I came across a pretty good deal on a later model Baldwin R (226/Art-Case/Queen-Ann) from around 1998/99. And, I have enjoyed it a lot. To be only 5'8", the low bass sounds pretty rich. Not like an L or SF-10 or SD-10 by any means, but still pretty deep and rich for a 5'8" baby grand.

It plays well and sounds well to my untrained hands and ears (in spite of the Mexican action ). I've had several people to offer to buy it from me, but my late wife, Barbara, liked the piano and said she didn't want me to sell it. So, it's a keeper for that reason, if nothing else.

Rick

A M is a surprisingly good small grand.

Lovely looking piano Rickster. It is also good to see Barbara's piano

Rickster - again condolences on your loss of your wonderful wife and of course you should keep the piano as she wished. Thank you for sharing that your more recent Baldwin sounds really nice and that could move me out of my silly ways. Likely I’ll never get to own another Baldwin old or new.

Indeed. It's lovely to see such a special instrument.

Rickster,

It could be a trick of the camera angle or photographic distortion, but the fall-board on that piano looks unusually tall. Is it like that in real life?

Indeed!

No better reason than that! I have a similar sentimental attachment to my Baldwin M. I strongly suspect that I'll get another piano at some point, but I will never let this one go. And no reason to anyway, because it's a pretty nice piano.

There's a picture of it in one of my earliest posts:

http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthre...ome-and-thanks-everyone.html#Post2161515

There are some others. People used to do holiday threads in which we'd post pictures with decorations, but those aren't as easy to find.


Be careful: you might discover you can't live without one!

How would you describe the Baldwin tone ? Warm is usually how American pianos are described. Is possible to compair to other well known pianos?
It would be nice if more posted pictures of Baldwin pianos. I think I once saw a picture of a piano room with a Baldwin .I cannot really
remember? It could have been Retsacnal.

Oh yes there it is ,wonderful?

I saw your question at the bottom of page 1, and answered, "I just posted a link above." Then that posted on page 2, and I saw your comment above...

Bruce Hornsby was a Baldwin artist. You could download some of his older recordings. And of course there’s Liberace!

LivingPianos has several Baldwin’s in stock. If you click on the link the owner and resident pianist plays the piano and talks about the sound.

Not aware of any camera trick or photo-shop or distortion on/in that photo. It could be the camera angle, I suppose. Here are a couple more pics. The fall-board does have the rectangular/squared off front edge, (as does the front side of the wood cabinet) and not the curved front edge like the Yamahas and many other brands of pianos.

I took these pictures after I had just had the piano delivered and had not cleaned it up well yet. You can see a lot of dust on lyre.

Rick

I would have loved to have purchased a new Baldwin Grand if they had still been made here in the USA. My very first piano was a Baldwin spinet. Iy had beautiful tone and kept its tune really well.

Listening to that youtube clip all I can say amazing sound .Yes I would say warm tone ,with a sparkling treble as well .
To me I would say clarity as well but never" cold ".
No wonder people love these pianos !
Retsacnal ,you went on a real hunt to find your wonderful piano.
Enjoyed reading it all .There is nothing quite as unique as seaching
for a piano .Its almost like being slightly high for weeks !
Then their were people like Apple and Marty who I used to read all
those months when I was on my search .I agree one should really
treasure those Baldwins .
As to your "Hidy Hole" statement, well there is always" better ",don't tell me ,I know !!!!
Thanks enjoyed reading and listening ! Sometimes I dream about writing a book about pianos, as though the world needs another book about pianos!

I am also the proud owner of an American made Baldwin. I looked at quite a few pianos before deciding that the Baldwin R was the model for me. I played 4 or 5 before purchasing the 2000 model shown below. They all sounded great to me, but I really liked the satin mahogany finish on this one. If you are interested in how it sounds there are several recent videos on my YouTube channel linked in my signature.

We only had a chance to play a Baldwin one time. But it was a memorable experience.

In 1987 we stopped in Connecticut to drop off our 8 year old (she just turned 40 last month!) at my parents home on our way to the Salzburg Festival (our first and only time there). While visiting, my brother ask me whether I would like to visit one of their friends, Dave and Iola Brubeck at their home, which was not far away. My brother and his then wife got to know the Brubecks through their son Chris and his then wife because they were in the same Lamaze class. We stopped by the Brubeck's home and Dave and Iola were extremely gracious, and Dave showed us the composition he was working on for the Pope's visit to the US and the Mass he would give later that year in the Giants' ball park near San Francisco. He also invited my wife to play his Baldwin grand. Dave didn't play for us, but my wife got to play some Chopin which was quite a thrill. We stayed much of the afternoon at the Brubecks as Dave went through the details of his compositional techniques for the pieces he was composing. Most of you know the Dave studied with the great French composer Darius Milhaud at Mills College in Oakland, CA and named his first son after Milhaud.

I saw a link to a youtube on another thread where a young man was playing Brubeck's piano which was at a music store. I don't know whether it was the same one that was in his home over 30 years ago.

Sorry it was NOT a question. The question mark was not
meant, it was a MISTAKE. It was supposed to be an exclamation
mark .