thart@tcnet.net > > The good news about posting a question to Pianotech is that it gets > answered. The bad news is that you might not like the answer you get. > It is indeed rare to discover a upright piano built before the com- > pletion of the Trans-Continental Railroad, which is in all original > condition and still, apparently, tunable and playable,(which is what > you seem to be implying), unless it is a Steinway. No other "big name" > manufacturer of pianos I can think of exhibited a greater disparity of > quality between their grand and upright pianos than did Chickering. I > have seen many fine old Chickering grands that were indeed worth the > cost of rebuilding. I have never seen a single old Chickering upright > which warranted a second look. Self-destructing soundboards, bridges, > pinblocks literally seem to have been intentionally built into them, > in addition to odd-ball, disintegrating actions not worth the bother of > trying to salvage, even if one cold find replacement parts for them, > which you can't. By no stretch of the imagination were old Chickering > uprights anywhere NEAR the quality of similar vintage Steinways. No > way. > To further complicate matters, your old Chickering has an obsolete, > "birdcage" action. Most piano technicians, myself included, are of the > opinion that bird cages are for the birds and have no place in a piano. > Its presence also tells you that while leaders like Steinway were al- > ready using over-stringing, Chickering was still plodding along with > old-fashioned straight stringing. > What it all comes down to is this: While you do, indeed, have an old > and rare piano, those qualitites unfortunately don't add up to a VALU- > ABLE piano, as you might expect. There is virtually no market at all > for old Chickering uprights such as yours. Action parts have been > unavailable since the advent of indoor plumbing. Even trying to find a > technician who would be willing to try to tune and service one of those > archaic beasts is going to be difficult, to say nothing of EXPENSIVE. > To be fair, I have to add, however, that each piano is an individual, > which has to be evaluated in terms of its own merits and short-comings. > Perhaps, years ago, Chickering's quality-control department did acci- > dentally let a good upright slip past them, and you now have it in > your possession. If so, it would be a first, because I certainly have > never seen another. > In the end, what really matters is what YOU think of the piano. If > you like the way it looks and sounds and plays, that's what's im- > portant. HOWEVER, I suggest that you don't give up your job in the hopes > that you can sell it for BIG BUCKS and retire on the proceeds, because > that just isn't going to happen. Ever. > You conclude you post by asking us if any of us have ever heard of an > old Chickering upright with a birdcage action. Most of us have. How- > ever, most of us have also heard of the Hindenburg, the Titanic and > Ground-Zero, too. The fact that we've heard of something doesn't mean > that we actually want to be there in person! :) > Enjoy your piano. > > Les Smith > lessmith@buffnet.net > > PS Maybe Newton Hunt will have more to say on this subject when he re- > turns from vacation.
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