Piano serial numbers identify the (1) age of your piano, the (2) piano's year of manufacture, as well as (3) the circumstances surrounding the production of your piano, including factory history, manufacturing processes, and company ownership and oversight.
You can look up a free piano serial number history search from this page (see list of manufacturers, below).
HOW OLD IS YOUR PIANO? - FIND THE AGE & SERIAL NUMBER OF YOUR PIANO. Some piano manufacturers place serial numbers in various places. The age of your piano is determined by the Serial Number. Find out How Old your Piano is with our FREE Online Piano Age Calculator! Simply enter your Piano Brand & Serial Number to get an instant date of manufacture.
Boston Piano Serial Number Lookup
Piano Serial Numbers:
Location, location, location...
Piano serial numbers usually have five to seven digits, but may have fewer or more, depending on the manufacturer and age of your piano. Serial numbers may also include a letter as well.
Here are the TOP FIVE places to locate the serial number of your spinet, console, or upright piano:
Serial number locations are found:
1) On the piano’s cast iron plate. After lifting up the lid, look along the top front area of the plate. The serial number may be to the right or the left, or in the middle.
2) Under the opened lid on the ledge, stamped on a little plaque, to the right or to the left.
3) Stamped on the back of the piano; near the top of the wood frame.
4) Printed on one of the hammers, found on either end of the piano (newer or imported pianos).
5) Printed on one the keys - behind the nameboard, inside the piano (newer or imported pianos).
2) Under the opened lid on the ledge, stamped on a little plaque, to the right or to the left.
3) Stamped on the back of the piano; near the top of the wood frame.
4) Printed on one of the hammers, found on either end of the piano (newer or imported pianos).
5) Printed on one the keys - behind the nameboard, inside the piano (newer or imported pianos).
If you cannot find the serial number in any of the locations listed on this page, please watch the video below, to help find more piano serial number locations.
Grand Piano Serial Numbers
Where Are They Found? ...
Here are the TOP FIVE places to locate the serial number of your BABY GRAND or GRAND piano:
(See this link for a detailed picture of where to look)
Note: You may have to remove the (1) music desk first and then (2) gently clean out any dust from your piano's plate [using a soft dry cloth + vacuum hose] before these numbers can be found.
Serial number locations are found:
1) On the piano’s cast iron plate, near the tuning pins, as you face the keys. Look to the right or to the left.
2) The Capo d'astro bar. Located on the right, this acts as a 'bridge' to the 'beams' of the cast iron plate.
3) On the piano's soundboard (see link above for a diagram).
4) On a metal plate underneath the piano's top lid, near the strings and soundboard.
5) Immediate interior [front]: On the back of the [a] keyslip (long wooden ledge, runs along the front/bottom of the piano's keys. The serial number is often hidden and stamped on the other side, facing the keys). On the front of the [b] action frame (after the keyslip is removed), or stamped on [c] one or both of the cheek blocks, viewed to the right and left of the piano's keyboard.
On older pianos, you may find 3-5 screws, underneath the keyslip, that will need to be removed (or, simply lift up, if no screws are present) to view the action frame. The serial number may be stamped on the front of the frame's wooden base, immediately under the keys.
To the right and left of the keys are two end cheek blocks, which are each secured down with a giant bolt or screw, which passes through the piano's keybed, both of which must be removed, to access the interior of the piano (see video, above).
Caution: When unscrewing and removing the cheek blocks, do not mistake the piano's leg screw/bolt, with the cheek block's screw/bolt.
Also, be careful not to drop the cheek blocks once they are removed, which can gouge and permanently damage the piano's case, and the block's delicate condition.
To recap: the piano's serial number may be hidden on the back of the piano'skeyslip (immediately in front of / below the keys), on the action's frontkeyframe, on the cheek blocks (each side), or within the action itself, once removed from the piano.
Scroll down below to find the (1) manufacturer of your piano, and then (2) click on the link to find the serial number.
(Please be patient as we are updating this page on a daily basis. We invite you to SUBSCRIBE to this page, and to use the search box above, as serial numbers are being updated and added on an ongoing basis.)
Baldwin Bluthner Bosendorfer Broadwood and Sons C. Bechstein Cable-Nelson Chickering and Sons Estonia Everett Hallet and Davis Hobart M. Cable Kemble | Sohmer Steinway and Sons Story and Clark Vose and Sons Weber Wm Knabe Wurlitzer Yamaha Young Chang Zimmermann |
Thinking of purchasing a Yamaha Piano? Visit our Grey Market Pianos page to find out more before making that purchase!
The Pierce Piano Atlas, 12th Edition now in hardcover format, provides a wealth of information about the piano manufacturing industry. Over 12,000 piano names are included, some dating back to the early eighteen hundreds. This guide provides references to serial numbers, dates of manufacture, factory locations, a brief history of many manufacturers and other pertinent information.
The Piano Book is the bible of the piano marketplace. An indispensable resource to buyers and owners of pianos, amateur and professional pianists alike. This book evaluates and compares every brand and style of piano sold in the United States.
Information on how the piano works, ages, and the difference between different piano brands is discussed in great detail. There is also a wealth of diagrams of parts, information on manufacturing, maintenance, moving and storage, inspecting new and used pianos, the special market for Steinways, and sales gimmicks to watch out for.
Playing Piano for Pleasure is a practical guide to learning and playing the piano for fun! Includes material from the author's interviews with master pianists, artists, and writers. The result is a book that should be cherished for years to come.
Playing Piano for Pleasure is a practical guide to learning and playing the piano for fun! Includes material from the author's interviews with master pianists, artists, and writers. The result is a book that should be cherished for years to come.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE EZINE:
Support our site at no cost to you. Make your Amazon purchases by clicking through this link, here.
What model Steinway grand / upright piano do I have?
July 28, 2016What is the age of my Steinway piano? How old is my Steinway piano? We get these questions on a daily basis and we can help you with this!
In order to pinpoint the age of your Steinway piano, you must first locate its serial number. The serial number for Steinway pianos are located in several different places. The easiest place to find it is on the gold colored harp inside the piano. It is normally located between the bass and treble tuning pins, in the “well” spot on the harp.
You will first have to open the pianos lid, then stand in front of the piano and either push the music desk forward (to reveal the number) or remove the piano’s music desk from the piano. Normally the rack comes out of the piano by gently pulling it towards you, for most older Steinways (1930s and older.) For newer Steinways 1940s and up you can either gently push the music desk all the way forward to reveal the pianos serial number, or you have to gently move the music desk back and forth with a little up pressure so the underside of the music rack’s “fingers” find the little notch on the music rack glides so it releases up and out of the piano.
For Steinway grand pianos you want to look for this:
So… this Steinway grand’s serial number is #244.121, using the chart below you can see that this piano was manufactured in circa 1926. Also the Letter stamped in ink above the serial number is the model of the piano. In this case this is a model “M” which is 5’7” in length.
Piano Serial Number Location
How old is my Steinway piano?
Use the Steinway piano serial numbers below to see the age of your piano:
Steinway Piano Serial Number
Steinway Piano Serial Numbers
For Steinway upright pianos you need to lift the pianos lid and look inside the piano, normally the serial number along with the model will be stamped in ink inside the piano, also on its harp. The piano below dates to circa 1900.
If you are having trouble locating the serial number for your Steinway grand piano, there are other places you can look. Two other common places on are the front side of the pianos action and also on the backside of the “keyslip”.
Lets start with the keyslip. If you were to sit in front of the piano and place your hands on the keys, then bring your hand towards yourself, the last piece of wood your fingers would cross as they leave the keyboard is a piece of wood called the Key-Slip. This piece of wood is the same length as the pianos keyboard and is about 2 inches in height. It is attached to the front of the piano by little pins that are built into it, that fit into 3-4 holes in the keybed, and two slots that run over two screw heads that stick out of the “side-blocks”
The Key-Slip is usually very easy to remove as it just “sits” in place. Start on either end of it and apply a little upward pressure on it, once it starts to move up, grab the middle portion of it and try to slowly wiggle it up evenly as to not bend or break anything. If it appears really tight, it could of swelled a little due to humidity and might need extra pressure upward to remove.
Once you remove the keyslip turn it over and look for some numbers that are pressed into the wood, it will normally look like this:
If you don’t see any pressed in numbers on the keyslip, its now time to look at the front of the now exposed action keybed, normally dead center you will see the serial number stamped in ink, it will look like this:
There are other spots to look, but these are the most common. You can also look at the underside of the music desk and sometimes on the bottom part of the music rack (the part that you rest your sheet music on.) Also on the bottom part of the “lid stick” and lastly if you crawl under the piano with a flash light, there is a long wooden beam that runs the length of the keyboard, under the keybed (if you were sitting in front of the piano in the playing position, your knees would be very close to it) sometimes a serial number can be seen here stamped into the wood.
We hope this was helpful, if you are still stumped, give us a call and we will help.
Oh and by the way, we are in the market to buy Steinway grand and upright pianos, if you are in the market to sell!
Look Up Steinway Serial Number
Call: 877.746.1726 Text: 607.215.6632 [email protected]