Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum Baldwin Acrosonic 1970 vs. Yamaha 1980

A friend is trying to get a cheap piano. Which of these pianos would you prefer, and why, and does it make that much of a difference?

What if the year were both 1970, would it make much difference?

Thanks

I assume you mean the Baldwin Acrosonic spinet (36") rather than the console (40").
The Acrosonic spinet was the only really premium quality spinet piano built. Other small pianos were "price point" pianos. Yamaha did have a spinet that wasn't too bad and there were a couple of names from Aeolian's stable of brands that were also legitimate pianos -- Chickering is one I recall. But the Acrosonic 36" is the best answer I've seen to the question of, "How good can we build a short piano?"

If it is a 40" Baldwin Acrosonic, it is still of very good quality, but there are more 40" pianos of similar quality.

It's hard to know without more information.

Finally, I hope you are not suffering from "internet-itis" -- the delusion that one can get valid, actionable information for a particular situation with a few keystrokes. The only real answer can be provided by an inspection of the pianos in question by a knowledgeable person. It's kind of like expecting a worthwhile answer to whether a particular 1990 Chevy or '91 BMW will be the better car. It all depends.

Chances are the Yamaha is better. But it could be difficult to compare, since although there were only a couple of models of Acrosonic, a Yamaha could be anything from a concert grand to a motorcycle.

Considering just the year of 1970, the Acrosonic was a proven, very well constructed instrument and the Yamaha had only been recently introduced in the USA. The early Yamaha's had some major deficiencies.

If we were in 1970, in this hypothetical comparison, my vote would go to the Baldwin.

Throw out all of that logic, however, when comparing these instruments in 2013. Only a qualified technician, providing a hands on inspection, will know for sure.

By 1980, Yamaha had not only been selling pianos in the US for nearly 20 years, they had bought the Everett piano company and were making Yamaha pianos there. Everetts were at least as good as Acrosonics, even for spinets.

About 1970 Acrosonic was replacing their wood sticker actions with inferior wire stickers.

Everetts were not better than the Acrosonics in my experience. They were subject to pinblock delamination and had a tone that wasn't any better.

The wire lifters were perhaps less convenient to service in some respects, but had a superior key response. From an action function standpoint it was a better approach, although I missed the serviceability of the other lifters with the lifter guide rail.

A 1980 Yamaha may or may not have been made in the Everett factory; it depends on the serial number. Even though Everetts and Yamahas may have been built in the same factory, in 1980 they were different pianos. It wasn't until the later 1980s when Everetts became more "Yamaha-like".

Obviously, conjecture produces no conclusion. Even hypothetically, the answer is found by actual inspection.

fair and logical comparison only of course. so definitely i am not comparing a top of the line Yamaha concert piano to an upright spinet right? After having bought a Casio DP-620 digital piano and suffer the "please wait" error, I'm tryign to figure out if I should sell it after it gets repaired from warranty and then go and buy a cheap $1300 acoustic piano instead. I had read about fatal "please wait" errors on various casio digital pianos and that's why I'm posting here cuz I can't afford to keep a digital after the warranty expire and the issue happens again. This is why I also created a thread about whether people experience electronic failures of digital pianos...how much it costs on average for a main board if I were to install it myself, etc.

In addition, I am not thrilled to have to drive two double round trips for each digital piano issue. I did not expect this in owning the AP-620 nor did I expect other people to experience the same troublesome issue. It's very uncomforting.

Originally, this thread was about finding an acoustic piano for a friend, but then I reflected about my issue, and I believe tihs may be the best way to go.. I've been stung by a digital piano. so if there's manufacturers out there reading this, pay attention because once stun, people don't come back.

Is there a site / section where I can look up these serial numbers and pictures of what they look like? Thank you.