Hi there,
I am looking for the nice piano for my daughter. Right now I am looking at Baldwin studio 45" #246C or Henry Miller 47" serial #771578. Any suggestions? Is anybody played these pianos?

For those of us who don't have a piano atlas handy, it would be helpful if you can give the approximate age of these pianos.
Or are they new?

The 1960s Baldwin studio pianos I've played are probably a very different instrument from a new one (which I haven't played).

If these are used pianos, you will be better served by hiring a technician to check the pianos.

The Baldwin 246 is a 90's era insrument, if memory serves. In my experience, if both are in good shape, the Baldwin is probably better. Have a tech look at the Baldwin. If it's good, get it.

Just found out Baldwin 246 is made in 1983 and they asking $1495. Does anybody know about the quality of Baldwin in 80's? Is it a good deal for that price?
Any help much appreciated..

Ok that's a little newer than most of the Baldwin pianos I've played.

The general "coffee table wisdom" about Baldwin is that their quality is generally good except when going through bankruptcy. They were going through bankruptcy in 1983, according to Wikipedia. But this information is only useful (in my opinion) in a general sense, and you're looking at a specific sense - a specific piano.

As you've already heard, getting a tech to check it out is the safe thing to do.

$1495 sounds reasonable if it's in good condition.

I sold this model when I was a Baldwin dealer during that era. It is their model 245 Hamilton studio piano dressed up in a furniture case for the home. Since it was probably not beat up as an institutional piano might have been but has all the features of the Hamilton 'workhorse', I'd say it is priced fairly.

Asking about certain eras of piano building is irrelevant and completely misses the point. Suppose there were 10 bad pianos out of a hundred in one era and 3 in another era. So what? What matters now is the quality of that particular instrument under consideration, not some statistical principle. There's more to be gained by actually having a real person with real eyeballs look at the actual piano than trying to gain pseudo-evaluations on the internet.

I prefer the Baldwin 243 we deal in a lot of those and pick them up all over the north and midwest. The biggest issue that I have seen is bass bridge separation or repairs of the bridge on some. Some of those have MDF ( Medium Density Fiberboard) cabinets. They are pretty easy to destinguish by looking at the finish. If it looks like contact paper finish, it's probably MDF

So you have your Baldwin Hamilton 243's and your 243 HPA/HPOs They will have a horizontal brace at the front leg going into the main cabinet at floor level. Makes the Piano far more sturdy than a single spindle leg and you will also benefit from the wood floor friendly studio casters.

These pianos hold their value and seem to be what every budgeted serious musician wants.

JC
Nashville Piano Rescue
Since 1918
www.NashvillePianoRescue.com
Lascassas TN

I think either one would be fine. Everything else being equal, I would opt for the newer one.