One of the questions we get on pretty much a daily basis from customers all over the world is where to find the Kawai serial number on their piano, and more specifically, where does Kawai put them on their acoustic pianos. This is of course very important information if you’re looking at a second-hand piano, or looking to sell your own.
In this article and companion video, we’ll cover how to find the Kawai piano serial number production dates and actual dates of production, what the serial numbers actually mean, and by extension, where Kawai pianos are currently made.
Hopefully, this FAQ answers the questions you have and means you don’t have to contact Kawai directly.
Where to Find the Kawai Serial Number on a Grand Piano
So, let’s start by addressing the easiest question of all; where to find the serial number on a Kawai piano.
Kawai grand piano serial numbers are going to be imprinted directly on this iron plate. The easiest way to see it is to simply remove the music desk and look just behind the tuning pins. Here you’ll find two different pieces of information stamped onto the plate.
The first will be the serial number – a 5 to 7-digit number that is preceded by a letter two. The second thing you’ll find stamped there will be the exact model number, whether that’s KG2, RX3, GL10, etc.
On some of the higher-end instruments, the model number might be a crest or emblazoned marking as in the case of a handmade Shigeru Kawai SK-7. In most cases, it’s likely to be ink directly on the plate just like the Kawai serial number is.
Where to Find the Kawai Serial Number on Upright Piano
The serial number is going to be located in a similar place on a Kawai upright piano, but given the inherent physical differences, you’ll go about finding it in a different way.
Typically, you’ll be able to see both the serial and model numbers if you flip open the top lid as both will be stamped towards the top of the plate.
The serial number will generally be on the right-hand side, and like on the grand pianos, will be anywhere from a 5 to a 7-digit number that may or may not be proceeded by a letter. To the left, you’ll see an alphanumeric code that indicates the model, such as K-300, ND21, or a KX model for example.
What Does the Serial Number Tell Us?
The serial number can actually tell you quite a bit about a given piano besides the age. The Kawai Technical Support website has a fairly extensive list of serial numbers and serial number ranges separated by Country of production, which goes all the way to as recent as 2020 production.
Japanese Built Kawais
A couple of quick ways to tell where your musical instrument was produced are based on the format of the serial number. If you’re looking at a seven-digit number, that means that the piano was produced in Japan, very likely at the Ryuyo factory in Hamamatsu.
A seven-digit number also indicates that the piano was built from about the early 1970s onward. The current serial number ranges that you’ll find in more recently built pianos all start with a 25 or 26, with the latest crop getting up to about 2.7 million.
If there’s any doubt about whether or not a Kawai piano was made in Japan, you can rest assured that if there’s no letter in front of the seven-digit serial number, it was definitely Japanese-built.
Indonesian Built Kawais
Any Kawai serial numbers that are preceded by the letter F indicate that the piano was built at Kawai’s secondary factory in Karawang, Indonesia. They produce a number of different models at their Indonesian facility including the GL-10 baby grand piano, and K-15, and they also finish production on the K-200s here as well.
In some of those models, there are also a number of components coming in from Japan with final assembly taking place in Karawang, Indonesia.
These pianos usually start with the letter F which is followed typically by about a five-digit number. These numbers are also available on Kawai’s website. Most of these pianos are usually no older than about 15 years old to 20 years old.
Chinese & North Americans Built Kawais
There are always questions about whether any Kawais are coming from China or whether another company that does a lot of OEM like Pearl River produces pianos for them.
In North America – and we can say this with complete confidence – every single Kawai piano coming into North America for sale is either produced at the Japanese factory in Ryuyo in Hamamatsu or at the Indonesian factory in Karawang. There are no Chinese-produced, partially Chinese-produced pianos that are landing in North America for sale within North America currently.
In the past, Kawai did produce their KX series uprights in China for the Canadian market, but production of the KX series pianos stopped in 2013. These pianos feature 5-digit serial numbers with no preceding letter.
Kawai was also produced from 1988 to 2004, and these pianos have 4 to 6-digit serial numbers preceded by the letter A.
Production Date vs Sold Date
One last consideration we need to point out; when looking up a serial number, we need to caution potential buyers about one idiosyncrasy of the piano industry that happens to be very different than electronics and cars.
In the piano business, there are a lot more difficulty warehousing products in the specific region where said product will eventually be sold. As a result, manufacturers tend to ship in very large batches which means that some pianos might end up sitting in the warehouse for a long time.
For example, this means you may be looking at a piano with a serial number stating it was built in 2017, yet the current owner is able to produce a receipt showing that it was purchased new in 2019.
Discrepancies like this are common and simply indicate that the piano was finished at the factory in 2017, but not sold until 2019. This is still a brand new piano in 2019 that never would have been out of the box and well taken care of in a climate-controlled environment up to the point of sale.
Wrap Up
We hope that this article and companion video has been able to shed a little bit of new light on where you can find the serial number on your Kawai pianos, and what that serial number may mean. We also have a handy serial number lookup on our website that may be of use to you too.
Thanks for reading!
