upright surprise!

[Newton Hunt]

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.