Happy Thanksgiving everyone from our home to yours.

Working for my clients today. Got http://RicOverton.com set up with two blogs with all of my clients advertised. Check it out.

Who was Chickering?

Jonas Chickering was born in Mason Village, New Hampshire in April of 1798 to Abner Chickering who was a blacksmith and a farmer. He originally worked as a cabinet maker Apprentice and in 1818 moved to Boston to continue his work. After a year he ran into John Osborn on Orange Street and began working for him as a piano maker. In 1823, Chickering and James Stewart entered a partnership and began making pianos under the name Stewart and Chickering. They made 15 pianos that first year which sold for around $275.00

Stewart & Chickering dissolved after four years, and in 1830 Chickering started working with John Mackay who had a piano store and also made organs and piano. John had also worked with Alpheus Babcock who was doing business as Chickering and Company at 416 Washington Street. In 1837 Chickering & Mackays along with Mackay’s son William H. Mackay built a new five story factory which included a retail store and a concert hall, at 334 Washington Street.

John Mackay passed away in 1841 so Chickering mortgaged the factory and bought out the remaining shares from the Mackay’s family which he paid out over time. On December 1, 1852 the factory burned putting over 200 people out of work and a sustained loss of over $250,000.00. All of the tools and patters were lost and according to reports say that one of the first overtstrung pianos was lost in the fire too. Chickering then began to rebuild a new “state of the art” steam powered factory according to Mr. Chickering’s specifcations. This new factory was located at 791 Tremont Street.

Sadly, Chickering died before the new factory was completed in December of 1853. His death was important to the city of Boston that there was almost 1000 people at his funeral and the mayor even ordered the city’s churches to ring their bells out of respect. By 1853, Chickering had manufactured more than 12,000 pianos and was building more than 100 a month with sales of over almost $10,000.00 a month. The might Chickering Piano display at the London International Exhibition of 1851 earned a gold medal. They also got special mention for their grand pianos noted for brilliancy and power. Chickering had many patents which included: single piece iron frames,along with wrest plank bridges and damper guides in square pianos, wrest plank terminations in grands as wel as several others. Chickering & Mackays also had control of an action patented created by Alpheus Babcock and they also had control of licensed actions patents by Edwin Brown and George Howe. Chickering made curved hammer strike lines in square grands which permitted larger hammers. Chickering is also said to have helped Ichabod Washburn develop the first piano wire that was made in the United States.

Among many of his musical accomplishment Chickering, Henry W. Pickering and Edward Frothingborn helped to form the society which was responsible for erecting the Boston Music Hall which was built in 1852. There were four children: Thomas Chickering, C. Frank Chickering, George H. Chickering, and Anna Chickering. Who all worked as pianomakers and partners in the company forming Chickering and Sons.

Although Chickering was purchased by Gibson several years ago and ceased production, Chickering remains one of my favorite pianos. Its clarity of sound and very smooth action is incredible.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed.

Ric Overton of http://PianoSD.com via http://MaxMorganDesign.com

Nothing to do with pianos but, my brother and sis in law in N.C. after the hurricane Irene last month.
http://ping.fm/vAVMp

Business is coming together nicely. The Piano Social Directory is well on its way to being finished.

Sauter Pianos

I have begun a study of the history of some of our famous piano makers over the centuries.

There have been some absolutely captivating builders. Among them of course has been Sebastien Erard, Jonas Chickering, Theodore Steinway, Johan Ibach, Ignaz Bosendorfer and of course Joseph Brodmann along with one of my favorites; Carl Sauter.

Little is known of some of these guys in the U.S. because the importing of pianos at that time but, Europe has a totally different idea of music, making music and the building of fine instruments than in other parts of the world. But I am very captivated by Mr. Sauter.

Here is the story. Johann Streicher owned a piano company called Streicher pianos. Streicher had risen to fame because Ludwig van Beethoven had purchased several instruments from them and the Streicher was his personal favorite, in fact he often requested that a Streicher piano be provided for his concerts. The company had attracted much attention and got the attention of a young man named Johann Grimm.

Some time after Johann had joined Streicher Pianos, Mr. Streicher passed away and left his company to his daughter Nannette, a freind of Beethoven and extremely close to another composer and artist of this era named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. They actually performed together on Streicher pianos on several occasions.

After several years of service to Streicher, Mr. Grimm decided to branch out on his own. He created what was to become the Sauter Piano Company in 1813. To date this piano company is the oldest family owned piano manufacturer and the oldest continuous running piano maker in the world. The company has always been controlled, owned and operated by a Sauter.

Today, Urlich Sauter is in charge and continues to make pianos in his factory in Spaichingen, Germany at the foothills of the famous Black Forest. They continue to manufacture pianos with the concept that Johann Grimm used in 1813 but have integrated modern day technologies. Today the factory is a state-of-the-art factory that is quite impressive and builds approximately 450 pianos a year. In Europe, Sauter is highly regarded as one of the finest instruments available. In the U.S. there are only a few dealers that carry the instrument.

Once you have the opportunity to experience the Sauter piano I am sure you will agree that this instrument is one that quietly grabs your attention and seems to say "is that all you got, come on get with it".

More on some of the other famous manufacturers coming soon

Until then-

Ric Overton

posted by Ric Overton of http://PianoSD.com via http://MaxMorganDesign.com

This Past Month

The past month I have been out of touch for the blog. We have been making many changes, one of which is going to be released by the end of the month.

I have long been concerned about the fact that shopping for pianos can be rather difficult when you are not sure what you are doing. You’re not sure if there are questions that should be asked, if you are asking the wrong questions, the right questions, or if there is something thatis missing.

I have watched many customers that are not sure what to ask, get in a lot of trouble because they forgot the right questions or asked all together the wrong questions. Searching for a piano can be exhausting to the person who knows nothing at all.

Searching for a teacher, tuner, technician, artist or any other thing in the piano business can be difficult at times. In the age that we live in it is usually about electronic gadgets or cars that are all over blogs but, finding piano information can be challenging at very best.

Next month PianoSD is planning on a complete overhaul that will hopefully take the guess work out of buying a piano anywhere in the U.S. finding a teacher in Los Angeles, or a tuner in San Francisco, perhaps you need to know more information about pianos in Sacramento I hope to help put the end of quess work for you.

As we move forward I would like to tell you how excited I am to now be handling all of the social media and internet marketing for Brodmann pianos in the U.S. We have been talking about this for about 7 months and finally landed the contract in July. As you know I am managing the Piano Outlet in Nipomo, Ca. We are a part of a much larger branch in Oxnard. i have been so happy with the area and what it has to offer. So if you are up in the San Luis Obis