Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Are there still US-made Baldwins pianos?

I was just reading around online and found an article that Gibson closed their Truman, Arkansas plant in December of last year (it seemed to be their facility for custom grands from the tone of the article, and the sign in front of the building.)

When I go to the Baldwin Pianos website, they still show US-made models as well as Imports under their pull-down menu. (What country do their Imports come from? Are they good pianos? There's not a dealer close enough around here to go plonk on one.)

Does that mean that Baldwin is still making pianos in the US, or that they've just not gotten around to updating their website (it happens, especially with back stock in the warehouses)?

I was being sort of wowed that they have a lifetime parts warranty on their new instruments (10 yrs on labor) which is a great selling point for folks who have warranty fears.

I was just curious for curiosity's sake: I don't work for them, I don't own one, I admit I've only played one Baldwin in my life (and it was a pretty decent piano just too big/ too expensive for my needs.) So I have no ulterior motive in asking, other than to learn something new

Thanks!

As far as I know, the company closed their factory in Arkansas in December of 2008. It is still possible that they have some new instruments in stock that they are still selling. However, no new US-made instruments are currently built.

Too bad, that. I'm not sure the value in "US Made" all on its own, as long as it's a good quality instrument that is going to hold up, hold a tune, and not start to sound like a mandolin 6 months after I buy it.

Now I'm going to have to call around to all my piano guys and tell them that if they get in a used 6000E that I want to play it before they sell it - to see what kind of sound and feel they have.

From my personal experience, having owned two German and one Korean piano, having played on a plethora of various instruments from Europe, Asia, America over the course of many years at concert halls, schools, universities etc. and at the Frankfurt music fair, it is my conviction that instruments made in the USA or Western Europe are usually of the highest quality (and no, I am not a professional musician, just an enthusiastic amateur). This might be a broad statement, but honestly I have not found a Chinese-made piano that could hold a candle to a fine American piano. Baldwin did a dangerous thing by diluting the reputation of their US-made instruments with Chinese-made instruments (the so-called non-US pianos on their website). Expect the US Baldwins to be great instruments (there were of course also reports of lemons, but in general the Baldwins were very fine instruments)! Stay away from the Chinese-made pianos if you are serious about playing.
The US Baldwins (especially when used) can be bought for a very reasonable amount right now with the company gone under and all of that.

this thread might be helpful http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/7315/1.html

That's not technically accurate. Even if all Baldwin pianos are now made overseas, it doesn't mean the company has "gone under."

The title of the thread to which Larry Larson linked—"The Slow Painful Death of the Baldwin Piano Company"—is misleading, too, FWIW.

I'm as disappointed as anybody that Artist Grands are no longer made in Trumann (and with the way the brand has been managed generally), but Baldwin isn't dead.

Steven

I truly hope that some day they will start building Artist Grands again. They were/are superb instruments with a warm and rich sound. I've played quite a few and loved them a lot. In theory, the brand name will never die (nor will the plans according to which they built the artist grands), but de facto, the American part of the company is currently dead. Let's hope for resurrection.

What a fascinating story (Pramberger hate aside Granted I love my piano to death, but there's a certain amount of doofusity to try to compare a Pramberger to a Steinway (it's like a Motor Trend head-to-head between Lexus and the Toyota Prius, but I digress...)

So I guess the next question is (from January to April)... did they really-truely stop all production in the US? The one message said that they were cutting back, but not shut down completely.

When is NAMM? This is like a page-turner now! I want to hear about who shows up, what they show, and if Baldwin becomes a stencil. (Though I'm sure there's enough back stock to keep selling the American-made inventory probably through the end of this year, given the recession we're in.)

(Just THIS year??? At this point someone from Young Chang tells me there is still warehouse stock on new Prambergers from their licensure...)

I started not to respond to this post.

Baldwin did NOT go under. Yes, there are some pianos from the
U S in stock. They are all grands as far as I know. No verticals. Some of us have a couple of units still in stock that were made in the U S. The way to tell the difference is Baldwin does not have a dot over the I if it came from Trumann. If it came from China it was a dot over the I in the shape of a "C". Baldwin is the third largest manufacturer of pianos in the world. They employee over 2500 people globally.

I promised myself that I would not post this again but, I couldnt resist. I believe that Baldwin will continue to be in business for many years to come. On another interesting note, I am no longer a Baldwin dealer.

I hope this helps

Ric Overton
PianoSD.com
San Diego
ric@pianosd.com

How do they plan on selling pianos when they have no dealers? If they are the third largest manufacturer of pianos, they must have huge wharehouses to store their stock because you sure can't buy them.

In the last few months I've visited just about every dealer in the LA and Orange County area and never saw a Baldwin piano.

It would be even more interesting if you told us why.

Steven

The U S is not the only place in the world where pianos are sold. L A and Orange county are also not the only places in the U S that pianos are sold. I am not defending the company in any way. I have simply decided to move to a different line because of shipping issues, expenses and depth of available models.

I do not know why Baldwin has decided to not let PianoWorld know about their plans. I do not know why they have not decided to come out to the world about what they are doing. I do know that they are still in business and I no longer represent thier line at PianoSD.

Thats all I care to post about at this time.

Ric Overton
PianoSD.com
ric@pianosd.com
619-298-5313

They're certainly around here in NC. I almost fell in love with a 6" grand.

Hi CozyWriter,...

Wow! I thought that this one at 9.8" is already the smallest piano,...
I can't imagine a 6" Baldwin

Regards,

Robert

HA! Ooooh there's a bawdy joke in there that I can't publish during family hour