This attractive Brazilian Rosewood square grand #11329 was built in 1851 in the Chickering factory at 334 Washington St. in Boston, and is one of the earliest
pianos ever built with a full-perimeter iron frame or stringplate, which Chickering was the first company to adopt. The growing demand for greater volume and
resonance in pianos during the early 1800's led generally to larger cases with larger soundboard area, longer and thicker strings, more strings per
note, and more notes in the low bass and high treble. All of these led to increased tension on the instrument's frame, and wood-framed piano designs
were eventually unable to handle the string tension without warping and twisting. Many European and US companies experimented with small iron braces,
bars, and partial stringplates, with varying degrees of success, with many instrument makers apparently fearful that too much iron in a piano would
"destroy the resonance" of the wood. The full-perimeter stringplate was patented by Alpheus Babcock in the 1840s and first adopted in manufacturing by
Chickering at about the time this instrument was built. Unlike many other early 19th century squares, this instrument shows no sign of frame warping after
158 years.
In 1851 Chickering was the leading manufacturer of pianos in the United States, and probably in the world. They focused on producing high-quality
instruments with excellent musical qualities, and in 1851 entered an iron-framed grand in the Great Exhibition in London that won a juried award. They were
rare among US manufacturers in producing ANY grands, and probably more than 90% of their piano output was squares. The upright didn't come on the scene
until about 1870 after it was invented by Steinway. History simply does not support the
common belief among modern piano technicians that "squares were always musically inferior" or were "oddball, transitional instruments" that were never
considered to be serious or good instruments. A better explanation is that modern piano technicians generally don't know how squares were designed, built,
or how to properly repair, maintain, or regulate them, so it is easier for them to dismiss them as "contemptible" rather than to deal with the real problems
that come with maintaining instruments that are approaching 150 years old.
The year after this piano was built Jonas Chickering, the company's founder, died leaving the firm to his sons. And a year later in 1853 the Boston
factory was totally destroyed in a fire, so that Chickerings produced after that time were noticeably different from these earlier models. Also, in 1853
Heinrich Engelhardt Steinweg changed his name to Henry Steinway and with his sons Charles and Henry Jr. founded Steinway & Sons in New York, where they
quickly supplanted Chickering as the leading US piano manufacturer. After Henry and his sons came to the US in 1851, they worked for several other
major US piano manufacturers, including Chickering, to learn the business before founding their own firm. And the earliest Steinway pianos in 1853-1855
were all squares with full iron stringplates that are very similar in appearance and design to this Chickering--which perhaps a Steinway even had a direct
hand in making.
As the piano evolved Chickering gradually incorporated new technologies, although Chickering was not as innovative as Steinway. Many features of this
instrument reflect its early design. It is "straight-strung" with all strings on a single bridge at one level, rather than "cross-strung", as developed by
Steinway a few years later to allow for longer strings and greater resonance with multiple bridges nearer the middle of the soundboard. The stringplate rim
is actually built into the wooden case as an integral part of it, rather than a separate piece bolted down to the frame--which means that the stringplate
cannot be removed during rebuilding to get easier access to the soundboard or pin block, or to regild the plate. The piano has 78 notes or 6 1/2 octaves
(C to F) with 3 fewer low notes and 7 fewer high notes than the typical modern 88-note piano. The piano is double-strung throughout except for the few
lowest notes that are single-strung, and the string diameters are quite thin, so overall it has only about half the string mass and tension of a typical
modern piano. It has a longer scale than many modern grands or uprights, so the sound is beautiful and pure, with lower anharmonicity. The soundboard is
very thin, resonant, and responsive, and the hammers are very small and light, leading to a distinctive, but attractive bright sound and light action. The
action is the known as a "Brown repetition action" which was used by Chickering in many pianos up until the early 20th century, and which has a different
touch and feel than the "Herz-Erard repetition action" adopted by Steinway and most other makers.
This instrument was carefully and conservatively restored by Historic Pianos in 2008, preserving many original parts to maintain the historical nature
of the instrument. The case and keyboard ivories were in remarkably attractive and well-preserved original condition, but the piano was unplayable with
only a few notes working, tuning stability was poor, and the bridges, strings, soundboard and action required significant restoration. The instrument was
unstrung, with careful evaluation of components during the process. Like in modern uprights, the pinblock in a square is an integral part of the case that
is difficult to replace, but is better protected from humidity changes than in a modern grand. This pinblock was found to be in excellent condition, with low
but uniform torque on the original size #1 tuning pins, so that careful reaming allowed for restringing with size #2 pins (the same size used in most new pianos
now) giving uniform and ideal torque for maximum tuning stability. Because it uses shorter tuning pins than can be purchased new today, antique #2 pins from
another Chickering were cleaned and "blued" by traditional steel bluing processes. The rusted steel strings were replaced, but the original copper-wound bass
strings were found to be still in excellent condition after cleaning. Because the 1851 winding style (locking the copper winding over the twisted eye-loop
of the steel core wire and
with copper winding over the string section that rests on the bridge) is no longer available from most replacement string makers, the original bass strings were reinstalled. The soundboard and bridge
required extensive rebuilding to restore proper crown and eliminate tonal deficiencies caused by detached ribs, cracks, etc. The action was repaired, with
complete replacement of leather hinges in the damper levers that had mostly broken, jamming the action. The original hammers are very petite and light relative
to modern hammers, but they showed little wear and were still serviceable and resilient, so they were reshaped and retained. The dampers are also very tiny
relative to modern instruments, and many of the small mahogany damper heads had been separated and reglued in the past--typically in random locations
ignoring the size gradation
from bass to treble, so that the damping was non-uniform and somewhat ineffective. The dampers were resorted by size and several missing damper heads fabricated,
before reinstallation and regulation. New damper felt was custom-cut to fit the small dampers. The original French polish oil-and-shellac finish on the
rosewood case was in remarkably good original condition, but was dirty, damaged in places, and had lost its surface luster due to wear and surface crazing,
especially in areas exposed to sunlight. The finish was deeply cleaned and smoothed, without stripping or removing the finish, and was refurbished by
impregnating and building with additional traditional French polish materials and hand-rubbing techniques, using oil, shellac, and pumice.