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Hi Terry -
The only work I've done on the 1893 A.B. Chase upright I own is to
replace the hammers (heads only) and dampers, and that was app. 20 years
ago. Replacing action parts in this piano would be a step down in
quality. It is one of those rare beauties that has such a lovely
presence as is that I have not only felt no need to do any
'remanufacturing', I am not certain I would like the change in character.
Despite all logic, there are a few examples of well-made pianos that age
rather gracefully, and this is certainly one of them. An exception to
the rule, to be sure, which is exactly why I chose to make it my personal
piano.
As to the refinish question... yes, I did refinish it - 20 years ago. It
was covered in orange paint, which had been applied over 4 other equally
obnoxious colors. The case is extremely ornate, as is somewhat typical
of 1893, and as such represented a rather ornery refinishing task. This
was before I was spraying finishes, and I used a penetrating oil finish
(Watco). The finish has held up amazingly well, although it is true it
has been treated rather kindly.
To address the other part of your question, my pricing on refinishing
uprights varies considerably. Some cases are rather plain, with little
or no veneer damage, while others can be very ornate, and require a fair
amount of veneer replacement, etc... That being said, I would say the
range is $2500 - $4,000 for 95% of all upright jobs. Most fall between
$3,000 - $3500. There ARE exceptions, of course....
Mark Potter
bases-loaded@juno.com
On Sat, 3 May 2003 09:27:08 -0400 "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
writes:
> Interesting. Have you done much work on it? I was very surprised to
> hear the bright bold bass strings on the one I looked at.
>
> Now let me guess....... you've refinished it? In your opinion, how
> long does it take to refinish an upright (grain filled & rubbed)
> compared to a 5' 8" grand? Put another way let's say your fee for
> refinishing the grand is $4,000. How much would you charge for the
> upright?
>
> Terry Farrell
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <bases-loaded@juno.com>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Friday, May 02, 2003 11:00 PM
> Subject: Re: A B Chase Upright
>
>
> > Terry -
> >
> > My personal piano is an 1893 A.B. Chase upright. Magnificently
> built
> > instrument. There are quite a few A.B. Chase's in Ohio as one of
> their
> > plants was in Norwalk, Ohio. Particularly nice bass. Original
> shanks
> > are still arrow straight, and perfectly spaced after 110 years of
> Ohio
> > weather. And 20 years of my playing...
> >
> > Mark Potter
> > bases-loaded@juno.com
> >
> > On Fri, 2 May 2003 22:19:53 -0400 "Farrell"
> <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
> > writes:
> > > In the spirit of David Love's post on a nice-sounding piano,
> here is
> > > another. I inspected a 1912 A. B. Chase upright today ("is this
> > > piano worth tuning?"). It's overall condition for this old a
> pianos
> > > was about 96 percentile (obviously not saying a whole lot). It
> > > appeared to be quite the piano. It had an open pinblock with
> wooden
> > > top-bass string termination. It had four string sections. It did
> not
> > > have a tenor bridge, but the long bridge had absolutley NO
> hockey
> > > stick end. It had a vertically laminated long bridge. Amazingly,
> it
> > > was in relatively good shape - all keys straight as an arrow,
> clean
> > > action, robust-sounding bass - pretty amazing for a 91 year old
> gal.
> > > If I were looking for an upright to remanufacture, I would snap
> this
> > > one up real quick.
> > >
> > > Terry Farrell
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > pianotech list info:
> https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
> > >
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
> > pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
> _______________________________________________
> Refinish list info: http://www.ptg.org/mailman/listinfo/refinish
>
>
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