Piano serial numbers help to identify the age of your piano and the history surrounding its production. Run a free piano serial number search, here. Mason And Risch Pianos Serial Numbers Average ratng: 4,5/5 6887votes. The Ennis Piano Company was established in Hamilton, Ontario Canada in 1886. Century, the firm was building several styles of upright primarily pianos which were.
PrintShareCitationFeedback- MLA 8TH EDITION
- Kallmann, Helmut et al. 'R.S. Williams & Sons'. The Canadian Encyclopedia, 15 December 2013, Historica Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/rs-williams-sons-emc. Accessed 13 November 2019.
- APA 6TH EDITION
- Kallmann, H., & Morey, C., & Hayes, F., R.S. Williams & Sons (2013). In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/rs-williams-sons-emc
- CHICAGO 17TH EDITION
- Kallmann, Helmut, and Carl Morey, and Florence Hayes, 'R.S. Williams & Sons'. In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Article published February 07, 2006; Last Edited December 15, 2013. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/rs-williams-sons-emc
- TURABIAN 8TH EDITION
- Kallmann, Helmut, and Carl Morey , and Florence Hayes . The Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. 'R.S. Williams & Sons', Last Edited December 15, 2013, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/rs-williams-sons-emc
Article by | Helmut Kallmann, Carl Morey, Florence Hayes |
Published Online | February 7, 2006 |
Last Edited | December 15, 2013 |
R.S. Williams & Sons
R.S. Williams & Sons. Instrument building and sales firm established by Richard Sugden Williams (b London 12 Apr 1834, d Toronto 24 Feb 1906). Taken to Hamilton, Upper Canada (Ontario), at four, Williams in the late 1840s was apprenticed to the melodeon maker William Townsend in Toronto, following him to Hamilton in 1853. When Townsend's business failed about 1855, Williams returned to Toronto. He established an enterprise in there making mandolins, banjos, and, soon afterwards, melodeons. Williams also sold pianos and other instruments and expanded into the manufacturing of pianos and larger reed organs. In 1873 the manufacturing was assumed by the subsidiary Canada Organ and Piano Co (after 1902 Williams Piano Co), and in 1889 the factory was moved to Oshawa, Ont, supervised by Williams' son Robert, b 1854, who became the company's president after his father's death. The Toronto business, in 1879 or 1880 renamed R.S. Williams & Son (later Sons), remained the headquarters for retailing (first on Queen St, later at several successive locations on Yonge St) and also for wholesaling. In the early years there was a sales outlet in London, Ont. By 1905 a branch had been established in Winnipeg and a depot in London (England), and by 1919 there were branches in Montreal and Calgary.
Expansion was rapid. By the end of the century the firm claimed to have the largest instrument factory in Canada. In the 1880s some 150 workers produced about 20 pianos and 6 reed organs each week; in the second decade of the 20th century some 250 men produced about 60 pianos a week. Two Williams pianos were placed in Windsor Castle at the request of Queen Victoria, thus entitling the company to use the warrant 'Piano Makers to the Queen.' By the turn of the century grand pianos, uprights, and player pianos were manufactured. Brand names (then or later) included Beethoven, Canada, Ennis, Everson, Krydner, Schubert, and Williams. In 1929 serial numbers had reached 67,000. Williams also built a few pipe organs. One of the first was installed in Calgary ca 1889. Another (from a church whose identity cannot be ascertained) was reinstalled in 1898 at St Paul's Roman Catholic Church in Toronto and was restored in the 1970s, since it was found still ideally suited for use in the liturgy.
Mandolins, banjos, and guitars continued to be built, but Williams' successor in the Toronto establishment, his son Richard Sugden Williams Jr (1873 or 1874-1945), was renowned as an expert in violins. A stock of valuable imported string instruments was maintained, and skilled craftsmen from France, Holland, Italy, and Canada were employed to make violins after Stradivarius and other patterns. One of these was the Paris violin builder August(e) Delivet, who worked for R.S. Williams in Toronto from 1920 until his death in 1927. The firm's illustrated instrument and merchandise catalogues, produced as early as 1860 (no. 31 dates from 1905, no. 36 from 1919), testify to the volume and variety of the business. The R.S. Williams 10-story building at 145 Yonge St, Toronto, was erected in 1912 and demolished in 1986.
By 1900 Williams had become the Canadian distributor for Edison phonographs and records. This association continued until 1926, but when radio for a while replaced recordings in popularity, Williams began to sell Westinghouse, and later Magnavox, radios. A small amount of music publishing was done, but the Williams Musical Library (only 8 numbers known; late 19th century) contained little of significance. Arrangements for band by John Slatter were advertised in 1919, and also at that time the firm published the Canadian Bandsman and Orchestra Journal, a monthly which had begun as the Canadian Bandsman and Musician in June 1913 and was absorbed by Musical Canada in 1924. Yet another venture of the company was an R.S. Williams School of Music, opened in Toronto in 1929 under the directorship of A.L. Evans.
The Oshawa factory, of which the last president was Frank W. Bull, did not survive the Depression years. The Toronto company was sold to B.A. and F.A. Trestrail in 1928 but continued in operation under the name R.S. Williams Co, Ltd. The Yonge St store eventually closed but the company continued as a warehouse-type operation until 1951 or 1952, thus making Williams one of the few Canadian music firms to have existed for nearly 100 years. The last president was Alexander B. Vasey.
The elder Williams was an avid collector of old musical instruments and autographs, exhibiting his collections as early as 1861 at the Toronto Mechanics' Institute. His son Richard S. Jr added to the collection but in 1913 began to present segments to the Royal Ontario Museum. At that time there were 166 instruments, 70 volumes of music, and about 160 letters and manuscript scores of famous musicians. In the late 1970s the R.S. Williams collection remained the largest and most valuable of its kind in Canada. In 1980 Ladislav Cselenyi was preparing a book on R.S. Williams, which had not appeared by 1990.
See also Archives; Instrument collections.
Piano serial numbers identify the (1) age of your piano, the (2) piano's year of manufacture, as well as (3) the circumstances surrounding the production of your piano, including factory history, manufacturing processes, and company ownership and oversight.
You can look up a free piano serial number history search from this page (see list of manufacturers, below).
Piano Serial Numbers:
Location, location, location...
Piano serial numbers usually have five to seven digits, but may have fewer or more, depending on the manufacturer and age of your piano. Serial numbers may also include a letter as well.
Here are the TOP FIVE places to locate the serial number of your spinet, console, or upright piano:
Serial number locations are found:
1) On the piano’s cast iron plate. After lifting up the lid, look along the top front area of the plate. The serial number may be to the right or the left, or in the middle.
2) Under the opened lid on the ledge, stamped on a little plaque, to the right or to the left.
3) Stamped on the back of the piano; near the top of the wood frame.
4) Printed on one of the hammers, found on either end of the piano (newer or imported pianos).
5) Printed on one the keys - behind the nameboard, inside the piano (newer or imported pianos).
2) Under the opened lid on the ledge, stamped on a little plaque, to the right or to the left.
3) Stamped on the back of the piano; near the top of the wood frame.
4) Printed on one of the hammers, found on either end of the piano (newer or imported pianos).
5) Printed on one the keys - behind the nameboard, inside the piano (newer or imported pianos).
If you cannot find the serial number in any of the locations listed on this page, please watch the video below, to help find more piano serial number locations.
Grand Piano Serial Numbers
Where Are They Found? ...
Here are the TOP FIVE places to locate the serial number of your BABY GRAND or GRAND piano:
(See this link for a detailed picture of where to look)
Note: You may have to remove the (1) music desk first and (2) gently clean out any dust from your piano's plate [using a soft dry cloth + vacuum hose] before you can find these numbers.
Serial number locations are found:
1) On the piano’s cast iron plate, near the tuning pins, as you face the keys. Look to the right or to the left.
2) The Capo d'astro bar. Located on the right, this acts as a 'bridge' to the 'beams' of the cast iron plate.
3) On the piano's soundboard (see link above for a diagram).
4) On a metal plate underneath the piano's top lid, near the strings and soundboard.
5) Immediate interior [front]: On the back of the [a] keyslip (long wooden ledge, runs along the front/bottom of the piano's keys. The serial number is often hidden and stamped on the other side, facing the keys). On the front of the [b] action frame (after the keyslip is removed), or stamped on [c] one or both of the cheek blocks, viewed to the right and left of the piano's keyboard.
On older pianos, you may find 3-5 screws, underneath the keyslip, that will need to be removed (or, simply lift up, if no screws are present) to view the action frame. The serial number may be stamped on the front of the frame's wooden base, immediately under the keys.
To the right and left of the keys are two end cheek blocks, which are each secured down with a giant bolt or screw, which passes through the piano's keybed, both of which must be removed, to access the interior of the piano (see video, above).
Caution: When unscrewing and removing the cheek blocks, do not mistake the piano's leg screw/bolt, with the cheek block's screw/bolt.
Also, be careful not to drop the cheek blocks once they are removed, which can gouge and permanently damage the piano's case, and the block's delicate condition.
To recap: the piano's serial number may be hidden on the back of the piano'skeyslip (immediately in front of / below the keys), on the action's frontkeyframe, on the cheek blocks (each side), or within the action itself, once removed from the piano.
Scroll down below to find the (1) manufacturer of your piano, and then (2) click on the link to find the serial number.
(Please be patient as we are updating this page on a daily basis. We invite you to SUBSCRIBE to this page, and to use the search box above, as serial numbers are being updated and added on an ongoing basis.)
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Information on how the piano works, ages, and the difference between different piano brands is discussed in great detail. There is also a wealth of diagrams of parts, information on manufacturing, maintenance, moving and storage, inspecting new and used pianos, the special market for Steinways, and sales gimmicks to watch out for.
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