Chickering rebuild

[harvey]

Les, I've yet to see your original post come through the server, so will
tag my response onto another reply at the expense of a lot of >>>>>.

So far, I've read what Smith & Fandrich have written (is that a piano, a
cough drop, or a weapon?), and tried to find something... anything... to
take issue with. I was unsuccessful, including ending that last sentence
with a preposition!

I worked for a large dealership during this period. Among the primary -new-
pianos stocked were Mason & Hamlin, Knabe, and Chickering, along with a few
other stencil stragglers from the Aeolian pool. As part of landed quality
check (dealer prep), some of the Mason's were worthy of the effort, and
turned out to be nice pianos. The Knabe's went through the program, but the
results were not as dramatic (being polite). After a few attempts, it was
determined that any efforts on the Chickerings were exercises in futility.
They ended up (effectively) being unloaded off the truck, dusted off,
getting a floor tuning (a soft one at that), and sent out the back door
after sell-through.

My most recent private work on a Chickering was one from 1955, quite
earlier than the one you mention. The owner, as an accompanist, routinely
plays many other instruments, and wondered if I might make her Chickering
at least respond (not sound) like other pianos. It was head-scratching time
for a while -- the action refused to cooperate toward any of my cleaning,
lubing, and rough-in test samples. It was when I pulled a -wippen- pin and
noticed the horse-shoe shape that I had my first clue. I finally made it
respond better by repinning over 80% of the action. Client was elated with
the "power steering". Obviously, since she was the original owner, and she
had played it that way since day one. I was later told that this pinning
condition was typical of the sub-contracted labor force of American at the
time.

I suspect Les is right. Specifically, it's possible that your client's
"donor" (parents?) remembered the Chickering name from times past, and felt
they were doing the right thing with their selection. Who would tell them
otherwise? Now it's your turn to be the bearer of bad news, set the record
straight, and hopefully maintain peace in the family.

I wonder if this is one of those I didn't prep...

-jh-

>Les Smith wrote:
>> >       Now another question, regarding a 1970 or so Chickering grand.
>> > Badly needs regulation, and probably could use some hammer juicing. But
>> > is it worth a rebuild??  In this question, consider the owner has two
>> > graduate degrees in music, one of them in keyboard.  She got it as a high
>> > school grad. gift. But it doesn't give her much satisfaction these days.
>> > I think regulation will help a lot, but the piano itself isn't very
>> > powerful and sustain is quite poor.
>> >       What would you tell her?????????/


Jim Harvey, RPT
harvey@greenwood.net
________________________
I'm glad it's not my piano!
              -- Richard Davenport (date unknown)