Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum K. Kawai vs. Kawai?

Recently, a student asked me what was the difference between the two. I have serviced Kawai pianos for more than 30 years but I had never thought about it!

I looked up the question on the Internet and it has been a previous topic but most people were as clueless as I was. What I said to the student was that older, 80's and 90's models had K. Kawai on the fallboard but new models simply dropped the initial "K".

Then, today, I serviced first a Shigeru with its distinctive logo and next, a GE-30, nice piano but one I assume was made in Indonesia (possibly China) but it very clearly said, "K. Kawai" on the fallboard.

So now, I am thinking that the older Kawais said K. Kawai, as I said and the new models made in Japan, simply Kawai but perhaps, some or all models manufactured outside Japan still say, "K. Kawai" on the fallboard.

Kawai Don, please answer! Or anyone else who actually knows!

I always thought it was K. Kawai on their grands, and Kawai only on the uprights.

All Kawai Uprights are labeled "Kawai"
All baby-grand and grand pianos are labeled "K.Kawai" for Koichi Kawai the founder.

Models built in Indonesia have a serial# Starting with letter "F" (Both grand and uprights)
Models made in Japan have serial numbers with seven digits (both grand and uprights).

Bill,

Uprights say KAWAI on the fallboard. Grands say K. KAWAI in honor of Koichi Kawai, who wanted to primarily build grand pianos. There is no other reason other than company tradition.

There have been a very few upright pianos that were sold with K. KAWAI on the fallboard, and I can remember one model of grand piano made for a very short time that had only KAWAI. But these are just the rare exceptions.

By the way, the GE-30 piano is made in Japan! Kawai doesn't make any pianos in China! We used to have some uprights made by another factory in China and sold in some countries (not in the US), but never grands.

Does Kawai make acoustics in Indonesia?

Yes, Kawai built a factory near Jakarta which makes some upright piano models and one grand model, the GL-10.

All Kawai pianos are marked with a label saying where the piano was built.

Hello, newbie to this forum...

I'm looking at 2nd hand pianos for my piano tech studies. It's been difficult getting details from owners about their pianos. I'm looking at a Kawai upright that has the serial number K1599890. Was it made in Japan around 1985, or does the K mean something?

Hello!! I just got today a big upright piano by K.KAWAI. serial number 16680 made in 1953.

Good example - that piano was actually build by Koichi Kawai! So he was able to decide what the name on the fallboard should be. :-) This is rare, but there are a few of them around.