Chickering 1/4 Grand Action Rebuild

[Erwinspiano@aol.com]

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In a message dated 11/9/2002 7:47:32 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
pianobuilders@olynet.com writes:


> 
> 
>  
> >> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: <A HREF="mailto:mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com">Farrell</A> 
>> To: <A HREF="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</A> 
>> Sent: November 09, 2002 9:49 AM
>> Subject: Re: Chickering 1/4 Grand Action Rebuild
>> .
>>            Del I apreciate the perspective and encouragement you,ve give 
> here to Terry  on the Chickering 1/4 grand and with all due respect to the 
> both the perspective & encouragement factor you've given I must admit that 
> I find few people who are willing to spend the kind of real money to 
> satisfactorily repair  Sooo many problematic functions on one very small 
> piano. So the decision for me got to be how much money do I want to donate 
> to fixing someone elses beloved piano. Unfornutately this always the other 
> side of this coin. Yes many sound quite good. 

         The later larger 1920's Chickering the 5ft. 7" have some wonderful 
sounds with out 
> all the brass and pecularity's of the older smaller ones.
>     Every one goes thru times in there career where taking on such projects 
> for the challenge and instructive nature of such jobs is benificial. This 
> is a very important part of the learning curve and I apologize Terry  if my 
> comments were discouraging, if this is that time for you go for it with 
> gusto.
>   Regard >>>Dale Erwin

      Just my two cents worth

> Terry,
> I tend to agree with Robin on these pianos. Yes, they are challenging, but 
> they are usually so loved by their owners it is worth struggling through 
> with them. I've not yet encountered a Quartergrand owner that didn't just 
> love his/her piano!
>  
> The action is the only real problem and that is workable with some 
> ingenuity and trial and fit. Joe is also right--fitting a new keyset and 
> action stack is an exercise in frustration. So, don't bother trying to do 
> it. Work with the action configuration that is there. If the wood brackets 
> are coming apart, put them back together. In one case I soaked a set of 
> these brackets (actually for a piano other than a Chickering) in a bath of 
> coating epoxy for a few minutes until they were pretty well saturated, 
> removed them and hung them up to let all of the excess drain off. Before 
> the epoxy kicked over I inserted well-waxed screws in the various holes--to 
> thread them--and let the whole mess cure. After sanding and filing off all 
> of the excess hardened epoxy I had quite a nice looking and functioning set 
> of brackets. They were/are probably about a strong and stable as most 
> Select Metal modern brackets. The process worked well enough I'll be doing 
> it again to my Decker action brackets.
>  
> Rather than fussing with the originals, you might consider making new 
> action rails (without the brass inserts) and setting them up for some 
> suitable (i.e., modern = wooden) hammershank flanges and wippen flanges. By 
> getting a little creative with these actions there is almost nothing you 
> can't do. 
>  
> When you're finished you'll have a really happy customer. As I've said 
> before, the owners of these pianos tend to really love them. And they will 
> love you for bringing their babies back to life after everyone else has 
> written them off.
>  
> Del
>  
> PS: Yes, their bellywork can also be challenging, but still it's mostly 
> just good, creative woodworking. Don't be afraid of them just because 
> they're different. That's why God gave you a brain. The individual pinblock 
> pieces can be fitted to the plate in pretty much the normal fashion. And, 
> if you don't want to struggle with installing the pinblock bolts from the 
> bottom--again, it's difficult, not impossible--it doesn't take all that 
> much to drill and countersink and install them from the top per more normal 
> practice.  --ddf
>  
> 


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