Baldwin SD-10

[robbieB]

Hi Everyone
Its great to be part of this forum, as i have been reading some of the posts over the past little while, and I have learned quite a bit and have enjoyed what everyone has had to say.
About 10 yrs ago,I did some studio sessions for a good friend of mine who owned a major studio here in town, and  i had allway's played their 9' Baldwin.
This piano will allways stick out in my memory, for having, as one jazz player who recorded at the studio put it,."the piano has a big warm, round sound".
I foolishly at the time, did not get the model # but im assuming it was a SD-10
it was bought in the early eighties ,i can tell you that.
Now I am in the position of buying a 9' myself, for our own studio here, where we will be recording a little bit of everything.
I have tried others and like the Yamaha CF-111s for its consitiency,but something keeps bringing me back to that Baldwin.
With the studio where i played it at, and the piano now long gone,finding out the model is impossible but...is it possible that it is a SD-10?
How does the Baldwin hold up in the world of Proffesional musicians?
Baldwin seems to keep a lower profile than some of the other manufactures today
But..there is nothing wrong with that.

Thanks everyone,,and keep up this most useful Forum

Rob

[Axtremus]

I am aware of only one 9' concert grand model that Baldwin makes... and that would be the SD-10. I really liked the used SD-10 that I played before (mid-1990's vintage, I think, from their concert and artist rental fleet).

As for why Baldwin has been so quiet lately... well, they went through a bankgruptcy a few years back, then Gibson (the guitar company) bought some of Baldwin's assets. So now Gibson owns the Baldwin brand and runs the factories that produce Baldwin pianos. There are much, much fewer dealers who sell Baldwin pianos now. Gibson/Baldwin doesn't produce as many pianos as the old Baldwin used to, I don't think... not even sure if Gibson/Baldwin has produced even one new concert grand in the past couple of years.

Certainly look up their Baldwin website, contact them and see if you can still buy a new SD-10. But do be psychologically prepared to have to look for a used SD-10 if you really must have an SD-10, just in case.

As for how well Baldwin holds up in the world of professional musicians... I think among those who use acoustic pianos, Steinway and Yamaha still dominate. Everything else is nary a blip.

You wrote that you've tried other concert grands... I won't guess which ones and will assume that you've tried them all. But Mason and Hamlin should be revealing their 9'4" model CC concert grand (most likely a prototype) at a trade show in California in a few days... so may be there is this one more that you can try. How fast they can ram up production to actually deliver the CC to buyers is another matter entirely (assuming there are already buyers in queue, just a guess).

Good luck.

[robbieB]

Thanks ,good points that you made !

When i say i have tried others,yes i have tried a few others ..but not all of them.
Kawaii,not too sure what i think of these, they are sitting next to the Yamaha's in our local dealership.. i know they sell very well,,.but im still trying to decide what i think of them..i don't dislike them.

Steinway,.My neighbor she has a 1940's ish 9', in fact its the one that the local symphony borrows from time to time because they like it too, she's a piano teacher  and awesome pianist , and that big black piano was the first piano i ever played.
Talk about lasting first impressions, but i like the older Steinways over the new ones
Bosendoffer,.Ah yes.,.. possibly the most beautiful piano in the world from a visual
and its the personal 9' piano of jazz great Oscar Peterson,.so it keeps excellent company.I played one only once by chance,. at a music show and the action was fantastic, but what can you really hear at a trade show, and we have no local dealers.
Yamaha..love their 9' for its constiency, i can play one in Vancouver and play one here in Ottawa and its allmost identical,.with the same action and response.
Its the one that the music schools and conservatorys up here have and yes i seem to find it in most of the recording studios in the business.
ITs nothing flashy,..but its reliable and thats a good thing
Baldwin, well i said everything about this piano all in the above posting
playing it was a labour of love and it was never enough it seems.
A big round, warm sound is what to expect from this 9'
It doesn't have the "edge" that you can get from the Stienway, and some folks will miss that.
But they are hard to get new now,. if at all

I have our local dealer tracking down an SD-10 and the scoop from the company?
if they can be had at all...etc
But hey... there are still a few others to try,. like Saulter.. which im very curious about
ITs all good(and fun too)

RobbieB

[robbieB]

OOPS! That should be Sauter Pianos
Forgive my spelling.

robbieB