chickering

[Dave Nereson]

----- Original Message -----
From: <JWyatt1492@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2002 9:40 AM
Subject: chickering


> Hello to All,
>
>     Its great to see this interest in old pianos.
> Chickering had a full plate in Squares in 1837.
> In 1840 he built a grand (winged piano) with a
> full plate. He got around to getting a patent
> in 1843.  By the way this plate was mortised
> into the case.
>   Aeolian bought Chickering in 1909.
> At that time the most popular Chickening
> grands were the 77, 109, 110, 116, and 105.
> Not real good pianos, but for then they were
> the best.
>     Then the 123 and 133 came along  and they
> both were very inconsistent. Neither offered assurance
> of success when you rebuilt one.
>     Aeolian then came out with the 135, the 145
> and the 123-A.  These were great pianos. The
> 145 is one of the four best 5ft 8in grands in the world.
> The 135 was a good 5ft 3in. and the 123- A  a great
> 6ft.3in.
>    Bottom line is that Aeolian improved these pianos.
> This is contrary to the  popular perception about
> Aeolian.  The facts seem to always be dull, the rumors
> are always better and it seems also that we accept
> something bad quicker that something
> good.
>   I had the good fortune to rebuild a "145", a Conover "77"
> and a Mason&Hamlin "A-6" in a row.  I hope all of you
> have this good fortune one day.
>
> Regards to All,
> Jack Wyatt
>
>
    I think the reason for the poor reputation of Aeolian products comes not
from their early years, but from the mediocre products of the second half of
the 20th Century -- the cheap, thin-sounding, spinets, consoles, and small
grands with poor quality of construction and materials, but carrying names
of makes that were once the finer quality pianos, like Chickering, Ivers &
Pond, Henry F. Miller, Knabe, Mason & Hamlin, Weber, etc.  On top of that is
the slogan along the lines of "made in America by American Craftsmen",
which adds an ironic insult to injury.  It's like the Wessell, Nickel, &
Gross actions -- once the best (early 1900's) but in later years (1960's) a
mockery of their former quality.      --David Nereson, RPT, Denver