Great AMERICAN Pianos | Steinway B Vs. Baldwin F vs. Mason & Hamlin BB

This is a battle of the Great American semi-concert grand pianos!
Steinway, Baldwin, and Mason & Hamlin pianos have a long history in the United States and stand out as the country's top piano makers. While only Steinway and Mason and Hamlin still manufacture in the U.S. today, the 7' semi concert grands included in this piano shootout are ALL American Made instruments that have been rebuilt to top performance conditions by Atlantic Music Center.
Wes Hamrick is a pianist in Florida with a longstanding gig at the The Grand Floridian Resort and Spa at Walt Disney World.
Atlantic Music Center is the largest rebuilder of pianos in the south-east and specializes in pianos of the great American legacy.
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Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro / the piano rebuilding process
1:34 - Steinway model B demo
3:54 - Baldwin model F demo
6:55 - Mason & Hamlin model BB demo
#steinway #baldwin #pianos

[@amirmotahari6186]

finally not a salesman but a musician who knows classical music and knows how to test, push the piano to its limits and then comment on the! great job!

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

Glad you liked it!

[@theUrbanJoe]

My grandmother studied at conservatory and taught for years on her beautiful 1924 M&H AA. I find the older M&H's to be far superior in build quality, beauty of tone, playability and also balance/volume control... they are only limited by the pianists ability & musicianship. Overall, they have very few equals/rivals and best the rest. (ie. comparing pianos of equal design, physical condition and voicing/regulation/tuning etc.) And today, M&H are once again incorporating leading technology to make their older, proven designs better than ever. M&H company is back in proper good hands once again and it significantly elevates the whole craft and art of modern piano playing.

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

They are certainly great pianos. We've rebuilt many a Mason & Hamlin. They are a joy to work on and play.

[@eustachiodemarco]

Mason &Hamlin è il più bello, con suo personale carattere. Sembra un Bechstein.

[@CharlesSzczepanek]

I'm pretty sure that's a photo of my hands at 0:53 lol. Thanks for using when talking about the BB. It's a favorite piano of mine!

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

Really!? That's so funny!

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

Your playing is beautiful by the way! Just subbed

[@MarianoPerez]

Wow, that Baldwin sounds amazing.

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

Thanks! We do our best

[@ENDED796]

thank you for this video. really interesting how every grandpiano is so distinguish of eachother.

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

Our pleasure!

[@jacobneal5388]

Baldwin will always be my favorite. I’ve played many Steinways that I have adored but I have always gone back to Baldwins. I played a 1947 model M in a college practice room. It was best to heck and slightly out of tune in the top octave. It even had several cracks in the sound board. It still managed to have a powerful and warm tone with an extremely rich midrange, and a bass that rivaled that of the Steinway L in the room beside it. The treble was clear singing and the sustain was absolutely gorgeous. For a 5’2” piano the mode M is the best baby grand I have played.

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

Baldwin made a great piano! Our lead tech here at AMC was the former head of quality control at Baldwin's Arkansas factory, and our founder is a former Baldwin concert artist. We love Baldwins here.

[@susank4878]

The Mason & Hamlin and the Baldwin are definitely superior to the Steinway B, but I think that the Steinway has some more to offer if the voicing is worked over. The edge on it shows up too abruptly. It needs to have a progression from light blows with some cushion in the tone very gradually moving toward the brighter edge at double forte. It's voiced for a big room, at the expense of the voicing for mezzo forte and mezzo piano. If the acoustic in a large hall is proper, that cushion to provide warmth need not reduce the projection of tone to the very back of the hall at all dynamic levels. The agility is just fine, though.

[@susank4878]

Lovely Baldwin. I own a 1934 Baldwin F, ready for new hammers. The parts are beautifully built, the tone and the deep even bass are the same. There's a design failing in both the Baldwin and the Mason & Hamlin -- that large solid plain music desk. It traps too much of the sound on the other side, so the player can't judge the volume correctly, compared to the audience. It would be a good idea to remove and set aside the plain panel and manufacture another with the artistically conceived jigsaw work so there is some air between the front and the back of the music desk.

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

Ah, very nice! This Baldwin F is a 1935 with new Renner hammers. Yes, the music desk problem is unfortunate. Much better to have an open design such as on this Steinway www.amcpiano.com/inv-Steinway-ModelM-499229

[@susank4878]

@@AtlanticMusicCtr Yes, that new Steinway music desk definitely fixes this. On the other hand, that much space makes it harder to write on music, though it would be easy to put a thick piece of cardboard behind the music, leaving the openings elsewhere. I notice that in Europe the music desks have openings. Also, many concert pianists now lay an iPad on the plate struts, eliminating the music desk altogether, and enabling them to turn pages with a left foot.

[@gregs3580]

Given the pieces played on the various pianos, the orchestral and transparent nature of the instrument both in the simple and "orchestrally" complicated scoring, I feel the Steinway does the best job. Mason and Hamlin also has a very nice balance and openness.

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

Thanks for offering your opinion! Steinway certainly didn't gain their reputation for nothing.

[@brianbennett2397]

Wes, we met at the GFl Hotel in May, 2024. I shared that my father was a concert pianist, and you serenaded Suzanne, et moi, with Clair de Lune! It was heavenly! Thank you. Dr. Brian R Bennett; Vero Beach PS I have my dad's Yamaha S400.

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

The S400 is a great piano! We have one at our showroom in Melbourne. We will pass on your regards to Wes

[@GrotrianSeiler]

I’ve always been puzzled why the Steinway is as popular as it is. The Baldwin is the clear winner here, the Mason being a close second. Very nice demonstration and presentation of these instruments.

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

Thank you! Baldwin certainly made a great piano in there day.

[@standavidson]

Hi Wes, Great work on this video and thanks for sharing. I love the sound - in other words how you managed to capture the recording with such a great accuracy. Would it be possible to share the method and gear you've used to record the pianos? Thanks,

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

Hi Stan, thanks for the kind words! We used the Earthworks PM40 piano micing system. Very little post work. Slight EQ boost on the highs to breath a little more life into the mic recording, but same treatment on all pianos so as not to affect the comparison.

[@standavidson]

@@AtlanticMusicCtrThank you Wes for sharing that. Have a good rest of the week.

[@BH-2]

It's quite interesting the N Y Steinway just don't have the 'roundedness' in Hamburg Steinways. The more I have experienced New York and Hamburg Steinways, the more I think they are two totally different companies. Out of these three pianos, my personal favourite has to be the Baldwin, it has so much soul

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

Great pick on the Baldwin. Baldwin's are a store favorite around here. Our owner Brian was a Baldwin concert artist and our Lead Tech was the head of quality control at Baldwin's Arkansas factory back in the day.

[@pianostudy4403]

Nice! Well done! (I have a Baldwin R myself.)

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

The Baldwin R is a great piano! We have a rebuilt R from 1974 on inventory right now

[@Jack-hy1zq]

What was the name of the first Schubert piece, please?

[@andrewanderson6121]

It is more than unfortunate that Steinway has driven all the others out. Fazioli seems to be (deservedly!)putting up some needed competition. I've enjoyed playing Pleyels, Bechsteins, Bosendorfers, Knabes (which was at one time the official piano of the Metropolitan Opera, if I'm not mistaken), Faziolis, and historic Erards. The variety of sound and touch is a joy for a discerning musician.

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

All great pianos! Bosendorfer is holding their own, and of course there are other boutique german makers like Steingraeber and Sauter which have (thankfully) found a way to survive. Tough market these days for everyone though.

[@hastensavoir7782]

How do you find Faziolis?

[@karengustafson1855]

What is the name of the Bernstein piece played on the Baldwin? Beautiful!

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

"Some Other Time" :)

[@TeaTimewithDave]

A wonderful video and probably the nicest version of Bernstein’s Some Other Time - even better than Bill Evans’. All three of these brands (if you get the right year) are gorgeous heirloom pianos. We have a 1926 Steinway but I’d be happy with a Baldwin or M&H from a similar time period.

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

They are all magnificent - comes down to personal preference what piano one chooses!

[@davedave5787]

love my restored sd6 baldwin amazing wish i had one of each....🤓 I don't even know how to play.....

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

The SD6 is a great piano! Have you considered putting a player system in the piano?

[@davedave5787]

Yes I have be neat!

[@les867]

What is the name of the piece by Bernstein that you played on the Baldwin, please? Thank you.

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

"Some Other Time" :)

[@komoru]

Would be a better comparison to play the same piece on all 3 pianos as well as move the pianos to the same position in the room because in any scientific experiment, the variables have to be controlled to be valid. Otherwise it becomes very subjective. I also find that the sound and playability of rebuilt vintage pianos lies mostly in how they were rebuilt and whether or not the soundboards are new or shimmed or even what wood was used on a "rebuilt" soundboard.

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

The soundboards are original :)

[@MarcusVinicius116]

Baldwin and M&H équivalent and slightly superior than the Steinway I find.

[@AtlanticMusicCtr]

Baldwin and Mason & Hamlin have great tones for sure. We love the old American Baldwin's here at Atlantic Music Center and are known especially for our Baldwin rebuilds. A great American made SF10 is a hard piano to beat.