Thanks, Carlos. Paul In a message dated 1/28/2011 10:19:14 P.M. Central Standard Time, ceralon at comcast.net writes: Paul, According to Barron's book "Piano'" pg 208 "The case number, a letter followed by 4 digits ---- K0862 , for example---- is assigned when the case is bent and is used to track the piano in the factory. The letter changes at the beginning of each year. In 2004 the case numbers began with L, and in 2005 with M. ( I and O are not used, because those letters could be confused with ONES and ZEROS. Nor are there Q, X, Y or Z years. The Q could be mistaken for an O or a zero; as for the others, Steinway has just never bothered with them.) By the way, the CD numbers for concert pianos can be reused when the piano is retired. I'm sorry if I confused you. This might help you with piano trying to be aged. Good Luck. Carlos ----- Original Message ----- From: _PAULREVENKOJONES at aol.com_ (mailto:PAULREVENKOJONES at aol.com) To: _pianotech at ptg.org_ (mailto:pianotech at ptg.org) Sent: Friday, January 28, 2011 4:40 PM Subject: Re: [pianotech] Steinway Grand Still unclear, Carlos. "K" would make it November, but the number sequence following has a code for the point in time for when the rim was bent, and the K tells us that the number was given in a certain month? Wait, wait, there's something circular, or redundant, or oxymoronic, or regressive, or ad absurdam in this. I'm so totally confused. P s In a message dated 1/28/2011 3:16:20 P.M. Central Standard Time, ceralon at comcast.net writes: Regarding the "case" number.. According to the book "PIANO" by James Barron, he says the Alpha letter followed by three numbers in question indicates only the month the piano was given this number. It does not indicate the year of construction, but when the rim was bent. As I understand it the 6 digit serial # is applied just before the piano is about ready to leave the factory. At least it was on the construction of the D he follows through the factory. Number K0862. A single Steinway can have as many as 3 sets of numbers. The K indicated the month only. I hope this helps. Carlos Ralon, RPT ----- Original Message ----- From: _PAULREVENKOJONES at aol.com_ (mailto:PAULREVENKOJONES at aol.com) To: _pianotech at ptg.org_ (mailto:pianotech at ptg.org) Sent: Friday, January 28, 2011 12:36 AM Subject: Re: [pianotech] Steinway Grand Frank: Do you remember how to parse the four-digit with a letter stamps on the plate? I thought they would be translatable to month and year of manufacture. Is that a myth? Paul In a message dated 1/27/2011 11:34:28 P.M. Central Standard Time, _pianoguru at cox.net_ (mailto:pianoguru at cox.net) writes: In a few, rare cases the serial number is assign at the front of the line. More often, the serial number is assign at the end of the line. When the serial number is assigned at the end, a case number of 3 - 4 digits (usually too few digits for a serial number) is used to return the case parts to the instrument to which it was originally fitted. If you find the same number on virtually every case part, it is almost certainly a case number, especially if it is a shorter number than you would expect of that manufacturer's serial number sequence. The problem with assigning serial numbers at the front of the line is that the pianos never arrive at the end of the line even close to the same sequence in which they began, which makes it almost impossible to say which serial number marks the beginning number of a new year's production. Frank Emerson -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20110129/4d7d5349/attachment.htm>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC