last time i gave a chickering she wound up with half my stuff

Great sounding recording, piano and player :) thank you.

Cool video well done !

Do you do any additional mastering for your tracks? Is this your final pass for potential publishing? I am curious because I am working on recording and publishing solo piano works of my own. To me your mix sounds great and doesnt need any additional work to publish. Thanks for any insights.

I know the 1920s Chickering. Most incredible. The one I played and coveted, Reeder Pianos had replaced the soundboard. The Most sustain with incomprehensible coloration I have ever heard.

Marvelous job.

.......97 % of performing concert pianists play the " Instrument of the Immortals " .....😅

Hmmmmm....explore Boesendorfer....Shigeru Kawai....the newest Yamaha concert grands,,,,Bluthner....😊

So, I am not a pianist. But I inherited a 1927 Steinway Model M. It is sitting in my dining room, freshly tuned, and it sounds amazing. Real ivory keys, perfect sound board with no damage. The action probably needs refelting as the action is a little slow, but that is doable. I hope you can get a Steinway some day, especially because you actually play paino.

Merry Christmas! This is very sweet! …BTW I am sad I missed that upright Schimmel you had a while back!

Wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year Ben! Hope you get to spend time with your mom, dad and bother this year.

Merry Christmas! I love your posts. One day i hope to visit your shop and see your handiwork. All best!

Wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year🎉

I love my vintage (1800s) 6'4 Chickering grand !! It's been fully restored inside but of course it has the original case,massive legs,and ivory keys(which I prefer). It's needing regulation now and a bigger music room.

"crafts-person"? ls it wrong to say "Craftsman" now? I cringe when I hear this conditioned response by the left. Language evolves yes, this sounds wrong. John Wayne wouldn't have used that term. Just saying, my standard for staying based. Love the vids.

How does the shape of the contact point of the hammer figure into this subject? Thanks, Bill

Great idea about flesh light

Was the board dried before? Was there enough crown in it?

I love this Baldwin R!!!

Nice sound! Did you have to harden the wurzen hammers?

Love the voicing! Baldwin made great pianos. I have an SD-10 and at more than 50 years old, it is still concert ready with it's original parts including hammers and strings!

Waves has an Inphase plugin that can help align the different tracks. I prefer to use that so that if I need to, I can go back to the original position of the clips. Also, the "Under" microphone should have the polarity reversed.

Nice playing :-) We're awaiting delivery of a 1996 R. So you're saying we should consider new hammers someday, and that voicing of the existing ones isn't enough?

Thanks you have a good way of explaining what you’re doing.

I have a 1904 Chickering baby grand with an original paint job by an artist. I am trying to downsize and wondering where i might try to sell or gift this most lovely piano. If anyone has an idea do please let me know. Thanks!

Third comment here at the 8:58 point: You are discussing the bottom beam of the repetition being "bowed" instead of "straight". You are correct that it is "inconvenient" for installing them on many action rails. However, some of the reasons you surmised are not quite accurate. I believe that the first priority of that design was to maximize strength. A flat beam will "bend" under heavy load, whereas an arched beam will not. Seeing that the forces comes from below the beam via the heel and capstan, it makes sense to "arch" the beam agains that force. This makes the repetition stronger and more stable under heavy playing. And as you mentioned earlier, WNG tried to reduce the overall mass as much as possible without sacrificing the maximum strength required. But, it does make for more challenges to adapt the repetition rails to accommodate the WNG repetitions. If you have a Steinway, no modifications are needed, as they fit perfectly on the tubular rails of the Steinway system (I believe the Boston and Essex brands made by Steinway also use this system, but I could be mistaken). I'm not aware of any other brands that permit this, so you are left with modifying the rails one way or another. If you have a jointer/planer machine that can joint at any angle, that is the best method to make the taper to accept the WNG repetitions. The next best option is the table saw, but only if you don't have a jointer. This can be more "dangerous" as it is very hard to make a perfect cut, and you can potentially ruin the rail. Know your abilities, and work within them. Then you need some small tapered pieces of wood to match the angle you tapered the rail to provide a level surface for the screws that attach the rail to the action brackets. Once that is all done, the rest is business as usual. If you have an aluminum "U" channel, then it is even easier to modify, as you can cut along the length of the channel on a table saw with an appropriate blade for aluminum, and you're done. Usually only about 1/4" is all that is needed to be removed to make it work. I've had to make this modification on the 1924 Heintzman concert grand I am rebuilding with the WNG parts. I encountered no problems that prevented me from doing this overhaul. However, I should mention that this original action was also a WNG action, and the metal action brackets had "flanges" to screw the rail in place that interfered with the first and last repetition of each section. Using my milling machine, I was able to trim the flanges as needed to make the required clearances for the WNG repetitions. So I agree that a conversion is not entirely "user friendly" for inexperienced technicians, but it is not impossible to do, and WNG are very good at customer service, and will do what they can to help and guide a technician with their work.

Second comment here: at the 8:00 point you are referring to the butterfly repetition spring in the WNG vs the one in the wooden repetition. WNG apparently considered incorporating the adjustment screw to adjust the tension like the wooden example you have, but chose not to in order not to add further rotational mass to the repetition. Many other repetitions use the basic spring adjustment tool, so that is not new in the trade, and with some practice it can be regulated quite quickly and accurately enough, and WNG wisely chose this path. In the overall scheme of things, this adjustment is relatively "minor" in comparison to other more influential issues, such as a smooth hammer strike weight from bass to treble. You would be surprised at how many regulating and voicing issues can be minimized or resolved with a smooth transition of strike weight across the keyboard, as the hammers represents up to 80% of total key inertia. Immediately after that is the friction in the hammer flanges must be as free and as even as possible without being "loose". That alone contributes the most to uneven touch, and poor balancing results when leading the keys to balance the action. If you don't take care of the weight and friction from the hammers first, then all the other procedures following is just compensating for the errors in strike weight and friction irregularities. So while the spring tension screw is "convenient", it does little to really affect the overall feel of the action. This is where the WNG bushings as you were discussing earlier really outshines the wooden actions with traditional methods of manufacture. Furthermore, the WNG repetitions are available with "helper springs" that are adjustable. Some actions use them and others don't. Personally I believe they SHOULD be used all the time, but only with a light spring tension. It should be just enough to make the repetition "float" in a neutral manner, so that the keys neither feel them to lift (requiring more key leads to compensate) nor have such high tension that the hammers have to work against them to return the keys to rest position. Repetitions are usually around 19 grams at the heel, and with an average 0.5 key ratio, that contributes about 9-10 grams of weight that the keys must lift. With a light tension of the helper springs, that weight can be removed from the front end of the keys where the leads are, which further reduces inertia. The keys feel much more responsive in such a manner, and repeats very quickly. Fatigue in the hands are greatly reduced, which some pianists (children and women in particular) will really appreciate when playing very taxing pieces of music.

You mentioned around the 3:30 point in the video about the friction of the pinning of the flanges, and how you would like to progress from the bass to the treble by reducing flange friction if possible. This is a good practice, as it can affect the results somewhat if you use the David Stanwood "Precision Touch Design" (PTD) protocols. (Very highly recommended for the absolute best results) You could purchase the expensive device from WNG to measure the gram resistance of the flanges, but I found that the usual multi-disc adjustable brass weight set have a hole in the discs that make a snug fit on the ends of the carbon fibre shanks. Starting with the 1 gram disc, I sort out the shanks with the least friction with a "swing test". I count the number of "swings" (from one side to the other until it stops in centre), and sort accordingly. If the 1 gram doesn't swing due to more friction, then I use the 2 gram and so forth. Once the shanks are sorted from the heaviest to lightest friction (for bass to treble) I numbered them using a label maker from 1-88 accordingly. This ensures that the shank friction is as smoothly progressive as possible throughout the keyboard. It's not an earth shattering difference if you don't, but it's just another step that "checks the boxes" to reduce any variables as much as possible. I did that for my 1915 Steinway D, and that action is incredible. I'm in the process of rebuilding a 1924 Heintzman concert grand, and will repeat the protocols to obtain similar results. Don't underestimate the value of the Stanwood PTD protocols, as it dramatically improves ANY action, wood or composite, with the best results obtained with the WNG parts. Not everyone has the budget for a whole new action (which should only be WNG composites), but the PTD should still be the minimum work done to improve an action. From my experience, I've seen "factory jobs" from reputable brands absolutely make a mess of balancing actions so that they don't play to their potential, and after applying the PTD protocols those same actions play incredibly smooth and even. BTW, all the actions that needed an overhaul to make them play better were ALWAYS a wooden action with cloth bushings. I'm not knocking wooden actions outright, as they have served as best they could for centuries as that is the only material available. But with today's technologies and materials as supplied by WNG, it is inexcusable to replace a wooden action with another wooden action. Friction issues, and warpage, and regulation stability issues with wooden actions are nearly nonexistent with the WNG composite actions. If one thinks that the composite action parts are more expensive than wooden action parts, they are mistaken, as the prices are nearly the same, but the long term benefits of the WNG makes them far more cost effective.

Sounds absolutely fantastic- the tone is so well rounded and vibrant. Beautiful work, as always my friend!

So it's got Teflon inside, right?

Shame it’s not in australia, it would suit our climate and I would be interested (and we are the same age …)

What an incredible sounding piano, it’s amazing that those are the original hammers! Brilliant work on both the piano prep and playing, as seems to be your norm.

EXCELLENT! WHAT WOULD BE THE PRICE RANGE OF THIS PIANO IF FOR SALE?

Both the inherent (built) voice and the factory voicing are truly rare and wonderful. How even, sparkling, and round it is!

Still can't beat the tone of my Collard and Collard 1902 5ft 2in grand....an exceptional piano and sound.

Besides being a great piano your piano skills are excellent. Your piano skills may well exceed your piano technicians skills. I'm sure there are many who envy both your skills as a pianist and technician. Great job. By the way you are woking on a Baldwin F if I'm correct. That person had looked at my Baldwin F but decided to keep looking - then you found him one. Would love to hear it when its done.

You are exceptionally articulated and have a great detail. Thank you for sharing.!

Did you check the spring tension on the whippens to make sure the hammer comes down into the back check with only light to moderate pressure? How about adjusting the letoff and drop so the hammers behave properly? Astonished that you got all that work done in thirty hours. Resurrecting an old grand is so time consuming!

have a 1912 Chickering on working on, also have a 1925 Chickering, also sold a Chic. concert grand. all magnificient.

Beautiful sound!

Hello how are you? What a great video you made!!!. I learned a lot. 2 questions please: are the reverbs inserted in each channel, not by a send? How are you doing so the noises from the hammers and pedals are not heard, especially in close microphones? Thank you very much for your attention!!!

Excellent

Tasty piana playing my friend

Oh my god, that alto voice melody at 4'50". It sounds like a woodwind bubbling out of that piano. So many subtle colors in that instrument. Beautifully played, Dr. Ben!!!

What hammers did you choose for this instrument? Thanks for all the responses!

I played a 1909 Steinway model A at a church not long ago. I think it is an AII, I will bring a tape measure next time to verify. It was so lovely. What a rich and warm tone. The treble was gorgeous with a sort of shimmering effect. The tenor section had such a beautiful rich tone which I rarely hear in pianos.

I am very impressed by this beautiful Baldwin❤️

Steinway as a company became a bully in the industry. There's a reason why they are ubiquitous in all concert halls: They made each hall sign an exclusivity agreement that they would ONLY allow performances on Steinway instruments, even if Steinway may not be the instrument of choice for individual performers. For restorers of antique instruments, Steinway has now made it clear they will sue if the restorer doesn't use 100% Steinway parts, not even allowing the use of the original style decals. In the early 20th C, many pianos were equal to or better sounding than Steinway: Chickering, Mason & Hamlin, Weber. Bullied out of the concert hall. Not saying that Steinway isn't good, they are, definitely. It would be nice to hear some other instruments.

You’re the best!!

Wonderful sounding piano. Thanks for sharing.