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Plate prep: Whoever had rebuilt this piano the first time did a crummy job. I don't think there was any two groups of strings that were level throughout the scale. These agraffs were all loose, broken, and two were glued in. Chickering being who they were made these themselves and this was...

I sanded off the paint and began to drill. For the next fifteen years drilled....

I mounted the blocks to the plate and sprayed paint into the holes to determine where the tuning pins would go.

Which I did on this jig. The pins are set at an angle and not perpendicular to the plate. Thus the fixture appears to lean.

Completed blocks before drilling the 245 tuning pin holes...

Drilled the holes for the mounting lugs. You have to do this "blind" as the block covers the space where they go...

In this picture you can see some of the blue chalk I used to make sure there were no high/low spots in the wood where it fits against the iron plate. You have to set it in there see where it "wobbles", grind down the opposite area etc., to get it to lay flat.

All kinds of cuts I've never had to make before building furniture...

Pinblock. Making measurements etc. to the new pinblock material using the old ones as guides:

Soundboard after. These decals as well as your fallboard decal are still available.

Soundboard before/during:

stripped:

stripping:

Well, here goes... There's sixty-one pics altogether, and I may have to break this up into episodes! To start with, this is what mine looked like originally while still in the bed of the truck...

I'll post some pictures tonight. In the meantime, by removing the two screws (if they're still there)in the nameboard hinges the two-piece nameboard/fallboard can be lifted out. It rotates on small shafts at either end of the nameboard. Once the screws are removed fold down the nameboard about...

The year 1885 is spot on according to your serial number. Think about it - the war between the states was fought only twenty years prior! I don't mean to simplify things too much but the action of a piano is nothing more than a bunch of wood levers, springs, felt, paper punchings, buckskin, and...

Beautiful Chickering David... It's very similar to Abe Lincoln's - this is a lousy scan from a piano book I have, but you can see the similarities. I'm a Chickering enthusist. I've got a 1915 Chickering Grand that I am restoring/rebuilding/automating with a MIDI player. If you can find the...

Here's a view of the machine. Taken from the Home Laundry Review put out by Landers Frary & Clark - 1941

Universal was among those..... that used Lovell made wringers.... (Note the use of wooden bearings at bottom center of the page.)

Love the shiny Bakelite! Good job guys.