Kawai piano

[pcarswell]

My name is Paul and I have a Kawai upright piano made in Hamamatsu Japan, with a patent number 171019, serial number 11052. I want to know when it was made and how much it may be worth. it looks almost identical to the Princess Piano, it just doesn't say Princess on it. Can someone help me find out some info on it? Thanks and God bless!

[Bill Kibby]

The published dates of Kawai numbers would suggest that this was made in 1942, but I think it looks older than that. Would it be possible to see the whole piano?

I have a small upright that resembles the KK and Princess Piano, as well as the Bristol Miniature Piano, and although I wonder if it is a Kawai, there are no marks inside. The patent number on yours is the same as the Bristol.

We are still puzzling over the connections between Bristol, KK (Kabushiki Kaisha), Kawai, LHH, Princess Piano and some similar but un-named examples from around the twenties and thirties.

Nobody anywhere is going to quote you a value without examining it and tuning it.

See also the action diagram at http://pianogen.org/actions.html

[Colin Nicholson]

Nobody anywhere is going to quote you a value without examining it and tuning it.

.... and even then, if you make enquiries about an assessment/valuation visit, it all depends on whether the piano tuner has had retail experience in dealing with pianos/ buying & selling etc.... some piano tuners just do that.... TUNE! (so you may need to shop around).

Regrettably the piano seems to be in rather poor condition, so it may be a suggestion to try Ebay and see what an old piano goes for on there..... and also I'm not sure if the single-string arrangement is popular or to any acoustical advantage any more?

[Bill Kibby]

I don't think the single strings ever had an acoustical advantage, they are just part of making a very small, cheap piano, and they have a certain appeal to some customers who like that "thin" sound, but not as a quality instrument. Some of these models have very short keyboards, some have small keys. In my photo, notice that the proportions of piano appear to be fairly normal, but it only just comes above the dooor handle. In the Kawai pictures, we have nothing to compare it to.