Clifford C. Chickering

Biography

Clifford C. Chickering, senior member of the firm of Chickering Brothers of Chicago and son of Josiah B. Chickering, entered the Chickering & Sons factory in Boston in the fall of 1881 at age eighteen, spending seven years working at all branches of piano making. He was then called to New York to study scale-drawing for two years directly under C. Frank Chickering, and had the distinction of finishing the last scale, for a new grand piano, that Frank Chickering had drawn shortly before his death in 1891; Clifford introduced the innovation of discontinuing covered strings beyond the over-strung section. After Chickering and Sons was reorganized following Frank's death, Clifford returned to Chicago, where he was born, and in 1892 founded Chickering Brothers. There he perfected a patented scale featuring a laminated rim bevelled on its under face, with the soundboard and rib ends similarly bevelled, producing what the text calls a powerful, mellow tone; he named this design the 'Acousti-grande.' He is credited by his contemporaries as one of the leading masters of piano construction of his day. A sketched portrait captioned 'L. C. Whickering' appears in the pages immediately preceding his biographical section and, given its placement, most likely depicts Clifford C. Chickering under a garbled rendering of his name.

Highlights

• Entered the Boston Chickering & Sons factory in 1881 at age eighteen, later trained two years under C. Frank Chickering in scale-drawing and completed his tutor's final grand piano scale
• Founded Chickering Brothers in Chicago in 1892, after C. Frank Chickering's death
• Invented the patented 'Acousti-grande' scale, with a bevelled laminated rim and soundboard construction praised for its powerful, mellow tone

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. II (1913), pp. 69, 70, 71.

Public domain.