Piano Forum

Topic: how to trick out a Baldwin piano SF-10 (American, not the new ones)  (Read 1752 times)

Offline onesurfer1

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I read on an old thread (2003) that G.Fiore/aka Curry, tricked out a 2000 Baldwin SF10 that he bought and his professional pianists friends couldn't get enough of playing it.

What can you do more to an SF10 to make it better than it already is.  Aren't they awesome pianos as they are?  ...i mean, i thought it was = to top tier pianos (not like Fazioli, etc.) more in the likes of SS or August Forster, etc.

(btw, why did they name it SF-10 anyway, is that a random name??)

Offline indianajo

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You could put a different action in it.  People even change actions in Steinways. See the piano street article about a Steinway grand with two actions that one of the major concert halls keeps.  Some pianist prefer one action, some prefer the other.  
Different felt hammers will change the character of the attack of the note.  It won't change the basic sound of the note, that is set by the string type and and the build of the case soundboard and frame.  There is nothing inferior about the latter of a Baldwin IMHO, but some people have bad things to say about the Baldwin actions.  The word "mushy" has been used.  I'm not that picky, I find the fifties Baldwin I played last year to feel okay if a bit heavy.  The heaviness, I'm going to find that on all grand actions I'm afraid. I'm not big enough in the forearms to be a concert pianist is the bottom line.   You won't have that problem I'm pretty sure, if you are posting here and are European African or normal Asian build.
It's a pity all actions these days are import, only ten years ago the USA had a couple of action builders.  However, there are still four or five companies building actions, which gives one a lot of choices in tricking out your grand piano.  The beauty of changing actions, you don't have to discard the old one.  You just have to store it, and spend an hour putting it back in, if what you've bought is not better than the baldwin standard action.   
Another option is different bass strings.  The two and three string notes, those are standard music wire, but the wound strings, there are a lot of options and if one has a lot of money and time, one can experiment.  
Finally, tuners will "voice" the piano on your current action, using picks steam or glue on the felt.  Unless you have particular problem, I wouldn't suggest this.  Techs like to brag on themselves, but few actually do this enough times to get a lot of experience at it.  The voicers that work in the factories, they are the ones that get a lot of experience.  If you absolutely have to have this, get someone from a major city that does this.  I'm talking four cities here, the London and East Coast US metroplexes, possibly Paris or north Germany.  If the notes of your piano match across the three types of strings, IMHO, don't get it voiced.  
 

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