This article is dedicated to one of the largest, most famous and most successful piano brands in the world – Kohler & Campbell. By the end of this article, you’ll have learned all you need to know about this brand, including a brief description of models, serial numbers, how and where the pianos are made, specifications of the brand, orientational price of the models and other useful information that can help you decide whether the brand is worth your money and trust or not.
Table of Contents
- Kohler & Campbell Brand
- Piano Models
- The Millennium Series Review
- Upright Pianos
- Grand and Baby Grand Pianos
- Serial Numbers

The Kohler & Campbell brand
Kohler & Campbell is one of the most famous and largest American piano-making companies. It has an amazingly rich history going back to 1896. Back then, the Kohler & Campbell Industry was established by John Calvin Campbell – originally a mechanic – and Charles Kohler in New York.
Campbell’s extraordinary skills and experience enabled him to come up with numerous breakthrough techniques of piano-making, which vastly and immediately increased the value of their models. While the quality increased rapidly, the prices not so much. Campbell made it the very essence of the company – “the best value for the dollar.” This definitely made the company a great competitor in the field of making and selling pianos.
Reportedly, the largest and most faithful customers of the company were the finest American piano manufacturers who carried and sold the Kohler & Campbell piano models in their establishments. Even nowadays it remained so, which is bulletproof evidence of the company’s quality.
Kohler & Campbell Pianos
Kohler & Campbell produces both vertical and grand pianos. You can even choose between two sizes of grand pianos. The pianos are classified into two categories – the New York series and the Millennium series. Both Series have six models of grand pianos, the Millenium series have eight models of upright pianos and there are four upright piano models in the New York series. Even though Kohler & Campbell is an American company, their pianos are made in South Korea. When they’re almost done, they’re shipped to America for the final touches, such as the action and tone regulation.
Piano Models
The Millenium Series | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Grands | ||||
Model | Height | Width | Weight | Market piano price |
KFM-850 | 40 1/2″ | 59 4/5″ | 915 lbs. | Check on Klaviano |
KFM-700 | 40 1/2″ | 60 1/4″” | 816 lbs. | – |
KCM-650 | 40 1/2″ | 48 1/2″ | 790 lbs. | – |
KCM-600 | 40 1/2″ | 59 4/5″ | 794 lbs. | Check on Klaviano |
KCM-500 | 40 1/2″ | 59 4/5″ | 672 lbs | – |
Verticals | ||||
Model | Height | Width | Weight | Market piano price |
KM-121M | 47 ⅝” | 59″ | 487 lbs. | Check on Klaviano |
KM-131 | 51 ⅜” | 60 ½” | 569 lbs. | Check on Klaviano |
KM-245 | 43 ⅞” | 58 ¼” | 452 lbs. | – |
KM-247 | 46 ⅞” | 58 ⅝” | 472 lbs. | – |
KM-647F | 46 ⅞” | 58 ⅝” | 472 lbs. | – |
KMV-52MD | 51 2/5″ | 60 1/2″ | 558 lbs. | – |
New Yorker Series | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Grands | ||||
Model | Height | Width | Weight | Market piano price |
KIG-48 | 39″ | 57 ½” | 610 lbs. | Check on Klaviano |
KIG-50 | 40 ½” | 58 ½”” | 655 lbs. | – |
KIG-54 | 40 ½” | 58 ⅓” | 683 lbs. | – |
KIG-59 | 40 ½” | 59 ½” | 794 lbs. | – |
KIG-61 | 40 ¼” | 59 ½” | 789 lbs. | – |
Verticals | ||||
Model | Height | Width | Weight | Market piano price |
KC-118H | 46 ¾”” | 57 ⅝” | 472 lbs. | Check on Klaviano |
KC-142 | 42 ¾”” | 57 ¼” | 445 lbs. | Check on Klaviano |
KC-243F | 43″ | 56″ | 445 lbs. | – |
The Millenium Series Review
Since Kohler & Campbell has introduced their Millennium Piano Series, the music community has gradually come to an agreement that this brand is one of the greatest piano brands of our time. They deserve such a title namely for their wonderful low-tension scale design uniquely made for each of the Millenium Pianos sizes. Also, compared to the competition, the Millenium Piano Series has longer strings and a larger soundboard area, which ensures richer and fuller tone quality.
Each tone of the Millenium Series Pianos is very carefully adjusted, balanced and evaluated, which ensures a very even sound. This series stands between Asian and European brands – bolder and stronger compared to European brands, but gentler and more mellow than Asian piano brands. In comparison to the older Kohler & Campbell series, Millenium implements numeral improvements resulting in better overall performance, however, even pianos from before 1985 provide piano players with reliability and full functioning.
When it comes to the price of a used piano, it always depends on how the piano has been being used. Namely, how much it’s been damaged over the years and what kind of care it needs before it can be played (if any). Some very old pianos are in better condition than some new ones. This, of course, reflects on the price. Therefore, it’s not that easy to say how much a piano is worth. But based on the fact that this company tries to keep the prices reasonable and make their pianos available to the wide public, I’d say Kohler & Campbell is always a good choice. You can check the market prices of Kohler & Campbell piano models in the Klaviano Search Engine.
The first and highest criterium when it comes to piano-making is the final sound of the instrument. To achieve the perfect sound, a whole range of conditions has to be fulfilled. From the choice of material through mechanisms of their use up to the final touch, everything has to be done in a specific way.
The current series of the Kohler & Campbell pianos – The Millennium Series – is made of the finest time-tested materials, each of them coming from a different part of the world. The Millenium Series pianos embody over 300 years of experience, the result of which is not only extremely quality instruments, but also specific design. Different parts of the pianos come from five different countries. Namely, the exotic wood, such as Ebony, Bubinga, Mahogany, Meranti, and Agathis comes from Indonesia; spruce used to make the soundboard comes from Canada; the iron plate is from Korea, rim and pin block is made of the Rock maple from the Adirondack Mountains of Northeastern United States. Finally, all Kohler & Campbell Grand Pianos use the famous Renner Action and Hammers from Germany, which are usually used in the world’s most expensive pianos.
Kohler & Campbell Upright Pianos
With Kohler & Campbell vertical pianos, you can be sure you get the quality you ask for. They serve perfectly to a practising professional, as well as to a beginner. As it’s only a small size piano, we can’t expect the same intensity of sound or the same variety of sound colours as we get with a grand or baby grand piano. However, we still got perfectly balanced and weighted mellow keys, which easily serve their purpose. Also, as an instrument for practice or musical accompaniment, upright pianos are available for a much more reasonable price than the larger models. Kohler & Campbell Upright Pianos cost around $3,500 (2,900€) for a new piece.
Kohler and Campbell Grand and Baby Grand Pianos
The good news is that the company is one of the world’s largest makers of grand pianos. Therefore, they apply the economies of scale to make their Millennium Pianos the most affordable high-performance piano in the world.
As I’ve mentioned earlier, there are two sizes of Kohler & Campbell grand piano. The standard Grand Piano usually serves for concert halls. Sound features of these instruments are accommodated to acoustic conditions of large spaces.
Kohler & Campbell Baby Grand Piano, on the other hand, is a perfect compromise between a grand piano and upright piano. Not only in terms of sound intensity, but also in terms of space. This piano can easily be placed in a household, or it can perfectly serve small concerts/performances. In a smaller space, it doesn’t take any of the sound quality, so I’d personally recommend it even to smaller music schools as a concert instrument. Not to mention that its unique design will give a touch of history and luxury to any room.
Kohler & Campbell Piano Serial Numbers
The company marks each of its models with a specific serial number. This can tell us how old the piano is because it’s marked according to the year of its origin. It begins with the number 10000, which stands for the year 1900, up to 795491, which marks pianos made in 1983. We can find this number either above the iron plate (on the left or right side) or on the inside cover of the instrument.
Read our article “How to find a serial number” to find out more.
The new series has different serial numbers and these tell us the length of the piano. For example, SKG500S means the piano is 5 feet long (152,4cm), SKG600S is 6 feet long (182,88cm) and SKG800 is 7,1 feet long (216,4cm).
Can you tell me when 539434 was manufactured? We were give a Kohler & Campbell with our house when we bought it. I know nothing about pianos except twinkle twinkle little star on a keyboard growing up. LOL! Just looking to find more information about this beautiful piano
Hello Amber, you can find this number on our list:

Can you please explain what this information means?
Model KC-142C
S/N IJNB00262
Color Code: MHY/HP
Thank you
Hi Zalmi, I can help you decipher the first 2 pieces of information.
Model KC-142C – the name of the upright piano model with a height of 43″ (108 cm),
S/N IJNB00262 – the serial number of the piano thanks to it we know that the piano was produced in 1999 in Indonesia
What about the serial number IKLDUO554 Model KC -142? What approx year would it have been manufactured? Thank you!
Hello Nancy, your piano was manufactured in 1991
Hi. Looks like my piano is newer than the what is provided on the list. Do you know what year 797331is?
Hello Kathleen, yes exactly 🙂 Your piano was manufactured in 1984
I believe 50821080 might be the serial number of our Koehler & campbell. Can you confirm and tell me year made and value of the piano?
Hi Sandy, I’m afraid this is not the serial number of your piano (it’s too long). Have you read our article How do I find the serial number? you will find out from it where to look for the serial number.
As far as the valuation is concerned, we offer such a service, you can find out more about it here.
The serial number on my mom’s piano is 784015 Koehler & Campbell model # is 1801 what type of piano is it and what year is it pmease? Tks Tina
Hi Tina, you can find this number on our list:

Hi. I think my serial no is IJMA00157. Can you please tell me the age of it? Thanks heaps.
Hi Mandy, if you have a upright piano with this serial number, it was probably manufactured in 1999.
Looking for age of skg-600s with serial number KJLGG0247
Thank you
Hello Stacy, unfortunately I cannot find such a number. Are you sure this is the correct number? From our article you can find out where to look for the serial number on your piano.
we have a kohler KCG500
serial #IJNHG00021
age?
Hello Linda, your piano was probably made in 1999
Hi There
We are trying to find out how old is our piano. The serial number is IJMF00782 KC-145. Thank You.
Hello, your piano is 23 years old
My kholer and Campbell uas the numbers 582952
Hello, you can find this number on our list

I have a piano with the serial number 253894. When was this made? It’s not on your list.
Hello Gail, according to the information on our list it will probably be 1927-1928

I inherited a Kohler and Campbell, SKG-600S. The serial number is IREG0592. Do you know the date when the piano was manufactured? Thank you…
Hello George, congratulations on your piano, I think it was made in 1998
Trying to find out the year of my Kohler & Campbell piano. The registered number is 595567
Hello Bobby, you will find this number on our list above
Looking for age of SKG600 with serial number KJM FG0017
Hello Karla, your piano was produced in 2003
I would like to know the year my Kohler and Campbell upright piano was manufacctured. The serial number is 301854. This number does not appear in the above list of serial numbers. Thank you!!
The piano was produced between 1942 and 1947
I am going to buy the piano kc-145, serial number is IJLF00985, can you see the production year? Thank you in advance.
This piano was produced in 1999
kohler and campbell mini piano 58 key 39″ wide. serial number 76961. Is this 1906 or 1907?
Sorry Steve, but I don’t know that. You can ask Kohler & Campbell factory about it, maybe they have a more accurate register of pianos.
serial number 600989. What year is that?
Is it a upright piano or a grand piano?
My upright is 103115. Is that a 1900 model?
Is 103115 the serial number of your piano?
We are in a similar situation, our upright Kohler & Campbell has number “99520”, and that’s all we know about it..
Hello, it means that your piano was manufactured in 1909. You can find your piano model on the piano frame or by measuring its height.
Klaviano Team
IJPFG03/6
What year was it made in?
Probably in 2000
We just picked up (for free) an old Kohler & Cambell upright New York piano (serial number 79043). It’s in great shape. We were told it was built in 1907. Where can we find information about it? Can anyone give us history of it?
Hello, congratulations on your “new” piano! A piano with this serial number was actually built in 1907. You can find a brief history of the Kohler & Cambell brand in the article above. Additionally, you can find your piano model on the piano frame.
Klaviano Team
Hi Im buying a K&C upright in Ireland, no: IJKD0067 can you tell me the year?
Hello, Your piano was made in 2001
I would like to know the year my Kohler and Campbell baby grand piano was manufacctured. The serial number is IJQJG0095. This number does not appear in the above list of serial numbers. Thank you!!
Hello Max, your piano was produced in 1999
Hello. We are trying to find out some information on our piano. The serial number is 554509. Do you happen to the year it was made?
Hello, your piano was manufactured in 1962.