I entered a serial number in a couple of Yamaha serial number lookup sites.

If I include the letter before the numbers, they say the serial number doesn't exist. So I left the letter off and just enter the numbers. It then claims the piano is made in Japan - however the letter I removed is an 'H' - which is supposed to denote Hangzhou, China!?

Another contradiction is the Hangzhou serial numbers only reach 105,429 by 2010. The piano's serial number is H1475127. This is obviously ~14 times higher. I realise there's a lot of people in China... but that kind of increase in production in just over 5 years!?

What am I missing here?

I thought the H referred to the model of the piano, such as U1H or U3H. I'm not completely sure, but I also thought no Yamaha uprights are built in China, but I may be wrong. If I am right, then your piano was probably built around 1972 according to Yamaha's website.

Thank you. I was confused after your reply, until many websearches later, what you were saying finally clicked.

i.e. The owner has listed their "U1H" with serial number "1475127", as a "U1" with serial number "H1475127".

What helped to throw me was, the price they're asking - it doesn't indicate a piano that old. Nearly $4000 Australian for a 1970s piano. From a store, regulated, tuned and polished - maybe. But not a private seller.

If it has had more work done to it, it could be priced accordingly. Maybe reconditioning work, or even a partial restoration.

The "H" designates the scale design of the particular Japanese mdl. Ex. U1G U1H, U1M, U1A etc. The "H" designates it as a gray market piano originally sold in Japan for the domestic market. An H scale U series piano is an early 70(s) piano. The M series started around 1978 ish and the A series around 1982 ish. Yamaha A series continued to about 1986. In 1987 Yamaha came out with all new mdls. replacing the U1, U2, U3 etc. 4K for a U1H is overpriced in that the piano is 40+ years old. No gray market piano importers fully refurbish these old Yamaha uprts. Too expensive and who wants a 40+ year old Yamaha uprt. when one could actually purchase a brand new 48" Chinese assembled Yamaha upt. for not that much more $.

Well, the nice thing about Yamaha upright pianos is that Yamaha was kind enough to stamp a number on top of the hammer rail, in the high treble that shows you the year it was made. If the number starts with 79 it was made in 1979. If it starts with 03 it was made in 2003. So if you're really curious you can take a peek under the hood and verify.

I once tuned an old Yamaha U3 that had been brought to the US by the family. It had a card inside that had the date of the piano. However, it used the Japanese date, which was about the 26th or 27th year of the Showa era.