I am in a position that I can not say what I really feel about Baldwin
piano and what they have done with their pianos.  They just are not the
same as they once were years ago in my opinion.

No more duplex scaling: now they have the adjustable hitch pin, which
is a shortcut in manufacturing and does not allow the duplex scaling.
Years ago a piano manufacturer had to have the plate at just the right
height in relation to the bridge so that down-bearing would be correct.
With the adjustable hitch pin this is no longer a problem.  They no
longer have the heavy bracing in their smaller grands.

In order to compete it seems to me they have taken every shortcut they
can.  I had a friend at the factory in Mexico (in Quality Control; he
quit because they would not correct problems) and he says the phrase of
the day was "let it go," knowing that there would be problems later on.
An example was bridge pins located too close to the edge of the bridge,
where there is not enough wood to support the pressures of the strings
pushing on the bridge pins.

In Mexico they made almost every component that was used in the piano.
On one of my trips to the factory in Conway they would put the crown
in the soundboard with a piston that came up from the floor, while a
fixture in the ceiling held the soundboard in place on the frame.  The
glue was dried very quickly as this process only lasted a minute.

The next step in the process had this glued-up soundboard and frame
go to a large router that trimmed the assembly to size.  If you will
notice, the ribs on the soundboard are not notched into the backframe,
as they have traditionally been for years.  What holds the crown
in these soundboards over a period of years?  The luck of the draw?
I have had two Baldwin verticals with no crown left in the soundboards.

Baldwin staples the hammer felt on the grand hammers but not their
vertical pianos.  If it's necessary on the grands, why not the vertical
models?

The black on the bridges is usually a graphite coating so the strings
do not get caught on bridge when tuning the piano.  At the Baldwin
factory they used a black stove polish.  The bridges are no longer
notched on both sides allowing string buzz on the bridge over time.

They no longer add weights to the keys for an even touch.  When Larry
Fine started to write what he really felt about Baldwin pianos in his
book he was threatened with a lawsuit.

I feel sorry for anyone buying a new Baldwin piano because they
just are not the piano they should be.  Check out the section in Art
Reblitz' book, "Piano Tuning and Repair," second edition, on evaluating
an old piano to see if it is worth rebuilding.  All the good construc-
tion techniques for building a piano are just not used on new Baldwins.

If they are not going to build their flagship line correct what would
make someone think that they are going to do any better with their
other brands.

My two cents worth

Don Teach,  Shreveport Music Co.
1610 E. Bert Kouns, Shreveport,  LA  71105
dat-smc@juno.com