A Very Old Yamaha

[delissas]

I purchased an old Yamaha upright in Japan for my children to practice on and then brought it back to the USA. We are considering selling it but have no idea how old it is. The last piano tuner thought it was one of the first Yamahas made. He said that it has fewer keys than the current pianos. The brass plate on the right says No. 100 Nippon Gakki S.K.K. Any information you can give would be very much appreciated.

Delissas

[Bill Kibby]

It's interesting to hear of an early one, the published numbers begin at #1700 in 1917, and were progressing at a hundred a year for a while, but we don't even know if 100 is the serial number, and it would be unwise to project backwards and say 1901. How many notes does it have?

[delissas]

Thank you for replying so quickly. It definitely says No. 100 but could the serial number be somewhere else? There are 50 white keys and 35 black keys. I appreciate any info you may have.

Delissas

[Bill Kibby]

85 notes is quite normal in most old british and european pianos, but I have no information about early Yamahas.