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Vol. 86 July 18, 2026 No. 19

Frederick Starr

started 1850

piano maker

Biography

Frederick Starr started a piano-making business in Rochester, New York, sometime during 1850, alongside fellow Rochester maker Dwight Gibbons. He later applied to his own instruments a peculiar iron-frame design that Gibbons had patented in 1855, though this design, like other Rochester innovations of the period, eventually fell into disuse. The text gives no further personal detail about Starr's background or the subsequent history of his firm.

Highlights

  • Began piano manufacturing in Rochester around 1850, alongside Dwight Gibbons
  • Later applied an iron-frame design patented by his contemporary Dwight Gibbons

Source

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), p. 145.

Public domain.

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