Hey all--

I've been reading these forums (fora?) for a couple of days while waiting to be approved. I can tell this is an awesome community.

My wife and I just called the seller of a Baldwin Acrosonic Spinet to tell her that, yes, we will buy her piano for $250. It's from the '50s, but I can't be sure exactly when. Based on pics I've found on the Internet, it seems like mebbe a '55. Serial number (the number embossed on the oval plate inside, anyway) is 661738, if anyone would be kind enough to shed some light on that for me.

We made the decision to buy this based on the affection people in this community have for this little workhorse. For the price, how much could we really go wrong, ya know? But some of you have expressed complaints about the Acrosonic and I wonder if anyone can shed any light on:

1) The issue of "full-blow" action; is this a bad thing?

2) The plate also says "Acrosonic Action," "Akros Supreme," "SonusTone," and "Supreme Tone." Do these phrases mean anything to anyone? Or is it just marketing?

3) What types of knowledge/jargon should I know so that I can understand what the tech says when I get one in to tune/inspect the piano?

4) Any other advice people can think of for someone who has already taken the plunge and is just waiting for a guy with a truck to call me back to let me know when he's available?

My wife played for a while years ago. As a kid, I took lessons from an ancient woman whose house smelled perpetually of onions and celery and who whacked my fingers with a ruler when I didn't keep them curved. Primarily, the piano will be for our daughter, now 16 months, who is showing some kind of spooky musical inclinations.

Thanks all, and have a great weekend!

mongrel

It was made in 1959.Actually a good year for acrosonics, better than their later years as for quality. If it appears to be in good shape both cosmetically and playability, how can you go wrong for $250. Probably cost that much to move,pitchraise,tune and address some incidental issues Good luck !

i have an Acrosonic spinet built in 1956 or 1957. "little workhorse" is a good description, and the sound is quite large. i bought mine used a dozen or so years ago and when i had it first tuned, the tech remarked that it had held its tuning suprisingly well and that Acrosonics from this time period were well made.

enjoy!

It was an okay piano, but it is 50 years old and a spinet. Your daughter is too young to really use it. Why not wait and see if you can find a nice studio for her? The price should not be that much different if you can find the right seller. If the Acrosonic should need some work before your daughter starts using it, it will cost a lot more to repair it, much more than the difference in price between it and a much better piano.

Hey, thanks for the replies, folks!

BDB: Yes, my daughter is too young to really use it. But I tell you, the hairs on the back of your neck would stand up if you saw her at the keyboard. Finding the same note in every octave she can reach on the first try, making perfect thirds, creepy stuff.

The type of piano that I WANT to get is a Baldwin Studio like this one:

http://westernmass.craigslist.org/msg/536225880.html ,

but at the moment, I've got a couple/few hundred bucks to spend on a piano and just enough more to get a tech in to service it. The $250 Acrosonic seems like a good way to get my daughter's hands on some keys while she's asking for a piano all day every day.

There IS a free upright available near me, but I can't get any information about it until I actually go look at it. The woman who owns it says that the manufacturer's name is simply Odessa, Ukraine. The piano was imported from Russia some time ago, but she doesn't know by whom or when. From what I gather, unless it is one of a very few rare examples of Russian quality, the piano is likely Soviet-era rubbish. Of course, it would be free rubbish, so maybe it's worth a shot.

Also, my wife used to play, as did I (poorly) years ago, so any piano we get would be okay for now. We are renting now, and if we are in a better position after we own our own place, an upgrade will definitely make sense.

There are cheap studios out there. It is simply a matter of looking for a few more months or buying an inferior piano now.

Well, let's assume that I'm not going to be able to afford more than, say, $2K for a piano over the next six months. What names in studios would you be on the lookout for if that was your budget?

I do want to keep an open mind, but, well, I'm poor.

Hamiltons (big brothers of Acrosonics) and Everetts are good names in 45" studio pianos and regularly show up for $500-$1000 around here. There was a topic last month where we found an Everett for someone in that price range.