At 06:56 PM 3/26/2006 -0600, you wrote: >Hello Listees, > >I've a question for those of you who have working knowledge of old, Really >Olde, Chickerings. I'm looking at an approx. 8' Chickering, #20961, late >1850's as a potential for myself, in my home. It needs everything, flat >strung (is that right, Ron?) haven't seen the action, but am wondering what >potential pitfalls this instrument may have that other rebuilds in general >might not. One area of concern (I've heard) is that there may be difficulty >in removing the plate. Anyone know of this as a consistent problem in old >Chickering grands? Anything else I may want to watch out for? > >Thanks all, >William R. Monroe The trickiest thing I found on the one here is that one of the plate bolts has what looks like a rivit head at the top. (bass corner) The nut and washer are on the bottom and easily seen _if_ you have the leg removed. With the leg still on, you could be scratching your head for a looooong time. The other fairly obvious, but harder to deal with if you want to preserve it, is the fancy moulding covering the gap between plate and stretcher. It is glued and tacked in place. Once those things are dealt with, the plate lifts straight up, pinblocks attached with multiple screws from below. Flipping the plate over, you see that the individual segments of block are attached to wood flanges and fit down into the plate. The blocks _may_ be final fitted using a filler of hide glue or shellac. (It was black, hard and brittle, and I didn't do forensics.) Some convincing may be necessary to pop them out of their places. I pin or two left in place and hammered, once all pinblock screws are removed, worked for me. YMMV good luck... Conrad Hoffsommer - Keyboard Technician Luther College, 700 College Dr., Decorah, Iowa 52101-1045 1-(563)-387-1204 // Fax 1-(563)-387-1076 - Right now, I'm hoping to live until my age matches my golf score, - Until then, I'll have to be content to have my IQ match my handicap.
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