How to date your Kawai or Yamaha Piano

updated 30/05/2020 to include additional information from USA Kawai technical support and to extend from 1960 to 2015.

Finding the age of your Kawai or Yamaha piano is a fairly easy process!

All you need is your serial number which on Kawai and Yamaha pianos as well as a lot of other piano brands is printed on the piano’s metal frame. This can be found by lifting the lid on the top of upright pianos and is usually at the top of the frame. On grand pianos it is usually at the front of the metal frame behind where the keys are located.

This guide can be used to date your Kawai or Yamaha piano manufactured between 1970 and 2007. Simply locate your serial number and search the year/month table to find where your serial number slots in. For example, for a Yamaha upright serial number 2341286 was made sometime between 1976 and 1977. For a Kawai piano serial number 676389, the table shows us that it was produced sometime between May 1974 and November 1974.

… It’s how old?!

Note: These serial numbers are valid for Japanese-made Kawai or Yamaha pianos.

They will not apply if your piano was made in their Indonesian, Chinese or Taiwanese factories.

(data sources: Japan Piano Atlas 2008, Kawai USA Technical support, Yamaha USA technical support)

If your piano is not a Japanese-made Kawai or Yamaha or was made outside of the dates listed here or made outside of their Hamamatsu factories then it is likely that we can still help you find its age and/or history.

Please feel free to contact us if you need assistance.

Note: Yamaha grand piano serial numbers between 1972 and 1999 do not line up exactly with the table here which is accurate for Yamaha upright pianos made in Hamamatsu.

Please feel free to message us if you need help verifying the age of a Yamaha grand piano in this period

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