New, Improved Baldwins

[Jon Ralinovsky]

>I am happy to hear some positive comments about the new Baldwin pianos.  I
>too have seen some great improvements in the last few years.  We have a
>loan program with Baldwin here at Ohio University and it has been
>interesting to see changes in the new pianos each year.
>
>I do, however, have some big problems.  For one, the tuning pin alignment
>on the verticals is really bad in the third octave.  String alignment is
>impossible with the way the strings weave through adjacent pins.
>
>My main beef, though, is with the regulating of the grands we got this
>year.  They were fine when they got here but over the Christmas break the
>regulation went completely out the window.  It wasn't just little
>adjustments due to felt impacting, they went way out.  I had to completely
>re-regulate all four of our grands because they were unplayable.  Yes,
>these are new pianos and they need to break in and yes, our humidity in
>this building is too low but I have been working with new pianos,
>especially new Baldwins, for years and I have never seen problems like
>this.
>
>Has anyone else experience this?  I would be interested in hearing from you
>if so.
>
>chris

Chris,
We bought four 248s about  1.5 years ago, and they have the tuning 
pin alignment problems that you mention.  It is rather annoying to 
have the same problem that usually only shows up on lesser pianos.  I 
haven't had any problems with regulation yet, but our pianos are from 
1999.  The grands have other problems, such as damper guide rails 
that aren't aligned to the strings, bridge pins that are drilled the 
wrong way, etc (our grands have ribs that are not mortised into the 
rim).  Oh well, job security.

Respectfully,
Jon



Jon Ralinovsky
Piano Technician
Department of Music
Miami University
513/529-6548