On your upright, the serial number is almost always on the wood or iron frame inside the piano above the tuning pins. This area is accessible by simply lifting up the top lid as shown. Note that virtually all serial numbers for Chickering grand pianos should be 5- or 6-digits; those with 4-digit serial numbers are only infrequently encountered. I recently came into possession of a Chickering & Sons piano, model #67BB. (I've been told this sort of tall upright is referred to as an 'upright grand,' but I don't know for sure.) The serial number is 93030. According to the Piano Blue Book, this means it was manufactured between 1850 (serial numbers beginning 10000) and 1905 (serial numbers beginning 105000). Because the serial number of.
Of the pianos made these days, which is the best?
Over-all, the answer is 'Yamaha' (Yamaha Website). Quality for the price, it can't be beat. I have tuned hundreds of pianos and the tone quality of a Yamaha grand is unsurpassed. Next is Kawai, Young Chang, maybe Samick (because of warranty), and then Baldwin (top of the line only). Petrof is a very good piano, but prices have gone very high in recent years. They are not cheap. Then of course Steinway. The legend of pianos is the Bösendorfer. If you can afford one.
Now, before you through away your old Winter, or some other generic piano, cheer up-- if you've been tuning the piano faithfully, and if it hasn't been stored in the barn, you probably have a pretty acceptable instrument anyway.
So go on home, call a tuner who has a positive attitude, and ask him to bring your old relic back as best he can. You will be surprised what can be done. If the tuner tells you to haul it to the dump, call or email me. I will try to help you find a fellow with a better attitude.
HERE IS A LIST OF PIANOS ACCORDING TO QUALITY
You need to understand that this list does not take into account the condition or care the piano has had over the years.
Exceptional quality
Christifori
Steinway & Sons
Boston
Grotrian-Steinweg
Bosendorfer
Bluthner
Bechstein
Yamaha
Erard
Falcone
Mason & Hamlin
Baldwin
Knabe
Gaveau
Chickering
Kurtzmann
Sohmer
Schimmel
Petrof
Better than average
Kawai
Samick
Feurich
Bauer
Acrosonic by Baldwin
Pearl River
Knight of the UK
Story & Clark
Broadwood
Krakauer
Behr
Brinkerhoff
Ibach
Labrousse
Broadman
George Steck
Sohmer
Schiller
Hardman
Hamilton
Haddorff
Mehler
Ivers and Pond
Henry Miller
Janssen
Weber
Playel
Brambach
Everett
Jesse French
Wegman
J & C Fischer
Useful though not exceptional
Weaver
Winter Musett
Wurlitzer
Hobart M. Cable
Lester
Gulbransen
Samick
Cornish
Wissner
Mehlin & Son
Kranich & Bach
Hackley
Laughead
Ackerman
Collard
Price and Teeple
Poole
Kimball
Hinze
Hall
Stetson
Stieff
Cable-Nelson
Kohler & Campbell
Huntington
Cable
Cable Nelson
Conover
Betsy Ross
Low Quality
Aeolian-
This company bought defunct piano companies, some in the above lists, and used the names on their pianos to hide their low quality pianos. Beware-- Check a piano atlas to see if Aeolian bought the piano name of something you are considering buying.
Winter- Not Musette
Grinnell
Conn
Lowrey
'Grand' ( Brand name on cheap upright company )
Any piano made in Utah
Any Bird Cage Action piano ( Exception- German )
Any piano with an aluminum harp (plate)
Shannon
Chancellor-- From Ireland-- Operated by hot air-- True!
Chickering and Sons is a Boston-based piano manufacturing company which is known for their award-winning pianos and music instruments of topnotch quality.
The company experienced changes in ownership and manufacturing management throughout the years although never failing to produce high quality musical instrument that the company name is best associated with.
Company History
The company was founded in 1823 by Jonas Chickering and James Stewart. However, their partnership was dissolved four years later. In 1830, Chickering became partner with John Mackay under the name Chickering and Company and later changed to Chickering and Mackays until the death of senior Mackay in 1841.
The company was reorganized and renamed to Chickering and Sons in 1853 following the destruction of the company’s factory in December 1852 in a massive fire. The company became part of American Piano Company (Ampico) in 1908. Today, the name Chickering and Sons continues to be used as a piano brand under the Baldwin Piano Company, which bought the company’s assets and rights.
Recognition and Contribution to the Field of Piano Development Technology
Chickering Piano For Sale
The most notable contribution of Chickering and Sons piano manufacturing, to the development of piano technology, is their introduction of a one-piece cast iron plate to support the greater string tension of larger pianos.
Jonas Chickering also invented a new deflection of the strings and in 1845 the first convenient method for over stringing in square pianos. Instead of setting the strings side by side, the company introduced substituting an arrangement of the string in two banks, one over the other. This does not only save space but also brings the powerful bass strings directly over the most resonant part of the sound-board, the principle which completes to this day in the construction of all pianos, both grands and uprights.
In 1850, Henry Steinway (Steinweg), founder of Steinway and Sons pianos, showed interest and admiration to the Chickering piano after he saw the piano used during a musical tour in Boston.
In 1867, the brand received the Imperial Cross of the Legion of Honor, one of the world's most prestigious non-military awards, given by Emperor Napoleon III for services to the art of music. The honor was only one of more than 200 awards Chickering has received over the years.
Locate the age of your Chickering and Sons Piano within the chart found below:
1824 - 100
1825 - 316
1830 - 716
1835 - 1980
1840 - 4235
1845 - 6490
1850 - 10000
1855 - 15400
1860 - 22000
1865 - 27000
1870 - 35500
1875 - 46000
1880 - 55500
1885 - 70000
1890 - 78500
1895 - 85000
1900 - 93000
1905 - 105000
1910 - 115000
1915 - 124000
1920 - 132500
1925 - 139700
1930 - 148400
1935 - 155200
1940 - 167200
1947 - 187000
1950 - 195000
1955 - 204000
1960 - 212750
1965 - 221117
1970 - 230300
1975 - 237578
1981 - 247477
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