Identifying Wood of 1911 Rosewood Piano

Howdy!

I have a 1911 Chickering Baby Grand piano made from rosewood. There are a number of rosewoods it could potentially be made from.

Are there any wood experts out there who can help me identify the type of rosewood this is?

Thanks,

Jess

 

In early 1830, Chickering made Captain John McKay, an experienced, aggressive, and successful merchandiser a partner in Chickering & Company. Captain Mackay made frequent trips to South American ports with ships laden with pianos. Returning home, the hold was filled with fragrant rosewood and richly grained mahogany.

taken from pdf file: https://sirismm.si.edu/EADpdfs/NMAH.AC.0264.pdf

 

Veneer or solid wood?

 

Appears to be solid throughout the piano (is there a non invasive way to verify this)?

 

Study the edges. The grain goes deep through the wood. With veneer, the the grain on one side of an edge won't be consistent with the grain on the opposite side of the sharp edge.

 

Does this not have a serial or manufacture’s number that you can trace to help you verify info?

 

Yes there are, the US Forestry Service does this for free if you send a proper sample.
https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/research/centers/woodanatomy/wood_idfactsheet.php

There are also private organizations that do this for a fee, Alden is one of the oldest and does this for a living, there are others. Again, a proper sample is key to any species analysis.
https://wood-identification.com/page/

 

I would note there are limits to the above type of analysis but, this is where you start.

Limitations:

Identifications based on wood anatomy are generally accurate only to the genus (e.g. ash, spruce) or, in some cases, to a subgeneric grouping (e.g., white oak group), but rarely to the exact species. Therefore, all information known about the specimen is important and should be provided. The wood's common name and country or geographic area of origin are especially useful and may help to determine the precise species.

Please fill out these sections of the specimen submission form.

 

If it is South American and fragrant, it could be Brazilian jacaranda, also called 'pianowood'. In guitar terms I know it as 'Rio Palisander'.

 

Found the latin name: Dalbergia Nigra. That could make identification easier.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalbergia_nigra

 

In the photos of your piano, it looks more like Honduras Mahogany rather than Brazilian Rosewood but, photos often deceive when it comes to IDing wood species.

Here are several pages of antique Chickering pianos for sale.
You could inquire from them with photos and they would probably know as they specialize in restoring old pianos.

https://antiquepianoshop.com/product-category/grand-baby-grand/?wpv_view_count=3083&wpv-wpcf-brand-category=Chickering & Sons&wpv_filter_submit=Submit

 

Although it isn't very fragrant, Honduras Mahogany is certainly a contender, below is one of the 'Honduras Mahoganies', Swietenia macrophylla:


https://www.wood-database.com/honduran-mahogany/


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swietenia_macrophylla

True. Also samples from the same species can differ from each other.

 

It does, but the piano is heavy enough I would need 4 people just to identify that. Good call, though!

 

I also think it looks more like mahogany. Rosewood is usually more figured.

 

I show both the piano body, and the soundboard in my pictures. Which part of the piano are you referring to as Honduras Mahogany?

 

In the 1st & 2nd pic where you see the wood, the piano top & the keyboard.
Does not look like rosewood in those photos, at least Brazilian rosewood which usually has dark coffee/ chocolate-colored stripes running thru the wood.

 

Rosewood

 

Those top 2 pics look more like Mahogany from photos

 

Looks like Honduras mahogany to me too. It certainly isn't jacaranda and it doesn't have the intense color and figure of rosewood (mahogany fades to brown, rosewood not so much).