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Greg,
It is a 112B, 56" tall, as you figured out from 1898. Small world since I am shipping it to Craig together with my 1879 S&S model G for restoration, who also has my 1877 Centennial grand...Craig seems to think that rib crowning was done in later models only but Bill Shull feels that Chickering always used a combination of rib and pressure crowning. Just thought you might know the answer...

Small world, indeed. Bill Shull is the other person I thought of pointing you towards, with a 33 in his shop and an interest in Chickering soundboards.

Greg

Hi, Folks,
As far as we can tell, we see no evidence of Chickering using rib crowning before the turn of the century, or there about. We have recrowned three 1890s Chickering grands of late, a 109C a 110B, and a 105B, and all had straight ribs. We take straight ribs as an indication that the board was originally compression crowned. As for uprights we have a 117 upright, #98940, built just like the one in California, and the ribs are straight and even in contour.

The first crowned ribs for Chickerings were, because it was Chickering after all, part of a radical redign of the belly as a whole. Rather than 12 small straight ribs, these boards have only 7 or so tall, thin ribs. This is a rib from one of those uprights. I believe that a contributor here has a grand with this configuration. I think that this was a short lived design, so his date would be helpful.









It is ~56" long, 7/8" wide, and 1 1/4" tall. They have a little more than 1/8" of visible crown in the face. As you can see, it anticipates many later developments in rib-crowned and supported systems popular today.

This may be the last burst of groundbreaking engineering on the part of the old firm. Or it may be the first sign of the effects of the firm's involvment with the conglomerate, and the influences of Knabe, who had employed rib crowning sinse the mid 1890s. Eventually this rib scale was dropped, perhaps because of the impedance variations Will Truitt mentioned.

Be well,
Craig

Hi Greg,

Are you able to tell me what the sales ledgers say about my Quarter Grand serial number 134469 (1920s vintage)? Family lore said that it was originally owned by one of the Gershwin brothers :-)!

Thanks!

Hi SSkraly,

My apologies for the slow response. Further apologies in that my interest in Chickering tapers off at around serial number 90,000 (give or take) corresponding to around year 1900 (give or take) as mentioned in an earlier post at the beginning of this thread. Accordingly, I don't have copies of the ledgers for pianos as late as yours.

I believe you can call the Smithsonian Museum of American History and request they check for you.

Best wishes.
Greg