Advice on Purchase of Baldwin Hamilton

<< I am in the market for an upright piano to replace my Baldwin spinet.

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The local Baldwin dealer has a stock of Baldwin Hamiltons model 243 that they are selling at heavily discounted prices. They are 'new' (i.e., never sold) and described as 'old inventory.' I would guess that they are perhaps 2 or 3 years old and the cabinets are a bit banged up with many small scuffs and scratches. The hammers show virtually no wear and I believe that they are new pianos that were sitting in a warehouse or a store for several years. I played several of them. The one I liked the best sounded pretty good and the action felt quite even and responsive. They were asking about $4000 for this piano in a black satin finish, and offered to do some cosmetic work to remove some of the scratches from the cabinet. They will give me some trade-in value for my spinet and I could possibly bargain a few bucks off the price, but they indicated the price was pretty firm on these Hamiltons since they were already heavily discounted. I didn't pursue any further bargaining during this first visit >>

Consider this a vote for the Hamilton.

I hate to break this to you but $4,000 is hardly a 'heavily discounted' price for a 2 or 3 year old piano made by a company that will not honor a warantee for old product. The $4,000 figure is more than Baldwin was selling brand new 243's to schools and churches one year ago.

You should look more carefully before you plunk down 4K for one of these pianos unless you love it and can't do without it.

Good luck in your shopping. Damion Bertram, pianist, conductor

Thanks to you and Dave Andrews for the input.

The price on the Hamilton was the tag price. I suspect that I can get it bargained down a wee bit. I don't want to waste my time bargaining until I decide on the particular piano. The store will warranty the piano for 5 years. We never discussed whether Baldwin would honor a longer warranty or not, and I pretty much assumed that the only warranty would be from the dealer. But this is not a used piano; it is new from pre-bankruptcy inventory.

While I'm not in the business, I think a retail store is going to charge more than what the manufacturer would charge when selling a piano directly to an institution. But if this is overpriced for this piano, even at a full service retail store, then I would appreciate knowing this. There is no piano that 'I can't do without it.' I didn't think that this was some sort of special price ('Sale ends today! Act quickly before you lose out!' but just what the market will bear for the old inventory of Baldwins.

I went and played the Kawai again today. It was made in 1981and it is the 48' studio made in Japan. The piano showed very little wear for its age. The action felt very uniform and quite stiff (which I like) but I found playing trills on the Baldwin to be slightly easier. The sound was quite nice and better than the Baldwin, but perhaps a little bit bright in the upper-midrange. The cabinet was open at this point so it was exaggerating the effect, and I think a little voicing would correct this in any event. Overall, it is a nice piano for a little less money than the Hamilton. It has a more attractive cabinet than the Hamilton, which not a major factor but it may be more palatable to my wife.

Mr. Fine's book states that the 48' Kawai is the lowest quality of the studio line, but it is 'a good value for casual use in the home.' Not exactly a glowing review, but the review of the Hamilton was also less than glowing.

Two more stores to check out tomorrow. - - /****************************************************** **************** * Gary M. Letchinger * San Diego, California * Reply to the newsgroup only ******************************************************* ***************/

<< The price on the Hamilton was the tag price. I suspect that I can get it bargained down a wee bit. I don't want to waste my time bargaining until I decide on the particular piano. The store will warranty the piano for 5 years. We never discussed whether Baldwin would honor a longer warranty or not, and I pretty much assumed that the only warranty would be from the dealer. But this is not a used piano; it is new from pre-bankruptcy inventory. >>

I normally don't comment much on pricing in the newsgroup but for what it's worth, in the pre-bankruptcy days, your $4k price would have been an amount one could expect to pay for a 243 Hamilton in Walnut or Satin Ebony