Baldwin Acrosonic Piano Appraisal Sampler ListingsBaldwinAcrosonic Appraisal Listings These is the only used piano guide on the internet as to what a piano is worth. It is used extensively asthe source of used pianoprice information by retailers, piano appraisers, piano teachers, piano technicians. It isa fast, free, and convenient way to look up the average priceof a used piano. This is an example of the appraisal service by the Bluebook of Pianos.The prices are stated in U.S. Dollarsand are based on market values based on comparisons ofused pianos, and offered for sale on the internet on such sites as Craig's List, E Bayor in classified ads in newspapers throughout the United States and Canada.These pianos are also advertised on the web by technicians, private parties,music stores teachers, and on auctions or liquidations.ACROSONIC AppraisalListingsTheAcrosonic piano is thelargest selling piano brand name and model of all time. This distinctive andexclusive name designates a line of spinet and console pianos built by theBaldwin Piano Company.
Baldwin Acrosonic(pre-1977) spinet piano. Particular model of piano, the discussion thus far is more comprehendable. My particular Acrosonic is about 42-45 years old and in beautiful condition. I am not sure of the name of the wood, but it is a.
Coined from the Greek word,'akros,' meaning supreme andthe Latin word, 'sonus,' meaning tone, the trade mark 'Acrosonic' is registeredin the United States Patent Office.BaldwinAcrosonic Spinet Piano, serial number 597721 made in 1957 in fair togood condition, hasn't been tuned in several years. When this instrument istuned the value is $1,250.00. Figure is based on the age, condition, size, gradeand rarity of this instrument.Baldwin Acrosonic Supreme Tone Spinet Piano, 36inches tall, bearing serial number 527747, manufactured in 1953. Well cared forand in good condition. When this piano is tuned for maximum performance thevalue is $1,550.00. Figure is based on the age, condition, size, grade andrarity of this piano.BaldwinAcrosonic Spinet Piano, 36' tall, bearing serial number 960471, manufacturedin 1972. In excellent condition. Purchased about 1970.
Tuned lastfall. Non-smoking household. Always kept on inside wall. Bench has a few smallnicks, considered normal wear and tear.
When this instrument is tuned the valueis $1,750.00. Figure is based on the age, condition, size, grade and rarity ofthis instrument.BaldwinAcrosonic Console Piano w/bench, measures: 40' tall. Bearing serial number970460, manufactured in 1964. Well cared for and in very good condition. Noenvironmental issues. No repairs needed. When this piano is tuned the value is$2,050.00. Figure is based on the age, condition, size, grade and rarity ofthis instrument.Baldwin Acrosonic ConsolePiano, bearing serial number 699592, manufactured in late 1960.
In very goodcondition. A few minor chips in wood, considered normal wear and tear. No knownother defects. Maintained in a climate controlled residential environment. Whenthis instrument is tuned for maximum performance the value is $1,550.00. Figureis based on the age, condition, size, grade and rarity of this instrument.BALDWIN ACROSONIC Used SpinetPianoListings.
I can't for the life of me understand why a teacher capable of teaching jazzwould be so ignorant of pianos that he would send someone out with the expressinstructions to get any spinet piano. Spinets have the worst action you couldhope to find, and they are too small to sound good.As for being in high demand, it must just be your area of the country. There'snothing special about these spinets, or any other spinet.Go find someone who knows something about pianos to help you pick your daughtera piano. A spinet is about the worst choice you could make.
The advice you havebeen given is so wrong it would make me want to seriously consider finding anew teacher.Larry FletcherPianos IncAtlanta GADealer/technicianDoing the work of three men.Larry, Curly, & MoeRichard Galassini15.12.00 3:51. I can't for the life of me understand why a teacher capable of teaching jazzwould be so ignorant of pianos that he would send someone out with theexpressinstructions to get any spinet piano. Spinets have the worst action you couldhope to find, and they are too small to sound good.As for being in high demand, it must just be your area of the country.There'snothing special about these spinets, or any other spinet.Go find someone who knows something about pianos to help you pick yourdaughtera piano.
A spinet is about the worst choice you could make. The advice youhavebeen given is so wrong it would make me want to seriously consider finding anew teacher.Larry FletcherPianos IncAtlanta GADealer/technicianRarely are Larry and I in disagreement, but I think I understand why yourteacher suggested these pianos.
The Baldwin Acro of that time (1970's) wasbetter than most spinets and better than some consoles made NEW at that time.Having said that, it can't be anything more than a casual players piano and isnot a professional quality by any stretch.It wouldn't be my first recommendation, but where space and $$ are at apremium, a worse decision could be made.cc: LarryRichard GalassiniCunningham Piano CoPhila. Pa.1 (800) 394-1117URL:Darryl Greene15.12.00 4:52. 'glen anstine' wrote:Speaking as a technician, I tend to agree more with Larry. Spinets asa category are the worst possible choice, both in design parametersand the tendency to be built much too cheaply in terms of materials &labor, but as Richard says, amoung spinets Baldwin Acros were amoungthe better- though the rare Yamaha spinets were really the best.The teacher may be enamored of them because Baldwin had a veryaggressive and effective marketing approach geared specifically towardteachers, whom for the most part unfortunately do not have a goodmechanical understanding of the piano and thus are suggestible whenyou can figure out which buttons to push, as Baldwin did.
Baldwin'sefforts in this area have been very long lasting, and I still see theeffects. I don't mean this as a demeaning statement toward teachers,as we.all. have our buttons, and areas of poor understanding, but Ido believe that the preference so many teachers have toward Baldwinproducts is essentially unfounded faith, and primarily a result ofgood, aggressive promotion by Baldwin.I worked as a technician for a Baldwin dealer in the '70s, BTW, so Iam speaking from direct experience.Rick ClarkGary15.12.00 5:15. Rarely are Larry and I in disagreement, but I think I understand why your teacher suggested these pianos. The Baldwin Acro of that time (1970's) was better than most spinets and better than some consoles made NEW at that time.I have never owned a piano that would be considered an acceptable choice inthis newsgroup (until I earned an asterisk a couple months ago by buying aP80).
In fact, I probably have not spent more than a few hours even playingsuch a piano. However, I spent many hundreds of hours playing the spinetsand uprights one finds - or used to find, before pianos disappearedaltogether - in saloons and dance halls. One developed what charitablywould be called a heavy touch playing unamplified in piano-drums-horn triosand quartets. I realize we are talking one bad choice vs. Other bad choiceshere, but the Acrosonic spinet I bought used for $300 in 1972 had a sturdytouch, tone and projection (or whatever the proper word is) that, given mybackground, felt and sounded like a keeper - which is why I chose it from aformer ghetto supermarket filled with used pianos. It got wheeled around thehouse for various occasions, and even out onto the front porch for blockparties, not an easy trick with an upright.
Somewhere around here I have jamsession tapes where the Acrosonic sounds considerably better than pianos onjam session tapes made at various saloons. Eventually it got passed on to myson, who last I knew was still playing it some at his home when he wasn'tprogramming his electronic keyboard. So far, my Acrosonic has cost about 20cents a week, and I consider it one of my finer investments.Arlene Usui15.12.00 5:55. On Fri, 15 Dec 2000 08:39:54 -0500, 'Tom W. Ferguson' wrote: I have never owned a piano that would be considered an acceptable choice in this newsgroup (until I earned an asterisk a couple months ago by buying a P80). In fact, I probably have not spent more than a few hours even playing such a piano. However, I spent many hundreds of hours playing the spinets and uprights one finds - or used to find, before pianos disappeared altogether - in saloons and dance halls.
One developed what charitably would be called a heavy touch playing unamplified in piano-drums-horn trios and quartets. I realize we are talking one bad choice vs. Other bad choices here, but the Acrosonic spinet I bought used for $300 in 1972 had a sturdy touch, tone and projection (or whatever the proper word is) that, given my background, felt and sounded like a keeper - which is why I chose it from a former ghetto supermarket filled with used pianos. It got wheeled around the house for various occasions, and even out onto the front porch for block parties, not an easy trick with an upright.
Somewhere around here I have jam session tapes where the Acrosonic sounds considerably better than pianos on jam session tapes made at various saloons. Eventually it got passed on to my son, who last I knew was still playing it some at his home when he wasn't programming his electronic keyboard. So far, my Acrosonic has cost about 20 cents a week, and I consider it one of my finer investments.I love this post. Part of me wanted to write to the father who wasasking for recommendations for his four-year-old to give the kid acardboard box, a pot, and a spoon.
I don't like equipment guiltplaying a part in musical enjoyment and creativity.arleneAnnalisa Ventola15.12.00 9:49. In defense of the Acrosonics.I love my Acrosonic! I can't contribute to discussion the mecanics andparts because I am no technician (however, my piano tuner/technicianthinks that mine is a great instrument). However, I think thatAcrosonics have a beautiful tone, and I prefer mine over almost any otherstudio piano that I come across.Why is this instrument called a 'spinet'? My understanding is thatspinets are a different kind of keyboard instrument, with less than 88keys. Just about everyone I know would call the Acrosonic a 'consolepiano'. Isn't this correct?AnnalisaYogi Panda15.12.00 12:52.
In article,(Annalisa Ventola) wrote:The overall height of a piano from the floor to the top of the liddetermines what kind of piano it is. A spinet is generally 36 inchestall, a console is 40 inches or so, a studio is 45 inches, and so on.Most modern pianos have 88 keys, with the exception of a few olderSteinways which have 85 and some Boesendorfer grands, which have a fewextra keys at the bass end (four, I think).Best wishes.-Tom SeaySchool of MusicThe University of Texas at [email protected] 16:02. In article,Hi,The first piano I ever owned was a ebony wurlitzer spinet that wasowned by a jazz musicain in Chicago. I wish I could remember his name( I was into rock -n-roll, so I was not listening to what the salesperson told me, like a dumb kid), it was left in his estate. Spinetpianos were used in alot of vintage jazz recordings, because blackswere not recorded with the same big budgets as the white musicians.Also the whites didn't want the blacks playing their 'special' studioinstruments. If you listen to alot of old jazz, you can hear the highpitched, slow action of the spinet piano.
It has it's place in jazzfor sure.I wrote alot of good songs on that piano and taught myself to play onit, but spinets and consoles ( I hate console pianos, by the way)according to the experts, cannot match the faster action and richertone of the studio piano. I found that the action of my old spinet wasslow and sometimes it frustrated me very much. I love spinets, but forall - around use, I would buy a studio. Yamaha studios are known fortheir great 'jazz' tone and I have found that their 'bright' tone isgrowing on me.I thought I read in a book that the Baldwin Acrosonic action is like astudio ( it does not use plates) and I think Larry Fine likes them (piano expert that I mostly disagree with ).
They are the exception tothe rule, so to speak, in my opinion. They have better action and aricher sound than any spinet I've ever tried.Good Luck,FreddieSent via Deja.comRick Clark15.12.00 16:44. Why is this instrument called a 'spinet'? My understanding is thatspinets are a different kind of keyboard instrument, with less than 88keysWhile it is true that a long time ago, there was a specific type of(now ancient) keyboard instrument called a 'spinet', that is not howthe term has been commonly used in popular piano lingo (as opposed toacademic) for over 50 years. Nowadays, it usually means a modernpiano utilizing a 'drop action', which is about 36 inches tall.The 'drop action' does not rest on top of the keys like otheruprights, but is shoehorned into the case so that it drops below thelevel of the keys, and must be activated by a sort of stick-likelifting mechanism attached to the back of the keys.The drop action sacrifices a number of things in terms of touch andthe inability to control dynamics, but the goal was to make them smalland cheap and lightweight, rather than be fine musical instruments.
Interms of tone most of them lack any depth in the bass registers, andare in fact rather loud and metallic sounding, due to the fact thatthey hardened the hammers up with lacquers in order to overcome thenatural tone and volume limitations of such a small sized piano. Thisalong with the poor touch makes them almost impossible to play in thelower end of the dynamic range, or with any control over tone. Inaddition to the above, there was a strong tendency to cut corners inthe building process, so that materials degenerated quickly and didn'tfit well and weren't able take good adjustment. That is why people putthem down. They were the piano equivalent of Yugos, and fortunatelythey don't make them much anymore.But many people were obviously quite happy with pianos like thatbecause spinets were a wildly popular American style of piano for agood part of the 20th century, due to being inexpensive. Some peoplenever reach the level of playing where it makes much difference thatthey have a spinet. Many people prefer the bright tone, and don't carethat it doesn't express much dynamically.
Most, I have noticed, do noteven notice or care when they are wildly out of tune.Just about everyone I know would call the Acrosonic a 'consolepiano'. Isn't this correct?An Acrosonic may or may not be a spinet. 'Acrosonic' is not a piano.type., but is rather a 'marketing concept'. It is just a name usedby Baldwin as an indication it is supposed to be a premium-type piano.Kind of like calling something 'Deluxe'.
Over the years, Acrosonicshave been entirely different styles and models of piano, some biggerand heavier, some smaller and lighter with a drop action. So it ispossible that.your. Acrosonic is a console or studio, but someoneelse's is a spinet. Some of the larger ones and earlier ones werepretty nice and well-made, but the spinet Acrosonics of the '70s werepretty much the bottom in quality.Rick Clarkrobertandrews16.12.00 4:46. 'glen anstine' wrote:What's so special about this piano and what is a fair price for one in goodcondition.The Acrosonic is the only good spinet I've ever played.
I can't remember ifit has the drop action, which is the identifying feature of the spinet.Even if it does, I think it's a nice sounding piano & easy to play.Sound-wise, the older Acrosonics are probably better - they have a very'musical' tone. The major deficiency is that all short pianos sacrificevolume of sound, especially in the bass: you can't do any loud, crashingchords on a spinet.If you enjoy a light, sweet tone, the Acrosonic is fine. Make sure to havea technician check out the action. If the action is worn out or if the bassstrings need replacing, the piano would likely be prohibitively expensive.If you find one in good-excellent condition, I'd say it's worth around$400-$2,200.
In other words, you might be able to find one at a low pricefrom the right seller.I'd also recommend playing other brands for comparison. Taller Asian pianos(Yamaha, Kawai, etc.) have a completely different tone. Many older Americanuprights sound great,.if. you can find one in good condition. Thecondition is critical.I would easily take a good Acrosonic over a digital piano: even though Isacrifice volume, I prefer the tone. I also prefer playing on an acousticinstrument.Dave Zappa16.12.00 7:21. The pre-84 Acrosonics were all spinets.
They quit building the spinet Acroaround that time and started calling the fancy cabinet consoles Acrosonics.The pre-75 Acrosonics had a different design for the action which made thema more of a reasonable piano. Rather than just screwing a metal 'finger'into the end of the keystick and putting a rubber grommet on the drop leverthat activated the action & clicking it into the finger, they had a guiderail that the drop lever came up above the keystick into, and then the keysactually pushed up on this lever. It kept the action fairly well aligned,and there was no 'slop' in the way it felt compare to the cheaper design.It was better than most pianos in it's price range at the time, but it'sstill a spinet.DZRichard Huggins16.12.00 21:28. Normally I agree with Larry, but I have always liked the older Acrosonics.How Baldwin got such tone and bass response out of such a small piano wascurious to me. As for touch, those that have castigated the teacher forreccommending the Acrosonic might ought to remember that he was a jazzteacher.
As such perhaps he likes the lighter touch and certainly would likethe mellow midrange of the older Acrosonic. That could have influenced histhinking.While it might not be acceptable as a classical instrument, I would say thatit is an acceptable choice as regards value for the money, and a teachertrying to convince a Dad to buy his child a piano could do some worse.Mind you, I'd always wish the Dad would opt for a grand or better upright,but money might be a consideration, and I'm not sure I can go along with thesuggestion that a digital is a better choice.RichardLarry16.12.00 21:34. I have taught piano for 42 years full time and go to the students homes.Many have had older Acrosonic spinets. The wurlitzer spinet of the early70's was even better than the Acrosonic IMO. They are both great for jazz asthey are bright and have a light touch. I preferred the Wurlitzer. We gaveour Wurlitzer consol away to our minister and got a new something else.
I'veregretted it ever since.' Glen anstine' wrote in messagenews:0Zi5.17728$Ei1.1240010@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net.Annalisa Ventola18.12.00 13:27. Thanks to all for your informative posts on this subject!Rick - I sent a reply to your last post, but somehow it didn't appear onthis newsgroup.wierd. At any rate, this message contains some of thesame material of that missing post.Now that I understand that the term 'Acrosonic' does not apply to oneparticular model of piano, the discussion thus far is morecomprehendable. My particular Acrosonic is about 42-45 years old and inbeautiful condition. I am not sure of the name of the wood, but it is adark wood with a reddish hue.maybe mahogany or cherry wood? I took outmy measuring tape, and it is about 36 inches high.
So according to yourlingo, it is indeed a 'spinet'. I can't bring myself to call it a spinet,because the term itself makes me think of those toy pianos of the 1800's.But, I'll remember to call it a spinet when speaking to technicians,tuners, and movers.I bought my Acrosonic 10 years ago (I was 13) for about $1400.
I had beengiven a slightly larger budget to buy a used piano with, and found it in aroom with about 60 used pianos, all of them within price range. I playedon every one of those 60-some pianos, but kept coming back to thatAcrosonic. I found something very attractive about the sound of theinstrument, and much to my mother's delight,I decided to buy this(cheaper) instrument.As my playing has matured, I have found that I am beginning to grow out ofthis piano. Just this year, I had the felt on the hammers filed becausethe piano was much to loud, and the dynamic range too limited. This didhelp quite a bit. Now my complaint is that the keys are too loose arenoisy when I play.
I wonder if this is something that I can have fixed orif it is just inherent to the instrument? In the meantime, I try to spendsome of my practice time on the grand pianos at my music school, becuase Ifind that my Acrosonic does not help me build the strength and enduranceneeded at my level of playing.Despite my complaints about the instrument, I still prefer my Acrosonic toevery studio, console, or spinet piano that I come across. It isbeautiful to both the eyes and the ears.
Perhaps one day I will replacethis old friend, but not until I have the space and the money for a grandpiano.and that day looks a long way off.Annalisa The overall height of a piano from the floor to the top of the lid determines what kind of piano it is. A spinet is generally 36 inches tall, a console is 40 inches or so, a studio is 45 inches, and so on.
Most modern pianos have 88 keys, with the exception of a few older Steinways which have 85 and some Boesendorfer grands, which have a few extra keys at the bass end (four, I think). Best wishes.
Tom Seay School of Music The University of Texas at Austinglen anstine19.12.00 20:35.