Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum Baldwin L Partially Rebuilt

Hi,

Well, my 1983 Baldwin Model L (6'3") has been rebuilt!!! It now has Ronsen Wurzen hammers/shanks/flanges, Arledge Bass Strings, and Mapes International Gold steel wires, and new nickel-plated tuning pins, one size up. The soundboard still has its crown, is in perfect condition, so was not touched. The original plate is sound too. The tech did a good job setting the downbearings on the Accujust system using the Lowell guage, the conversion values supplied by Baldwin, and the literature and tips gained from Technical Support. He totally adjusted the action as well, while he had the piano. I've done a few fine action adjustments since then on dampers, let-offs, and hammer leveling. Baldwin knows of no other rebuilds on 1980s models in Maine, so this might have been the first here, and my tech could well be the only one in this state to have worked with the Accujust hitch pins.

I've had the piano back home for about two weeks now, but am not yet sure how the piano sounds exactly. We're working toward tuning stability at the moment as the new strings stretch. Stability is already suprisingly good though. Most of the retuning I've done myself is down in the extreme low bass.

The Arledge copper-wound strings are definitely more vibrant than the Syncratone strings they replaced. The tenor section seems about the same to me, maybe a bit more nasal in quality, which is nice. The treble is more impressive though--it has a more rounded, solid sound, but of excellent clarity and plenty of power.

The tech did some very preliminary, cursory voicing of hammers for any obvious inconsistencies, although the Ronsen hammers just out of the box are surprisingly consistent across the scale. Because my piano room at home is considerably different from his (where he worked on the piano), all the fine voicing needs to be done here, of course. The Ronsen hammers are brighter, though, than I would have anticipated. I thought they'd be darker in tone than Baldwin-specified Renners. They may be a shade or two darker, but not much more. So the voicing will be key.

One minor oversight was the replacing of those two red ribbon felts at the tail end of the treble and bass bridges. Without those reinstalled, there are likely some spurious vibrations down there that are not being helpful to the sound. When he gets those back on the strings, it should be an enhancement.

Once the piano gets the precise tuning, the voicing, and those two felt ribbons, I believe I can then decide what impact the rebuilding has had overall.

Here are a couple of realizations that have dawned on me. 1)The soundboard is the soundboard. It would be very hard to justify changing that out on a 24 year-old piano having a soundboard in super condition. Plus there would be no way to determine how a replacement soundboard would sound--it could, in fact, sound about the same, or not as good! My second realization is that the scale design is the scale design, another permanent feature of the instrument. I suspect that in the early 1980s, when the Yamaha S4 was being competively introduced, the Baldwin L scale design might have been altered to make the piano sound more powerful. So that is permanent as well.

I do love this piano, but am eager to get the finishing touches on the instument to get a more accurate reading on the results of the rebuilding. That's my report for now. More to come as the piano continues to settle in.

Thanks for the report. I've been reading your past posts about the rebuilding process. I love Baldwin L's and hope to get one someday. Since I don't have lots of dough I'd
ideally I'd like to find one that may not look great but is rebuildable. Then I'd find a good builder and do pretty much what you have done. I'm not sure when the scale design changed, but I know they made a switch at some point to a higher tension design. I've played L's built from the 50's to present, and they all sound good to me. I gave a recital on a Steinway D concert grand last sunday, but I still prefer the Baldwin. Congratulations, and keep us posted. Larry

Thanks, Larry. Yes, too bad you could not have played your recital on a Baldwin SD10! Unfortunately, at the moment, Baldwin's production of grands, as you know, is way smaller than it once was, plus the dealer network is a shadow of its former self. So I suspect that their artist services department is pared way down as well.

Again, on my Model L, I won't know the exact sound for awhile longer yet--so this is definitely an adventure. The hammers are barely even grooved yet. I do think, however, that the change will likely and ultimately be measured in degrees rather than as a transformation. But that's ok, as I want the characteristics of the piano to still be Baldwinesque. Replacing components with even better products will account for those degrees of change; but the soundboard and scale design are still exerting a major influence over the sound in my opinion. It sure is interesting though!

Today I gave the piano a workout with Debussy's "Reflets dans l'eau" and also Bortkiewicz's amazing impromptu, "Eros". With the latter, with the bass octaves at fff, I had the walls of the house shaking, ha-ha! As a practical matter, before I play the piano, I do all scales in the circle of 5ths parallel in four octaves. My purpose with that is to strike most of the hammers on the keyboard compass. As I practice pieces in different keys, over time that will take care of itself, but in the meantime, I just want to make sure that nearly all the hammers are getting some workout at least.

I'll write a follow-up after the touch up work is completed.

UPDATE: The Verdict is In!

Given stretching of the new strings, my Baldwin L had gone a nickel flat, but consistently across the scale. So the tuner came today to do a precision tuning. First though, he installed the two red ribbon felts at the tail end of the bass and the treble bridges. So that has damped any vibrations there. He also adjusted two hammer spacings that required heating the new shanks. In tuning the piano, he encountered two or three jumpy tuning pins, but by and large, the new pins (one size larger) have calmed down nicely.

After the tuning, as a test I played Debussy's "Reflets dans l'eau" for him. He thought the sound, as he stood farther back in the room, was absolutely superb--a powerful and alive bass, a vibrant tenor with a little nasal quality, and a treble with amazing clarity, all blending together wonderfully.

There were no obvious voicing issues--voicing is consistent up and down the keyboard. We both agreed that the voicing is well suited to the room, and came to the conclusion that making it more mellow would detract from its great sound. So, we let it be.

I'm absoultely thrilled with the results of the rebuilding! My tech was also glad to have done this project, as rebuilding a Baldwin in some ways is different from rebuilding a Steinway, so there was some new learning for him. (Baldwin Tech Support believes that rebuilding this early 1980's Model L might well be the very first of that era done in Maine, as they've had no other inquiries yet.)

I want to thank Del and Curry for their savvy recommendations on replacement components, rather than going with my initial notion of simply replicating the original components. In taking their advice, the result is spectacular! I'm totally pleased by the transformation of this piano!

my warmest congratulations. i am so happy for you. i bet it's a fantastic piano.

Hi apple,

Nice to hear from you again! Yes, to tell you the truth, I like the sound of the piano as rebuilt even BETTER than when it was new. It took awhile for the tech to free up time, schedule the project, gather all the replacement parts, and do the work. But it was well worth it. My Baldwin L will give me decades more of enjoyment. I'm over the moon with it! :-)

RachFan, Congratulations! After the tuning stabilizes, it would be great if you could post a few sample recordings of it. I'd be really interesting to compare the tone qualities of our two pianos.

Chris

Hi Chris,

Yes, I've been thinking of that. All my previous recordings are analog. So the first option would be to dig out my mics, mixer box, tapedeck etc. out of the basement and set it all up for the session. (That stuff has been packed away since our last move 12 years ago!) My previous process was to record on cassette tapes and transfer those to PC wav or mp3 files. My PC has a 24 bit sound card. To graduate to making direct digital recordings to CDs (I've heard not to do it right to the PC, as it picks up drive noises) would require some research on my part on the "how-to's". One of the nice things with analog is that the recording equipment and the PC are totally separate entities until the final step. Retakes are very easy on tape too. With digital, I believe I'd have to move the PC much closer to the piano room, which would be a super hassle. While the piano settles down, I'll try to see what's most workable.

The only thing remaining now is that I want to replace a half-dozen white plexiglass keytops that have become pitted over the years. Baldwin doesn't sell them directly, and Pianotek (which carries everything) doesn't have Baldwin keytops either. The Pianotek rep suggested trying German piano keys. Like the Baldwin's, they are slightly narrower and similarly come in the one-piece style. So he's ordered some, and we'll compare them to see if they'll actually work well.

Good to hear from you again!

Hi Larry L.

Check over on the Members Recording forum here and play the Bortkiewicz Impromptu "Eros" (my 4th and latest rendition) I just posted there. You'll hear the rebuilt Baldwin L. Let me know what you think!

David