1981 Baldwin SF10

twocats · 2025-01-13T07:06:38+00:00

There's one that's come up for sale that I heard about through the grapevine, and it's currently being maintained by my tech. I just sent him an email about...

twocats

MandM I've played two SF10s and I absolutely loved the touch on both! One voiced very mellow and one that sounded like glass (that one is still unsold at the dealership). It's why I got so excited when this showed up in my inbox 🙂

MandM

I got a Baldwin SD10 downstairs (Renner action) that we bought more than 10 years ago for around $16,500. I think it is from around 1985, but I might be a bit off. I would describe the sound as bell-like. It is sitting in a large foyer with tiles on the floor and no carpeting, thus lots of room/hall reverberations. I have not heard yet how an SF10 sounds in comparison, but now I am curious and in case I visit a dealership in the future, I will try to listen to one 😀

twocats

MandM I've played one SD10 and I think bell-like was a good description of that piano! I think the SF10 definitely has a different character 🙂

ShiroKuro

Wow @twocats this is all very interesting!
Obviously you should play the Baldwin, but be very clear headed about the details.

The hammer thing is a big concern. I had no idea this changes were being made. Ugh.

twocats

ShiroKuro The hammer thing is a big concern. I had no idea this changes were being made. Ugh.

Yeah, I don't think most people do... He wouldn't have had such a clear view of it if he wasn't doing some work for the dealership. I think most people may not notice though, only techs who do really high-level voicing.

ShiroKuro

twocats the comments about decreasing ability of some techs makes sense actually, because for one thing it seems like there are fewer techs in general. For example, I’ve heard from my former tech that there seem to be a lot less techs who are younger than 50 years old than there used to be. An additional reason might also be that there may also be less need for high level tech work, as opposed to run of the mill tuning… 🙁

One of my “future fears” is that it become harder and harder to find a good quality tuner in years to come…

Sgisela

Very interesting series of posts and I’m looking forward to the updates.

twocats He said that ever since Yamaha acquired Renner a few years back, things have changed for the worse. They claim that the hammers are "easier to voice", because most technicians don't know how to do foundational voicing to change the character of the sound and only know how to do maintenance voicing. He said they've reduced the range that hammers used to have.

I find this particularly interesting, but I thought it was Steinway and not Yamaha that had purchased Renner.

twocats

Sgisela I thought it was Steinway and not Yamaha that had purchased Renner.

You're right! He misspoke.

ShiroKuro One of my “future fears” is that it become harder and harder to find a good quality tuner in years to come…

So true! I feel so lucky I found someone who is pretty good after my old tech was forced into retirement due to injury. The new guy isn't a concert technician but he is thoughtful and meticulous and can do general maintenance well. And he's about my age so hopefully he'll be servicing my piano(s) (?!?!?) for a long time.

twocats

I just called her and she picked up, and said she didn't see my text! I'm going to go to her house after my appointments this afternoon. She said it's a lovely piano.

ShiroKuro

twocats oooh, exciting!!

twocats

I'm about to drive over, but here's a twist. A friend of mine is also interested and we're going there at the same time. She has an old Steinway with a heavy action that is causing injury.

I also measured and if the SF10 goes where my futon currently is, it would take up that entire wall and the bench would be pretty much where the couple of steps going into the room are. Hopefully it's not my dream piano?!

ShiroKuro

twocats Hopefully it's not my dream piano?!

Indeed!

Also, oh the plot twists here!!!

twocats

The piano totally isn't for me! Yay, problem solved!! 😃

I didn't love the touch, but it's in fantastic condition for its age. But you can definitely tell it's an older piano. The keys are weirdly slippery and rounded?? My friend is playing now and I think her pianissimo technique has been adjusted to her truck of a piano and she's fighting to play pp. But I think that's a technique issue because I don't have a problem. But the piano doesn't feel natural for either of us! She's going to have to have discussions with her tech about how much money it would take to improve the action.

ShiroKuro

twocats The piano totally isn't for me! Yay, problem solved!!

Whew that’s a relief!
😅

It’s always fun to play different pianos, though, isn’t it!

Good luck to your friend!

twocats

ShiroKuro Good luck to your friend!

We walked her dog afterward and now we're getting dinner. We talked a lot about the piano. She is looking for her forever piano, and just isn't feeling it with this one.

ShiroKuro

@twocats It sounds like a very nice evening, even if it’s frustrating for her! Piano searches always take such a long time!

twocats

ShiroKuro it was really nice! We had a really great Korean dinner and caught up. I think it's good that I was there to talk to her about it because otherwise she was on the fence, but once she said she was looking for her forever piano it was clear that it wasn't the one.

I told her if she finds another piano that she wants to check out, I'm happy to come with her 🙂

ShiroKuro

It’s important to have someone to act as the voice of reason isn’t it!

And mixing dinner with piano shopping is the perfect combo! That’s what we did when I was piano shopping, esp. because I lived in a more semi-rural area, so we spent several months driving all over the place every weekend. We’d drive to some place 1-2 hours away, visit the pianos, and then go somewhere fun for dinner. The food helped my spouse put up with it! 😅