Where to Find Your Piano’s Serial Number
Almost every piano carries a number stamped somewhere on it, and almost every piano hides it somewhere different. Here is where to look, in the order worth trying.
Before you start
You are looking for a number of roughly four to seven digits, sometimes with a letter in front of it. A bright torch and a phone camera help — many serial numbers sit in shadow, and a photograph is easier to read than a cramped view over the lid.
Nothing needs to be unscrewed or forced. If the number simply is not visible in any of the places below, a piano technician can find it in a couple of minutes.
Upright pianos
- 1
On the plate, under the top lid
Lift the top lid and look down at the gold-coloured iron plate. On most uprights the number is stamped or painted near the tuning pins, often toward the treble (right) end. This is the first place to look.
- 2
On the back of the piano
Stamped into the wooden posts or the top of the back frame. Common on older American uprights, and often the only place a very old instrument carries it.
- 3
Under the keyboard lid or on the keybed
Open the fallboard and look at the wood immediately behind the keys, or slide the key slip off. Sometimes written in pencil rather than stamped.
- 4
On the soundboard, seen from behind
Occasionally stencilled onto the soundboard itself, visible only from the back of an upright standing away from the wall.
Grand pianos
- 1
On the plate near the tuning pins
Prop the lid and look at the iron plate in the area just past the tuning pins, usually toward the front. On most grands the number is stamped directly into the plate or printed beside the maker's name.
- 2
On the soundboard, past the treble bridge
Look along the far right edge of the soundboard, beyond the strings. Frequently stencilled here on European grands.
- 3
Under the music desk
Slide the music desk out or forward; the number is sometimes stamped into the wood or the plate underneath it.
- 4
On the keybed, with the action removed
A last resort that usually calls for a technician — but it is where some makers put the only surviving stamp.
What is not a serial number
Pianos are covered in numbers, and most of them will not date your instrument. Mistaking one for the serial is the single most common reason a lookup fails.
- Model numbers— usually short (U1, M, B, 126, 248A) and describe the size or style, not the individual piano. Some makers print the model directly in front of the serial: a Fazioli plate reading “212 03874” is model 212, serial 3874.
- Patent dates — long runs of dates cast into the plate, often 19th-century. They refer to the design, not to your piano.
- Action and key numbers — stamped on individual hammers, keys or the action rail by the supplier who made that part.
- Tuner and dealer marks — pencilled dates and names inside the case. Interesting history, but not a serial number.
Brand-specific notes
Yamaha and Kawai — mind the gap. A letter joined to the number, like T284930, is a factory prefix: it tells us the piano was built in Thomaston, Georgia rather than Japan, and it changes the year. But a letter sitting apart from the number with a clear gap, like R 284930, is a separate stamp — usually a model or production code — and is not part of the serial. In that case enter the digits only. If you are unsure, leave the letter out: we will ask which series your plate shows rather than guessing.
Steinway & Sons — a single worldwide sequence covers both the New York and Hamburg factories, so the number alone dates the piano regardless of where it was built.
Baldwin-built uprights — Acrosonic, Hamilton and Baldwin verticals shared factory numbering for decades, so the same number can appear under more than one name. Enter the name written on your fallboard and we will tell you if it does not fit.
Older European grands — the number is more often stencilled on the soundboard than stamped on the plate. Look along the treble edge before giving up.
Found it?
searchDate your pianoFree, and we will tell you plainly when a number cannot be dated rather than guessing.