I believe Chickering made a few uprights before 1858, but of a different design, and mostly much earlier, according to Greg Bennett of the Chickering Foundation. The main focus was on squares, as with all American piano manufacturers, at least until the 1860s, and mostly until the 1880s.
Shift pedals for uprights were actually fairly common, as Montal writes, but mostly used for tuning. The same was true for grands, I believe going back to at least one of the Cristoforis. The 1791 Broadwood grand at Norfolk had a una corda "stop" (a lever that would hold it at una corda), for tuning purposes. Many piano designs made it pretty inconvenient to get a muting wedge where it needed to be, especially the really old, enormous uprights where the strings were behind the soundboard and the hammers moved toward the player.
Montal was not a fan of the soft pedal that simply moved the hammer rail toward the strings, leaving lost motion. In the mid 1850s he invented a compensator system that lowered the keys as it moved the hammers toward the strings, calling it the expression pedal.
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Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm@unm.eduhttp://fredsturm.nethttp://www.artoftuning.com"We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same." - Carlos Casteneda
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-07-2018 09:35
From: Peter Grey
Subject: Chickering upright 18xx?
Fred,
Thanks so much again for this info. It's great. The serial number on the piano in question is certainly missing (at least on the front side of the piano).
Does anyone know how many of these things were made? I am wondering if it was an experimental model (as we know Chickering was famous for this kind of thing). Or does anyone have evidence of an earlier vertical model from Chickering?
I know that Smithsonian has the Chickering records as I have checked them there before. Maybe ill take another look.
Pwg
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Peter Grey
Stratham NH
603-686-2395
pianodoctor57@gmail.com
Original Message:
Sent: 01-07-2018 00:48
From: Jason Leininger
Subject: Chickering upright 18xx?
Great little piano. Thanks for posting about it. Fred thanks for posting about the una corda. I purchased an 1850 Lemuel Gilbert upright with a true una corda pedal as it is only double strung, it also has a birdcage action. i will try to post some pictures if people are interested.
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Jason Leininger
Pittsburgh PA
412-874-6992
Original Message:
Sent: 01-06-2018 15:24
From: Fred Sturm
Subject: Chickering upright 18xx?
The serial number is quite obvious, on the plate - look at the photos on the web page. (I had left the photo of the serial number off when I redid the page a month ago, so I just put it back up). However, the serial number may not be original. If it is original, it was inked over and altered.
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Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm@unm.edu
http://fredsturm.net
http://www.artoftuning.com
"We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same." - Carlos Casteneda
Original Message:
Sent: 01-06-2018 14:19
From: Peter Grey
Subject: Chickering upright 18xx?
Fred,
I just now watched the video and as soon as I saw it I said: "That's it!" Serial number still a mystery on this other piano. Where did you find it on that one?
You nailed it. Thanks for shooting this video!
Pwg
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Peter Grey
Stratham NH
603-686-2395
pianodoctor57@gmail.com
Original Message:
Sent: 01-06-2018 14:09
From: Fred Sturm
Subject: Chickering upright 18xx?
That instrument is virtually identical to the one in the PTG Foundation's museum at the home office (originally owned by Laura Keene and present at Lincoln's assassination). Take a look at the photos on this page of the Foundation website. The date is almost certainly 1858-1859 (based on what Greg Bennett of the Chickering Foundation tells me). He also tells me that the serial number on the piano is incorrect, as it doesn't correspond to an upright in the factory logs. It seems likely that it is close, but was re-inked on the plate incorrectly at some point.
I was puzzled by the over damper action, but when I investigated, I discovered there was a reason: the soft pedal shifts the hammer rail, so it acts as an una corda pedal. Having over dampers makes that possible, as the dampers remain in place while the hammers move. I had never seen anything like that, but amazingly enough, when a Montal pianino came into my possession a couple months ago, it turned out to have the same thing: over damper and shift pedal. The Montal piano was built about 1851/52.
I took a video of the shifting action.
The agraffes are cast into the plate, as they are in the museum's cocked hat grand.
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Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm@unm.edu
http://fredsturm.net
http://www.artoftuning.com
"We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same." - Carlos Casteneda
Original Message:
Sent: 01-05-2018 15:04
From: Peter Grey
Subject: Chickering upright 18xx?
The owner of this Chickering cannot locate the serial number on it. It must be pretty early as it is a birdcage style action. Also straight strung. I have not seen it in person yet.
Can anyone ballpark the time period by these photos?
Thx
Pwg
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Peter Grey
Stratham NH
603-686-2395
pianodoctor57@gmail.com
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