Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum PianoCraft rebuilt Mason Hamlin CC concert grand

Not to get too OT but my part time neighbor John has a Pianocraft rebuilt Baldwin SF-10 that he raves about. Look forward to playing it one day.

Rich

Knock on his door!

Good idea Marty except his house next door is his vacation house which he only comes down on weekends. His real house outside DC is where the SF-10 is. Too bad I say.

Rich

Wouldn't he really like it if someone looked in on his house from time to time while he's gone, to make sure everything is okay?

Good idea. I'm sure he wouldn't mind.

Rich

Great delicate benchmark piano, I'am becoming an Eric Himy fan as well

I appreciate that very much. The variety of color and subtleties that Eric expresses at soft volumes can be breathtaking in that performance, especially to anyone
who knows that piece.
This performance rewards repeated listening. He does so many cool things.

Nice job and a great piano. I am continuously amazed at the dynamic range mine displays. A properly rebuilt CC2 is indeed a rare and special piano.

"Rare" seems to be the operative word. Though I have run across a number of M&H-CC, I seem to encounter more of the Baldwin 9-footers and the Chickerings.

Keith, is it your experience that the Masons are more of a 'rare' piano than the Baldys? Have they simply been produced in lower numbers throughout history?

(Sorry if this is a bit off-topic.)

There are 3 CC designs from the Boston Mason years ( 1900 - 1932 ) as far as I know. There is a 9'4" without the tension resonator which I call the CC. There is a 9'4" with the tension resonator which is generally called the CC1 and then there is this one, which is right around 9' and is known as the CC2. In terms of rarity, the older CC is the most rare, followed by the CC1 and then the CC2.
They are all very rare. My guess is Mason made at most 250 concert grands during this period and probably a lot less. Who knows how many are even still out there. We are talking about pianos from a century ago. As an aside, I am very excited that I just came across another CC2 from this period.

The Boston period Mason concert grands are certainly more rare than Baldwins of the same period. Baldwin made a lot more pianos. After 1932, Baldwin concert grands were produced in a much higher quantity. While Mason was hot stuff with performers and on concert stages during the Boston period, they really lost that reputation and approach after. They still made concert grands, and some are better than others, but some are real disasters too. You can tell they just lost touch with the artists and that part of the business.
In the mean time, Baldwin was the only real competition for artists for Steinway. From the 30s until even the 80s, Baldwin concert grands were regularly played in major venues by major artists. Claudio Arrau, Jorge Bolet, Earl Wild, Andre Watts come to mind immediately. There was a real market for Baldwin concert grands and a real demand, and a company that valued artists as an important part of their marketing, so there are a lot more out there.

The piano atlas now lists serial numbers for Mason & Hamlin concert grands, which indicate 5 or 6 a year were made most years, but that may not be accurate. One would have to look through the records.

Thanks for the replies.

Mine was a casual question about the frequency of coming across a M&H concert grand, rather than the specific models or ages of issue. Thinking back, I remember that I have run into more concert Chickerings than Masons. Of course, Baldwins are plentiful and Steinways are ubiquitous. I only think of one concert Mason that I have played. But, I liked it very much!

I have seen more Baldwin concert grands advertised than anything other than Steinways in the past few years. Don't know if that is because they are more plentiful or because of their increasing age, people are getting rid of them. I considered one before I got into serious shopping, but they were out of my shopping area at the time.