Antique 1915 Mahogany Chicago Cable Company Carolina Inner Player Upright Piano

Description

Antique Victorian player piano by The Cable Company of Chicago which features a Carolina Inner-player. Circa 1915.

Includes: I Love Paris and Oh Lady Be Good by Max Kortlander, Hey There and Mack the Knife by J Lawrence Cook, Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White by Sid Laney, If You Knew Susie Fox Trot, Bye Bye Blackbird Fox Trot, Loving You Has Made Me Bananas by Dick Watson, and two unmarked.

The Cable Piano Company, Chicago established 1880 by Herman D. Cable born in New York in 1849. The Cable Piano Company was originally with the Wolfinger Organ Co., which later changed to the Western Cottage Organ Co., and then to Chicago Cottage Organ Co. In 1890 H. D. Cable consolidated with Conover Bros. and his two brothers, Fayette S. and Hobart M. Cable. Cable and Conover acquired the Schiller Piano Co. of Oregon, Ill. By 1920 The Cable Piano Co. had two factories. One factory located in Chicago at 22nd Street, Paulina and Dale Place. The second factory at St. Charles, Ill. In the 1920s George J. Dowling was president and The Cable Co. was manufacturing Conover, Cable, Kingsbury; and Wellington, and Schiller pianos. Player piano names Conover Carola Inner-Player, Conover Solo Carola Inner-Player, Carola Inner-Player, Solo Carola Inner-Player, Euphona Inner- Player, and Solo Euphona Inner-Player. “Tonarch” and “Crownstay”, trademarks of the Cable Co., Chicago. “Tonarch” a patented sounding-board-and- frame construction used in uprights and “Crownstay” designed to maintain the curvature of soundboards in grands. Other owners of the Cable Company include Aeolian with the factory at 2718 Pershing Ave., Memphis, TN., Jackson & Wabash, Chicago, Ill., and Winter & Co.

The Cable Piano Company claimed to be "the world's greatest manufacturer of pianos, inner player pianos, and organs." Cable built a factory in 1901 in St. Charles on 3.5 acres west of the Fox River. Cable Piano Company became known not only for its products, but also for its working conditions. During the factory's heyday in the early 1900s, there were as many as 500 employees, many of whom were women. Employees could enjoy the company sponsored brass band and male chorus, or play on the company baseball team. With its own electric plant and fire protection, the factory was also self-sufficient. As a result of the stock market crash and the ensuing depression, Cable Piano workers faced lay-offs. The first big lay-off occurred during Thanksgiving 1929. By 1936, few employees remained. Original company is now out of business. Gibson Guitars acquired the Cable name in 2001, when they purchased the Baldwin Co.

The original Cable Piano, an instrument of high standing and one which has always attained great popularity, is sold extensively in all parts of the United States and abroad. It possesses that pleasing attribute an exceptionally sweet tone, one of richness and exquisite delicacy, especially recommending it for studio and home use. Its lasting qualities are as unexcelled as skill, first-class workmanship and patient attention to the infinite details that piano building can insure. The original Cable Piano not only has the best qualities that distinguish an instrument of high standing, but those superior qualities of tone and action which are rendered possible by a construction and design especially adequate to the production of such desirable results. The Cable Studio piano, due to its rugged durability, has been selected and recognized by many schools, colleges, music conservatories and public institutions where long lasting service is a requisite. The durable features embodied in original Cable pianos over many years are still being employed in attractively designed consoles and spinets.

The Cable piano was an instrument of very high standing and one which also attained great popularity that was sold extensively in all parts of the world. The immense prestige The Cable Company, rendered the "Cable" a desirable piano from the standpoint of name brand recognition, as well as superb quality, stability, and tone that possessed a pleasing attribute of an exceptional richness and exquisite delicacy. A Cable piano not only had the best qualities that can distinguish instruments of high standing, those superior qualities of tone and action which were rendered possible by a construction and design

Especially adequate to the production of such desirable results. Embodied in the upright model was a patented sound board and frame construction which is a new and exclusive feature. Instruments having this construction bear the trademark "Tone Arch." The patented sounding-board-and-frame construction, in the grand model is a simple but most effective devices, consisting of a curved bracing member built into the frame. This is a part of an improved construction designed to maintain the proper curvature of the soundboard necessary to preserve the original tonal beauty of the instrument. Instruments having this construction bear the trade mark "Crown stay." The Cable Reproducing Grand has all the merits of the regular Cable Grand, including the famous "Crown stay" construction. Combined with a reproducing action made exclusively Cable which has been developed to the highest stage of perfection through a long series of experiments carried on in the great Cable factories.

Condition

Good antique condition, a few of the keys didn't work, could use a tuning, not familiar with player mechanism, but were able to get it to rewind in reverse.

Dimensions

55"h x 63" x 30"