C. C. Colby

Biography

C. C. Colby was the senior member of the Colby Piano Company of Erie, Pa., which began business in 1884 in a factory formerly used by Derick & Felgemaker Organ manufacturers. Spillane calls him a gentleman of remarkable scholastic attainments, a native of Vermont descended from New England stock, whose boyhood was passed in Pennsylvania before he settled in the West and became identified with significant educational movements. Described as an excellent classical scholar with a splendid English education, Colby came from a musical and inventive family; as a boy he explored the technical mysteries of the piano and practically acquired a knowledge of tuning that later proved useful. In his experimenting he sought a method of producing piano sound other than by strings, building a tuning-fork piano incorporating new improvements. The success of the Colby Piano Company, manufacturing reputable instruments from its Erie factory, is attributed largely to his executive ability.

Highlights

• Senior member and founder of the Colby Piano Company of Erie, Pa., established 1884.
• Native of Vermont, raised in Pennsylvania, later active in educational movements in the West; described as a classical scholar.
• As a boy taught himself piano tuning and later built an experimental tuning-fork piano.

Source

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 309, 310.

Public domain.