piano

= Baldwin L Grand Piano for sale = = asking $8000 = contact: erich@erichlieth.com or 919-270-3440

I'd like to offer my appraisal of this piano as a musician who has played piano for almost forty years, and who plays piano and keyboards professionally. I know this piano fairly well and can probably answer any questions about it. It is a nice piano.

The piano is offered for sale by a church. It was donated by a long-time member who reluctantly had to let it go because he didn’t have enough space upon moving to a downsized home in a retirement community. The donor purchased the piano new and kept it in an air-conditioned space with regular tunings. He did not play it every day, but probably several times a week. At the time it was donated he had the piano appraised, and the appraisal was done by the technician that had been tuning it for many years. The technician appraised it at $18000, and this is consistent with blue-book values I have seen. The reason the church is not keeping this piano is that we already have a very nice, fairly new Yamaha grand in place.

I have played this piano on a number of occasions. I am not particularly fond of Baldwin grands in general, though I have played them in concert situations several times. I can say without reservation that the one we have is better than any that I have played on a stage. In fact, I have been tempted to purchase it myself, but I do not have space for it. I have played many instruments, and occasionally one will speak to me in an exceptional way. This piano is one of those, and I knew it right away when I first played it in the former owner’s home. It has a warm, yet clear tone, with a solid, resonant base. The upper register sustains nicely, unlike many pianos where the upper end decays too quickly. On many Baldwins the action is too heavy for my taste, but this one is moderately heavy, with fast response in both loud and soft passages. My style is somewhat jazzy, so I like rich chords to ring, and this piano does that. I have also heard intricate classical music played on it and all the lines were easily distinguishable.

Another one of the truly exceptional aspects of this piano is that it holds tune incredibly well in the absence of any kind of humidity control system. When I first played it, it was perfectly in tune, though it had not been tuned in over three years. I know the tuner that the owner used, and he corroborated this, saying that he had rarely needed to do any more than tweak the tuning on this piano. Amazingly, after we moved the piano and in the weeks thereafter the tuning did not change at all. Now several years later it is still not at all bad and continues to be a joy to play. I don’t think I have ever before seen a piano that has held tuning this well for six years, including a move. In this part of the country pianos usually need to be tuned at least twice a year. My prediction is that the new owner of this piano will be able to enjoy playing it while it acclimates for two or three weeks in its new location before its next tuning.

And it looks good, too. The only sign of slight wear is on the face board in front of the keys, with no marks anywhere else that I have seen. The bench is cushioned and extra wide (though at a stationary height), so it would be easy to play duets.

The piano is 43 years old. Good pianos that are taken care of, played at least occasionally, and kept in tune hold their quality through time. The Baldwin model L is a piano made for the high end of the home market. You might find one at a church or on a small stage, but most of them go into the homes of people who appreciate a good piano. This piano new costs $38000, but a new one you would get will not be nearly as good as this one made in the 60’s. The Baldwin company sold the name, I think in the 70’s, and since then the production quality has not been anywhere near the same. That’s why I don’t generally like Baldwins. Consequently, in my opinion the person who buys this piano will get an extremely good value. Look at it this way. This piano has not changed, or perhaps it has actually gotten better over 40 years, so you can know for sure that it will hold its quality over at least the next 100 years. Compare that to a showroom piano that has no history, and perhaps was manufactured under inferior production conditions. I think I would go with the less expensive tried and true, especially since this one looks almost like new.

I’d love to show the piano to you. If you are seriously interested, give me a call at 270-3440 and we can set up a time.

Erich