Baldwin model 210

[Guest]

Hi all</p>

First post here, but I've messed around with organs for the past decade or so. I do electronics and automation by trade and music as a hobby. I have been given the gift of being able to play several instruments by ear to varying degrees and I can amuse myself with guitar, violin and keyboard instruments. I am in no way a talented musician. I think I can play as a side effect of understanding the instruments. I have a battered Casio keyboard that has travelled many miles with me, a salvation army Kimball Superstar II and have just purchased for the princely sum of $25 + gas, a Baldwin model 210. I was looking for something that would make a more church organ sound than the other 2 which are sorely lacking, although the flute on the Kimball is ok. The very first thing I found out about this rather impulsive adoption is that there is almost no information available on the Baldwin which was described as "Church Home Gospel" on ebay which sounds promising. I know I can make it work if it's ailing and it should be overkill for my musical skills, but as a techie, I thirst for a few details like: When were these made? Technology? Weight? </p>

I am hoping someone remembers a few of theses details. I have found a place that offers a service manual for about twice the price of the organ, but I probably have to let the waters still for a bit before I spring for that. I mostly play the old hymns I grew up with. It brings me peace and joy.</p>

Regards</p>

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cww</p>

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[andyg]

Re: Baldwin model 210



Welcome to the fold, cww.</p>

The Baldwin 210 dates from 1969-1971, and there are a few variations on the theme. Some have auto rhythm, auto bass, auto arpeggios etc. It's all solid state, not a tube in sight. Nothing digital, of course - way too early - but all pretty basic analogue stuff. Weight? HEAVY!!</p>

It's actually a theatre style organ, but if you keep the vibrato off, and the rotary speaker on its slow setting, you'll get a fair church organ sound from it. The service manual will probably be a wise investment as, at this age, it's almost bound to have a few problems. There's always a fair bit of advice on here, so if you have problems, let us know.</p>

Andy
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[Philip the organist]

Re: Baldwin model 210



Hello CWW, and welcome to the OF
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I had a Baldwin 210a at church for a few months. You can read the extensive chronicle of the troubles it had here: http://organforum.com/forums/thread/53570.aspx</p>

I suppose it would be fine in a home, but for accompanying 400 people plus orchestra, it was rather lacking.</p>

Best wishes,</p>

Philip</p>

[Guest]

Re: Baldwin model 210



Thanks all, It should make an interesting home organ and from ca 1969 it should be all silicon anyways. Hard to find replacements for some of the earlier stuff, although I am familiar with tubes and hybrids having designed and built guitar amps in the early 70's. Even having a "leslie" type speaker is more than I was expecting. This one seems to have a variety of bells and whistles to quote:</p>

<font face="Arial" size="2">THREE WAY MAIN SWITCH,
ACCOMPANIMENT STOPS, SOLO STOPS, TREMOLOS, VIBRATO, PANORAMIC TONE,
RE-LTERATON, PERCUSSION,PRE-SET PISTONS,EXPRESSION PEDAL, 25 NOTE
PEDALBOARD, AUTOMATIC
RHYTHM AND RHYTHM PERCUSSION,AND PEDAL STOPS.</font></p>

The RE-LTERATON is a mystery. The rest is reasonably self explanitory. I don't see any reverb, but it should be a step up from the Kimball spinet. I got a call earlier that they would not be hauling it out tonight due to the ugly weather, but perhaps this weekend. I doubt I'll make use of the automatic stuff. I suppose I'll dig out the scope and hope it's not too problematic. Read stuff on the site here til late last night. In any case I can provide a home and a respite from the scrap heap. There must be a _lot_ of circuitry in the thing to do all that with discrete transistors. If it functions as a space heater it's worth $25, although I imagine some of the tube models would provide a lot more BTU's.:^)
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Thanks for the info </p>

cww

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[andyg]

Re: Baldwin model 210



Reiteration is simply a repeating effect. It either applies to the upper manual's stops, or to the upper manual's percussion voices (too long ago to remember!). You hold down a key and the note reiterates, there's a speed control for this somewhere. So you can get a fast repeating marmiba or xylophone sound.</p>

Yes, there's lots of circuitry in it! It will get a little warm, but not like tubes - hopefully[:)]!</p>

Andy</p>

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[james]

Re: Baldwin model 210



This organ has a very strong and rich sound. On the manuals it goes way on down without breaking back, and the pedals are deep, rich, and powerful. It is a nice organ with lost of just good organ sounds. This is the time Baldwin started using clear sounding flutes very similiar to Gulbransen, Hammond-like, etc. instead of those old stopped flute sounds which were formatted from a square wave tone formthus giving a "clarinety" sound to the individual stops, then very brassy like when used in combinations. In short, this organ has a very nice sound on the flutes as well as a good selection among the solo stops. The strings are not bad either.</P>


I hope this project works out for you in your favor.</P>


James</P>

[Guest]

Re: Baldwin model 210



I see, the reiteration would have been obvious without the typos :^) I thought it might be one of the buzzwords they were so fond of in those days. I'm getting kind of "pumped" for this project. We've come a long ways in 40 years. It sounds like the latest models simply call up samples of "real" organs. And you could start with a DSP and a few arbitrary waveform generators and a single board computer and program almost any sound. But what fun would that be? :^) I've dealt with that world as well as a C programmer. I may, some fine day, hunt down a tube model for old times sake. I've never got over the wonderment of the glow of the filaments and the dance of purple light around the plates. I can see where collecting old organs would be in a golden age since they are all but free. Of course, without a very understanding spouse, it could get kind of lonely. And moving would soon become impossible. At least I haven't developed a need for pipes.......yet.</p>

Regards</p>

cww
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</p>

[Guest]

Re: Baldwin model 210



Well, I now have what I would conservatively guess is 500 lbs of organ under a tarp next to the driveway. It arrived late saturday in a scene reminiscent of Laurel and Hardy's "The Piano Movers" An ancient Saab pulled up with a tiny all steel trailer containing the Baldwin, two post adolescent girls and a baby. They could not back the trailer in to save lives, the baby was not happy at all and they needed cash because they were running on fumes. So I directed them to pull in forward and get the thing on the ground and we'd go from there. It was all we could do to move it, and the trailer was a tilt type that wasn't pinned so I felt my spine compress a couple inches when it reached the tipping point to prevent the Baldwin from taking a header into the dirt. We "walked" it over enough for them to make their escape and since it was quite dark, I threw a tarp over it, tied it down and went inside to warm up, have a cup of coffee and plot a strategy. I have to somehow traverse 20 yds of soft clay lawn and get it up four steps. The usual "mover's dollies" won't go anyplace on the soft ground and it would take at least 3 or four strong guys to carry it.</p>

The dawn came with largish snow flakes drifting down and cast doubt on my plan "A" which was to winch the thing onto another trailer, hook it to my lawn tractor and get it to the steps, then bridge across and in the door. I didn't have a plan "B". In the end I was thwarted by the refusal of one of the trailer tires to hold air and the lawn tractor's insistance that this was not lawn mowing weather. </p>

Warming up again and drinking some more coffee, I am not overly optomistic about the chances of recruiting volunteers to move an organ in the dark, (its dark when I get home from work) and cold, out in the middle of noplace (where I live). I am working on a plan "B". The Baldwin, by the way, is in pretty nice shape and seems to have been serviced recently. It has grillcloth front and back and louvers on the sides, fragile, no doubt. It gives the impression that, short of pouring it full of concrete, there is no way it can be that heavy. Might it be possible to remove enough assemblies to render it movable by mere mortals? Being an electronics type, that doesn't scare me as much as trying to control it at it's present weight. Ideas? Surely, some here have faced this problem.</p>

Regards</p>

</p>

cww

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[Guest]

Re: Baldwin model 210



Hi all</p>

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To close the thread, I now have the Baldwin in my living room. After waiting an hour or two for it to adjust in temperature. I finally got to power it on and check things out a little. Everything seems to work at first blush, except for the rotary "panoramic sound" That crackles and doesn't spin so I suspect a contact problem. It will take a while for me to find the sound I want, but the presets are nice. In the end I used a hand truck to get it to the steps and used a sheet of plywood for a ramp. I then set a 2x10 above the doors and use a comealong to crank it up the ramp. Once inside, I couldn't lift it far enough to get a movers dolly under it, so I made rollers out of 1 1/2" PVC electrical conduit. That worked much better than I expected and I was able to get it to a spot where I can get the back off and evaluate it. I have gotten lazy with the Kimball chord organ so the first sounds weren't very well played, but it sounds nice. It sounds a bit anemic even at full pedal so I imagine there is a master volume that is set low.</p>

All in all, I'm well pleased at the moment, especially for the price. And it's well in time for Christmas.</p>

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Regards and thanks for the help. I'm gonna go play.</p>

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cww
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