Chickering tone

[Horace Greeley]

Mike,

What kind of tone are you getting now?

A Chickering of that vintage is going to have a _very_ different sound
compared even to one only 30 or so years newer.   Several thoughts:

 Look for more concentration of sound in the lower partials, with most
power in the first two, little in the way of upper partials.  (Many folks
describe this kind of tone as "sweet".)

Volume will be commensurately less than a more "modern" instrument.

Remember that this piano was designed for a maximum of A=435.  Going higher
than that will, at the very least, change the balance of the tone, with a
possibility of some structural damage.  Also, the original stringing will
have been with a lower carbon content steel (read iron) wire - noted
earlier, this is much, much different from what is currently available.

I guess what I'm suggesting here is to go slowly.  Others will have other
perspectives.  I must say that it has been a long time since I worked on
historical instruments like this.  I used to take care of several
Chickerings of similar vintage in LA, but things have changed a good deal
since then.

Please keep us informed on how this works out.

Thanks.

Horace







Horace Greeley			hgreeley@leland.stanford.edu

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