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There is a piano dealer offering a Baldwin Hamilton 45" Studio on Craigslist for $1500. The add does not give a serial number, but in a different ad from the dealer, the year is stated as 1983.
I haven't looked at it or tried it out yet, so I don't know what condition it is in. The cabinet and bench look clean, and I assume that the dealer's techs have looked at the piano. I would probably bring my own independent tech to check it out first.
$1500 seems maybe a bit high. The other ad states that their prices include delivery and an onsite tuning. Maybe there's a warranty too. All together, would that be a reasonable price if the piano were in good condition?
Thanks for any input.

I paid $699 for my 1970 45" Baldwin Hamilton. It was in beautiful, well-cared for condition. When my tech came to tune it, he said it was easily worth $1500. And it was surprisingly very close to being in tune. It is a beautiful thing and I wouldn't trade it for the world. It has a great sound, on both ends. The Baldwin Hamiltons, of that era, have a very good reputation. I'm not sure about 1983? Good luck. Maybe Larry will answer you shortly; he knows about BHs

Wow - beautiful piano. I love the rectangles.
I'm intrigued enough to go take a look at it tomorrow.
Thanks for the encouragement.

From what I could find out about it, it is a 'designer' series. The woman that sold it to me was the 3rd owner, which makes me think this piano has been blessed with 4 people that cherished it. It is in such unbelievably good shape. I really love it. I hope yours is a very nice one too.

I'm a Hamilton lover, too, like HappyApple ... and while $1500 sounds a bit high for a Hamilton (unless it's new, in which case it'd be an awesome deal if it was USA made (which i don't think they're making them here anymore unfortunately), and still a fairly good deal I think if it was Chinese made (where I believe they're made now)), my opinion is as long as it doesn't have a broken plate (extremely unlikely - those pianos are built like tanks) it should be fine. Here's a pic of my 1956 Hamilton I got a little over a year ago for $349...

Mine is the plain school model. I don't think they were making the designer series at the time this one was built, but I prefer the plain cabinet anyway - it has a much wider music desk and it has toe blocks.

Also is the dealer sure that piano is from 1983? Baldwin actually used different sets of serial numbers for their pianos through the years. The numbers under "Baldwin" do not apply to verticals made after about 1930 - for those it's necessary to look under "Acrosonic" or "Hamilton". Using 1983 as an example, a serial number that for "Baldwin" is 1983 would be 1935 for "Acrosonic" or 1969 for "Hamilton".


Ok, Larry, your turn.

I have a 1976 Baldwin Hamilton that I purchased last year from the original owner for $2000. It's in beautiful shape. I just love the look, the feel, and the tone of this piano. My teacher has the same piano, a 1973 model I believe. It has been a teaching piano for many years and is in excellent condition. The Hamiltons that I saw listed on craiglist at the time I was looking were in the $1500 to $2500 range. Best of luck with your purchase!

Hmm, interesting.
I might just go visit the piano tomorrow. Unfortunately it's a bit out of our price range, but I'd like to take a look anyway.
I'll ask the dealer about the serial number. I've been looking a lot at the piano blue book serial numbers online. Maybe this will help figure out what the actual age is. Maybe it's really a '56 and I can get it for $349 like you did! I'm sure my technician would happily take on that project.
Thanks.

Yikes, I can feel my 7th grade English teacher rolling over in her grave over that sentence! I'd love to see her try to diagram it's structure. (insert insipid smiley face here).

To clarify, in case that's necessary, all Baldwin Hamiltons were made in the U.S. before some time in 2009 when production shifted to China. Since it's clear the piano you're looking at is not new, you don't need to be concerned about where it was made. And besides, a Baldwin expert I know told me the new Chinese ones use the same blueprints and materials as the U.S. made ones, and the quality is at least as good.

I think if it's in good condition, the price is fair, especially if it includes delivery and a tuning. It's always good to have a tech check it out, and the most important thing is to play it and make sure you like the tone and action. These pianos often get lots of use in schools, and they are popular in teaching studios, so have your tech check for signs of hard usage, like worn out hammers for example.

88keys knows his Baldwin Hamiltons, so if you post the serial number he could tell you what year it was made. I suppose if it's older than '83 it might be worth less than the asking price. But in terms of the quality of the piano, they were all very good, so it really comes down to personal preference.

Good luck, and keep us posted on what you decide.

88Key...very nice; nice price too!

Man, I used to love to diagram sentences. But I will pass on that one too! Do they still do that, in school today?

I have to watch myself when writing; to not 'run on.' I had a college professor years ago. Her biggest pet peave was 'run on sentences.' I just edited my own post to break a sentence up! Thanks Larry!

haha lol ok so I apparently have a thing with run-on sentences. Often I don't know where to put the period, exclamation, or whatever to start the next sentence. Oh, and let's not get started on nested parentheses I sometimes have been 4 or 5 parentheses deep in a sentence, then close a few, open another one, etc... and even I get semi-lost sometimes.

Ok, Larry, which is it? Your 7th-grade English teacher was already pushing 100 when she taught your class, and she just passed away this year? Or, are you not quite that young, and your love for Baldwin Hamiltons started when you visited the Baldwin factory and bought the first ever school-model Hamilton in the late 1930s (although the name Hamilton had been used before that for a few decades) for a graduation present for one of your kids?


Ok, these aren't from a Baldwin Hamilton, but here are some examples of worn-out hammers...
a0: a#1: c4: f#7:



So am I the only one here with a Pierce Atlas, who knows not to look under "Baldwin" to find out when a Baldwin-made vertical after 1930 was made?

Thanks everyone for your input.
88 Key - I had to read that sentence a few times slowly myself, and I'm still not quite sure I understand it. I hope learning to play the piano will be less daunting!
I spoke with the dealer of the piano today. It is a local piano store. He told me it is from the early 80's (didn't have the serial number handy, and I didn't ask because of the rest of the info he told me.) The dealer said the piano needs work and that he would price it at $2500 if the work had been done on it. I didn't really press for more information. The $1500 was already a stretch for our budget, and for that price we really would need a piano that was basically ready to go with maybe some repairs due over time but not up front to make it pleasurable to play. Also, the $1500 did not include delivery, tuning, or warranty.

The piano has been listed on Craigslist for a few months, and so I suspect that other people are finding the price too high also.

We'll keep looking. If anyone uncovers a nice Hamilton in their church basement not too far from Austin, please let me know!

With this new information, I'd say the price is definitely too high either fixed or unfixed. If you're patient, you should be able to find a decent one for $1K, especially if you're not too picky about appearance. Or you could get lucky like HappyApple and 88key and find beautiful ones for less.

88Key, thanks for having a sense of humor about your grammar. Maybe we could affectionately refer to you as 88Clauses. (the dependent kind, not the Santa kind)

Is this the piano you were looking at? That is not your plain-vanilla Hamilton case, so the price is fair.

Still, you might look at this: Young Chang studio. It is a bit bigger and cheaper.

This might be worth looking at, as well. It is much older, though.

Re the link on BDB's post above, that's not the same as the Bergmann you asked about on a previous topic, is it?

I should think that used piano prices in Austin should be similar to here in North Texas. It may take a few more weeks, but I would think you'll find some good studio pianos in your price range if you are patient. Unfortunately, patience can be a difficult virtue to master, especially when the pianos just above your price range seem so much better! (Of course, the "grass is greener" syndrome affects many aspects of human life, not just piano shopping.)

yeah, I agree, this one looks beautiful. I wonder what kind of work it needs that the dealer referred to.

That's funny. I was in 7th grade in 1967 and my English teacher Miss Towne was 26 at the time, and she seemed so old to us. I remember because we asked her how old she was and she said 25 and then told us what year she was born. Turns out her math was wrong and she was one year older than she thought. I'm glad she wasn't teaching math.

So it's likely she's still alive, but probably not still driving her '55 Chevy.

R Newton - yes, it is the Bergmann I had asked about. Unfortunately it's kind of out of our price range too.

DBD and Larry, yep - you found the piano I was looking at. The dealer said that it needed some work on the action. Their technician had not done any work to the piano, and he said that he would have priced it at 1K more if it had the work done. I didn't press too much for more information because it was already out of our price range and wouldn't include delivery, tuning, or warranty. I agree - it's a beauty. I didn't even go play it because I didn't want to be disappointed.

I looked at another Hamilton yesterday. It looked okay in the picture (I know - can't judge a book . . . ) and the owner said it was in "very nice condition." So, I left work, drove 30 minutes out of my way, and then was greeted by the owner standing in his doorway smoking a cigarette (no judgement - but it meant the piano had been exposed to smoke for probably all of it's 40 - 50 years!) I knew at once that the piano was not going to be mine. The first thing I did was open up the piano to look at the guts. Five of the bass hammers had felt that was peeling off, and the rest of the felts were very worn. The owner said, "Oh, I never noticed that. It's not supposed to do that?" Several of the keys were sticking, and the bass rattled. The case was also pretty scratched up. My lesson - don't always believe owners when they tell you their piano is in great condition!

I went to look at the Baldwin Hamilton today that has been listed for at least a couple of months. The dealer has lowered the price to $1250. The cabinet had some scratches and scuffs, but that's not as important to me. There were some grooves on the hammers, but overall they seemed still well-rounded and clean. There were no sticky keys, but the action did seem a bit heavy which might just be what this piano feels like. The serial number is 367122 so it looks like it's form '82. I'm thinking about having my technician go look at it. What do you guys think?
I'm going to try to post pictures - let's see if this works

Yeah - it worked! Here are the others:
Treble hammer grooves


Bass grooves


Guts