Find out how old your piano is by finding out the serial number and then checking it against this list of piano brands. If you are thinking of selling your piano, knowing the age of it certainly helps. Once you have found the serial number of your piano you can find out its date of manufacture. You’ll find 157 Piano Manufacturers on this list. I had that question before too.and the answer I received was that most likely Ludwig began building banjos in 1925 and Serial Number 3000 was the last Serial Number range that year. I have a Ludwig Stratford and Ludwig Bellevue that both have Serial Numbers less than 3000. So I'd call yours (and my two) 1925. Each piano is manufactured with a unique serial number that is recorded for future reference of not only when it was made but also where. Discover your Piano’s Age and Country Of Origin with our 5 Star Accuracy Guide to ensure the quality and reliability of each result. Sizes and Types - The standard width of an upright piano is about 5' and the depth is between 2 - 2½'. The total floor space allowance should be about 5' wide by 5' deep, including bench space. The height of the piano makes no difference in the floor space needed but it makes a major difference in the quality of sound the piano produces. “Ludwig & Company” was established by partners John H. Ludwig and Charles A. Ericsson in New York in 1889. Began by building a line of very high-grade, elaborate upright pianos. After the turn-of-the-century the firm added baby grand pianos and player pianos to their product line.

Pianoage By Serial Number - Bluebook Of Pianos
Value Of Ludwig And Co. Upright Piano - Serial Number 15414 ...
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Ludwig - Antique Piano Shop

One of the primary ways you can begin to investigate the value of your piano is by locating the serial number. The serial number is considered your piano’s birth certificate, and it is the way the original manufacturer assigned it a unique.

However, locating it can be tricky. We provide our customers with the following real-life diagrams to quickly help them find the serial number on their grand or upright piano.

Grand serial numbers like on the Steinway pictured above may be found in many different places. The various places on the diagram point to some possible locations.

Typically, a serial number has 5 to 7 digits, but in some cases, it may have fewer or more and may also include a letter. This is a view of the grand with the lid open and the music desk removed. It may be necessary to clean dust off the harp or soundboard before the serial number can be seen.

Upright or vertical piano serial numbers can usually be found by lifting the lid and looking inside on the gold harp or plate. It is usually not necessary to remove the upper front panel to find the serial number (as in this picture).

By locating the serial number, you can begin your research to know the value of the piano. The first thing the serial number tells you is the age of the piano. Paired with the who made the piano, the age is a key piece of information, and many piano experts can begin to assign a value quickly after assessing the condition and a few other criteria.

Pianoage By Serial Number - Bluebook Of Pianos

Sometimes, however, a serial number can be nearly impossible to find, even to professionals who know where to look and have identified thousands of serial numbers in their years of expertise. If you are running into this problem, feel free to give us a call, and we’ll be happy to work with you to locate your serial number.

Original image sources:

Grand piano: https://www.amromusic.com/

Upright piano: http://www.steinhovenpianos.com/

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BÃ–SENDORFER

Yamaha Corporation of America
P.O. Box 6600
Buena Park, California 90622
714-522-9415
[email protected]
www.boesendorfer.com

Pianos made by: L. BÃ¶sendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH, Vienna, Austria

BÃ¶sendorfer was founded in 1828 in Vienna, Austria, by Ignaz BÃ¶sendorfer. The young piano maker rose to fame when Franz Liszt endorsed his concert grand after being unable to destroy it in playing, as he had every other piano set before him. Ignaz died in 1858 and the company was taken over by his son, Ludwig. Under Ludwigâ€™s direction, the firm greatly prospered and the pianos became even more famous throughout Europe and the world. Ludwig, having no direct descendants, sold the firm to a friend, Carl Hutterstrasser, in 1909. Carlâ€™s sons, Wolfgang and Alexander, became partners in 1931. BÃ¶sendorfer was sold to Kimball International, a U.S. manufacturer of low- and medium-priced pianos, in 1966. In 2002 Kimball, having left the piano business, sold BÃ¶sendorfer to BAWAG Bank, Austriaâ€™s third largest financial institution. The bank encountered financial troubles unrelated to BÃ¶sendorfer and sold the piano company to Yamaha in 2008. Yamaha says it will not be making any changes to BÃ¶sendorferâ€™s location or methods of production. BÃ¶sendorfer manufactures only around 300 pianos a year.

BÃ¶sendorfer makes a 52″ upright and eight models of grand piano, from 5′ 1″ to the 9′ 6″ Imperial Concert Grand, one of the worldâ€™s largest pianos. The company also makes slightly less expensive versions of four grand models known as the Conservatory Series (CS). Conservatory Series grands are like the regular grands except that the case receives a satin finish instead of a high polish, and some cabinet details are simpler. Previously, the CS models also had a satin-finished plate, and were loop-strung instead of single-strung, but in 2009, regarding these features, the specifications of the regular models were restored. All BÃ¶sendorfer grand pianos have three pedals, the middle pedal being a sostenuto.

One of the most distinctive features of the grands is that a couple of models have more than 88 keys. The 7′ 4″ model has 92 keys and the 9′ 6″ model has 97 keys. The lowest strings vibrate so slowly that itâ€™s actually possible to hear the individual beats of the vibration. Piano technicians say that it is next to impossible to tune these strings by ear, although electronic tuning aids can help accomplish this. Of course, these notes are rarely used, but their presence, and the presence of the extra-long bridge and larger soundboard to accommodate them, add extra power, resonance, and clarity to the lower regular notes of the piano. In order not to confuse pianists, who rely on the normal keyboard configuration for spatial orientation while playing, the keys for these extra notes are usually covered with a black ivorine material.

The rim of the BÃ¶sendorfer grand is built quite differently from those of all other grands. Instead of veneers bent around a form, the inner rim is made in solid sections of spruce and beech that are joined together. The outer rim has a solid core of quartersawn spruce that is grooved by BÃ¶sendorfer craftsmen so that it can be bent around the inner rim; after bending, the grooved sections are filled with spruce inserts. Because spruce is better at transmitting than reflecting sound, the extensive use of spruce in the rim has the effect of making the rim an acoustical extension of the soundboard, causing the entire body of the piano to resonate. This, along with the scale design, may be why BÃ¶sendorfers tend to have a more delicate treble, and a bass that features the fundamental tone more than the higher harmonics. Although the stereotype that â€œBÃ¶sendorfers are better for Mozart than Rachmaninoffâ€ may be an exaggeration (as evidenced by the number of performing artists who successfully use the piano in concert for a wide variety of music), the pianoâ€™s not-so-â€œin-your-faceâ€ sound is certainly ideally suited for the classical repertoire, in addition to whatever else it can do.

In recent years, BÃ¶sendorfer has made some refinements to its designs. The relatively newer 6′ 1″, 7′, and 9′Â 2″ models have been designed specifically to appeal to pianists looking for a more familiar sound. These models, now called the Vienna Concert (VC) series, have redesigned scaling and soundboard for greater sound projection, improved sustain, and a wider range of tonal color and dynamics. In all models, however, the distinctive BÃ¶sendorfer sound is still r

Ludwig Piano Serial Number Chart