Ecsaine

[Ron Nossaman]

> I know Ecsaine comes in black.  Does it come in red, too?  I have a 1981 
> Baldwin Hamilton that I want to sell.  I've been warned that Baldwins of 
> this vintage used Ecsaine, and although the backchecks and hammer butts 
> are covered in something that is roughly the color of buckskin (it's a 
> bit redder than most buckskin...) it's very smooth, and I suspect it may 
> actually be Ecsaine.
>  
> The piano is checking and playing fine, so it's not a problem I need to 
> address, I don't think, but just for my own enlightenment, could this be 
> Ecsaine? 

What, again? It may be Ecsaine, but it's nothing to be warned 
about if it is. Ecsaine is the currently used "good stuff" 
that eventually replaced most all of the other problematic 
artificial buckskin attempts. Baldwin used a black stuff that 
left sticky dust all over the inside of the piano, and a gray 
substance of some sort. I don't know what either stuff is, but 
both are nasty. Corfam (tan) was used successfully for a 
while, until the manufacturer changed the formula without 
bothering to notify Baldwin, and left thousands of pianos with 
quickly petrifying butt and catcher "leathers". I've not seen 
anything original in Baldwins that I'd call red.

Ecsaine is sold in the US as Ultrasuede, in Europe as 
Alcantara, and in Asia as Ecsaine. It is the fix, rather than 
the problem. Your Baldwin may have already had the originally 
installed junk replaced, or Baldwin may have switched to 
Ecsaine by then. I don't know the date they made the switch.

Ron N