An antique piano usually refers to either a grand piano or an upright piano which was built more than 100 years ago. Any keyboard instrument over 125 years are known as an early keyboard instrument. Examples of these are such as harpsichords, clavichord, and square pianos. They too are classified as an antique. Over the years piano's have been improved but the older ones may have been mistreated over the years.

The first thing people want to know is how old the antique piano is. Sometimes it is very difficult to know exactly the age of the piano. If you are really lucky the previous owner they know exactly how old the piano is. When the unreliable way to determine the date is by their serial numbers. These are notoriously known to have the wrong information published. The best known method is using datemarks. Datemarks seem to be the most reliable and accurate to determine the age of the instrument, although finding and also interpreting the datemarks can be a challenge.

An antique piano may have marks on its iron frame or wood frame or other parts in the piano. There may be letter's or initials with numbers or just a number and this is why the interpretation may not be perfect. Does the initials stand for the manufacture or something else. The numbers could be years or it could just be the numbering system they use at that time. So the important thing is to learn out of datemarks from the key manufacturers from those periods. So your time should be spent studying these important marks so when you run across them you will be able to identify the age of the antique piano. Like anything else it will not always be cut and dry but having this as a starting point will increase your accuracy.

A piano can continue to produce beautiful music for decades when properly maintained.  However, the majority of pianos do not receive the yearly check-up from a piano technician that would keep them in top condition, and so they deteriorate.  Many piano owners focus mainly on the exterior appearance of their piano when deciding whether or not it is in good condition.  They do not realize that all of those moving parts inside the piano (called the "action") can wear out and even break over time whether or not the piano is played regularly.  Aging strings lose their resonance and become subject to breaking easily during tuning.  Sounding boards can develop cracks from years of changing humidity levels.

Antique Piano Restorations LLC ..... www.antiquepianorestoration.com

Piano Restoration