Baldwin warranty / 743 question Favorites

[Nichols]

At 07:55 AM 4/16/2004 +0200, you wrote:
>Reading all the posts that have been written I find myself wondering if 
>there is anyone that likes anything at all that Baldwin has produced in 
>the last ....say... 20 years.
>
>I'm curious as to which models present and recent past are considered good 
>instruments by our collective here.
>
>Anyone care to list up your top favorite 3 models ?
>
>RicB

Ric,
      I've got blond oak 242's in institutional settings, (from the 60's) 
that are out-performing newer pianos from famous Japanese makers. And 
that's here in the desert. Not quite 5in of rain last year. You can 
imagine. I've got 243's and 243HP's that are terrific instruments.  Holding 
up well, with regular maintenance. I've worked on Baldwin grands that have 
fallen off trucks, sat out in the sun, gone through floods, and accompanied 
thousands of hours of Pentecostal ...uh... well.... you know. Anyway, I 
have to say that I've never really understood the techs who don't like 
them, other than the fact that they have tight pins. I broke an extension 
lever on a bass pin, once. Baldwin gave me a new lever.  So... I find them 
to be "trucks". I mean, they hold up well. I loved the old Baldwin hammers, 
before they started using Renners. The originals were very voice-able, and 
pretty durable. When the bass strings are made correctly (sadly not often 
enough), there's nothing like it.
     So... my Baldwin favorites are:
          SF-10. The MOST engineered piano on the planet in the seventies 
and eighties. Prepped right, an extremely satisfying piano to play.
          243HP  The most produced single model line of any piano. Period. 
I'm proud of every one that I sold, except the short run that had Holly 
Springs keys. Luckily, that situation was self-cleansing.
         Acrosonic 36C  You know, the older Acro with the boxy case. For a 
spinet, it is unmatched. For a spinet.

I may no longer be in retail, and I know that there are many options, 
but.... if I were to do it again, and could get instruments like most of 
the ones I bought, I'd sell Baldwin.
This isn't "out-of-the-closet" by any means. The only reason I haven't 
responded to some of the whining is that I've heard it all before.

Best Regards,
Guy Nichols, RPT