Chickering Quarter Grand Quality

[Christopher D. Purdy]

Terry,

I have two rebuilt Chick quarter grands in my flock and they are 
pretty nice little birds.  They were both rebuilt by Jack Krefting 
several years ago and both are stable and have a nice tone.  The old 
chicks do have their quirks in design and can be a little tricky to 
work on but overall I am very happy with both of them.

>When did Aeolian turn the Chickerings into....well,.... let's just 
>say - not what they once were?

That's nothing, look what Baldwin did to them!

>I service a 5' 7" 1907 Chickering Quarter Grand, scale 121. Just 
>tuned it today. Just curious if anyone has rebuilt one of these - 
>what kind of results has anyone had. It appears to be a massively 
>built piano. Very heavy sawn inner rim laminated outer rim. Heavy 
>bracing underneath, all arranged in a rather splendid manner. Back 
>scale on both the long bridge and bass bridge a "country mile" long 
>- I know Del would like that. 52 mm C88 speaking length. It only has 
>five ribs on the whole soundboard!
>
>Looks to me like a piano that would respond very well to an 
>efficient soundboard, maybe a separate low tenor bridge, etc., 
>etc.,. The width of this piano is only about two inches wider than 
>the 88-note keyboard.
>
>
>Terry Farrell
>


-- 
-Christopher D. Purdy R.P.T.  
-School of Music, Ohio University 
-Athens, OH  45701              
-mailto:purdy@ohio.edu  
-(740) 593-1656 office  
-(740) 593-1429 fax