I recently acquired a decker brothers upright, not decker and sons. I have attempted to date it by local means, such as bookstores and libraries, to no avail. As far as I can tell it is a series 16, serial # 18815 on the peg board. Any help is greatly appreciated. Also, adult beginner, so any advice there is appreciated as well. Thanks in advance.

Hi, and welcome to Piano World!

I have heard of Decker Brothers, but I'm afraid I can't help you with more info than that...

As far as being an Adult beginner, I'm not much more than a beginner myself. Stay at it and practice a lot. I'm not much of a music reader, but I can read some; but I love to play by ear...

My advice to you is to learn as much about the keyboard as possible; learn good fingering skills and scales. Learn as many chords and chord variations as possible. This is especially important when playing by ear.

All the best!

Rick

Hi Big - Welcome to Piano World!

I have no clue about the piano but others might.

As far as being an adult beginner, there is a whole forum for people such as yourself. I think you might enjoy it! You can find it in the list of forums.

Cheers,

Thanks for the input, checking it out now.

It dates from 1887.

Thanks, I've exhausted all my resources here.

Would restoration eventually be worth it. I just felt a connection to this piano, so I bought it for 60 bucks. Had a tech come to tune it "where it is" and he was genuinely impressed by the condition as it sits. I only cleaned it a little and he thought it was a refinish job.

Hey, if it holds a tuning, and everything plays properly, for 60 bucks you got a good deal! Usually the restoration of an upright is not worth the money invested. Ask your tuner for some advice about what it might need without spending a small fortune.

If you are using the piano to play with other instruments, then it might be important to bring it up to standard pitch. If it is just for your own use and practice, A=440 Hz becomes less of a concern.

Hello!

I'm a novice here also... some months ago I purchased "Pierce Piano Atlas 12th Ed.". On page 104 it references TWO "Decker Bros." Piano firms at different times. One was established in Chicago in 1907, the other begun in 1862 in NY (and was "...discontinued...in the late 1890s."). Looks like the "Decker Bros" in Chicago tried to continue the marque by starting their serial numbers (1907 Serial Number 27600) where the older company's SNs stopped (1896 SN 26300). All of this is conjecture on my part interpolating the information in the Pierce Atlas, but with the range of SNs in the book it would APPEAR to me that #18815 was made in 1886.

(Whew!)

Good Luck!

Charlie

I have read that a lot and I agree for now, but eventually I want to foster a love of music with my children, so I know I have to at least fix all of the missing ivories. They don't bother my fingers necessarily, but kids probably will. Plus I want to keep it correct. Also, it needs the brittle straps, almost every one, but not all amazingly. I could maybe do that on my own by taking out the action and getting the snap on ones. Plus have to have t retuned. The tech said it was the most out of tune piano he had ever worked on. Probably do it again because of that.

Thanks Charlie

I've had several Decker Brothers uprights and really like them. I've got one on the rack right now being rebuilt which someone in the past re-modeled with panels to cover up the carvings ( weird).

They seem to mainly come from the west when we get them in but that proves nothing really. The last few coming from Montana and Colorado.

Decker is on that off brand list I like along with Behr & The Mehlin

I actually got mine @ the local goodwill here in cookeville, tn. So, its origins are a mystery, but i really would like to know from where its from

And I have a Decker Bros. grand that I really like. Built in the late 1800s its overall design was way ahead of its time.

ddf