<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div bgcolor="#ffffff"><div dir="ltr" align="left"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000FF" face="Arial" size="2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;"><br></span></font></div><div class="OutlookMessageHeader" lang="en-us" dir="ltr" align="left"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><b>From:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Kendall Ross Bean [<a href="mailto:kenbean@pacbell.net">mailto:kenbean@pacbell.net</a>]<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br><b>Sent:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Monday, July 21, 2008 12:54 AM<br><b>To:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>'Pianotech List'<br><b>Subject:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>RE: chickering quarter grand damper configuration<br></font><br></div><div></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">Charles~</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">(You didn't say what scale/model # your 1/4 grand was, but here goes...)</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">If it's anything like the scale 121 I did, it certainly seems the "previous tech" who did your piano was just slavishly duplicating what the factory originally put there. (Which is what I also did, slavishly trying to duplicate the original; not yet feeling up to re-engineering the damper configuration or questioning the competence of the original scale designers. -I will leave that up to our esteemed,  illustrious, and eminently qualified colleague, Dr. Nossaman, or one of his peers on this listserve...).</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><font face="Arial"><font color="#0000ff"><font size="2"><span class="396414604-21072008">The scale 121 Chickering quarter grand I rebuilt was pretty much all original parts (including damper felts). It was a circa 1904 serial # 104426.</span> <span class="396414604-21072008">Approx 5' 6" or 5' 7",  25 bass.</span></font></font></font></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">What I wrote down in my notebook for original damper configuration was:</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">Bass (below break): wedges (single, bichord and trichord) in front, pads (flat felts) in the rear. (Yep, that's right, pads in back.)</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">Treble(above break): Pads (flat felts) both front and back, all the way up in treble. (I double-checked; weird, but that's what it was.)</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">Yes, strange, isn't it? Perhaps they wanted the piano to have a little more "reverb?"</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">The point being, at least on my Scale 121, they weren't averse to using pads on the wound (bass) strings (although they subsequently changed this configuration on later pianos, see below re: Scale 133.) However, note that the wound strings below the break on Scale 121 still had wedges in the front, it was just above the break that there were pads on both front and rear. </font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">This scale 121, however, had no wound strings above the break. (There were 63 plain wire unisons above the break.) Sounds like maybe your 1/4 grand isn't a Scale 121...?</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">The string sizes were written in pencil on the plate, and were identical to what I measured with the micrometer when I removed the (original) strings. Also checked them with Travis' Restringing Guide. Tuning pins, curiously were tapered: 2 3/8" x .268 at the foot of the thread to .282 at the top. Blued pins.</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">I also rebuilt/have notes on, a Scale 133 Chickering quarter grand, circa 1915 serial #125794 approx. 5' 8".  25 bass hammers. Again, pretty much all original (strings, tuning pins, damper felts, etc.)</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">It also had 63 plain unisons (but different string sizes than the scale 121.) There were no wound strings above the break on this one either. The bass string configuration was similar to what was on the "Scale 121": 9 single strings, 10 bichords, 6 trichords.</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">This one (Scale 133) had the standard single<span class="186334204-22072008">, </span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>bichord<span class="186334204-22072008">, </span><span class="186334204-22072008">and trichord </span>wedges on both front and rear of the damper heads in the bass.</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">But in the treble there were wedges in the front for the 1st 14 dampers up from the break, wedges in the rear for the first 12 up from the break, and the rest were pads (flat felts).</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">Tuning pins on Scale 133 were parallel sided, rather than tapered, # 2/0. Still blued.</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">Trust Chickering to do something different each time.</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">What is the scale # on your quarter grand plate?</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">Enclosed are some photos of the Scale 121, sorry about the picture quality, it was back before I got my digital camera...In one of the photos hopefully you can see a close up of the damper felts from the rear...all pads/flat felts, even in the bass....</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">If you need, I will see if I can dig up some photos of the Scale 133...</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">~Kendall Ross Bean</font></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><div align="left"><div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="533361603-16112007">PianoFinders</span></font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="533361603-16112007"><a title="http://www.pianofinders.com" href="http://www.pianofinders.com/">www.pianofinders.com</a></span></font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="533361603-16112007">e-mail:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a title="mailto:kenbean@pianofinders.com" href="mailto:kenbean@pianofinders.com">kenbean@pianofinders.com</a></span></font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="533361603-16112007"></span></font> </div><div><span class="533361603-16112007"><font face="Arial"><font color="#0000ff"><font size="2"><em>Connecting Pianos and People</em><span class="186334204-22072008"> </span></font></font></font></span></div><div><span class="533361603-16112007"><font face="Arial"><font color="#0000ff"><font size="2"><span class="186334204-22072008"></span></font></font></font></span> </div><div><span class="533361603-16112007"><font face="Arial"><font color="#0000ff"><font size="2"><span class="186334204-22072008"><em>P.S. Because the strings are so close together on these quarter grands, VERY narrow dampers are needed. The last damper felt I used on one these was the Japanese Upright Damper Felt Strips from Pianotek, which I custom cut to length (these are horizontal cut grain -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></em><em>Part number FDJ-U1, FDJ-U2, FDJ-U3 and FDJ -UT. They worked very well.) I have also used the Schaff # 1550, 1551 and 1552, in the past, but that is vertically cut felt. I believe horizontally cut felt is what was originally used.</em></span></font></font></font></span></div></div></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="396414604-21072008"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span>Photos at:</div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><br></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><a href="http://tinyurl.com/57phnt">http://tinyurl.com/57phnt</a></span></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><br></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><a href="https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/files/2008-July/000306.html">https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/files/2008-July/000306.html</a> </div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><br></div><div dir="ltr" align="left"><br></div><br><div class="OutlookMessageHeader" lang="en-us" dir="ltr" align="left"><hr tabindex="-1"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><b>From:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>CHARLES BECKER [<a href="mailto:cbeckercpt@verizon.net">mailto:cbeckercpt@verizon.net</a>]<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br><b>Sent:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Sunday, July 20, 2008 6:46 AM<br><b>To:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pianotech List<br><b>Subject:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>chickering quarter grand<br></font><br></div><div></div><div><font face="Arial" size="2">While the minds are on the chickering quarter grand,  what is the correct damper felt configuration for the wound tri-cords below and above the break.  This particular piano had the damper felts replaced but the tech used flat felts front and back on the wound tri-cords.  This can't be correct.  Needless to say, this one is a bleeder.  any help would be appreciated.</font></div></div></span></body></html>