What Year Was My Hobart M. Cable Piano Made? (Serial Number Lookup + Guide)
DIRECT ANSWER
The age of a Hobart M. Cable piano is determined primarily by its serial number, but the correct dating method depends on which production era the piano belongs to.
Original Hobart M. Cable pianos were manufactured in the United States beginning in 1900, first in Chicago and subsequently at the company’s factory in La Porte, Indiana. The original company remained in operation into the 1960s. After that, the Hobart M. Cable name continued to appear on pianos made by other manufacturers, including Story & Clark and, much later, Asian manufacturers.
For this reason, a Hobart M. Cable serial number cannot always be interpreted as one continuous sequence covering the entire history of the name.
The most important distinction is between:
• original American-made Hobart M. Cable pianos
• later Hobart M. Cable pianos associated with Story & Clark
• modern Hobart M. Cable pianos produced in Asia
Our Hobart M. Cable lookup database covers the original American serial-number system. It does not currently date Asian-made Hobart M. Cable pianos.
HOW HOBART M. CABLE SERIAL NUMBERS WORK
The original Hobart M. Cable Company used sequential serial numbers to identify its American production.
Early numbers correspond to the company’s first years of operation, while the sequence increases substantially as production expanded during the first half of the 20th century.
Historical records show serial numbers in the thousands during the company’s earliest years, numbers in the tens of thousands during the 1910s and 1920s, and numbers in the hundreds of thousands during the middle decades of the century.
There is one unusual period that deserves special attention. Historical serial-number references indicate that grand pianos produced from 1926 through 1929 used a separate serial-number sequence. A serial number that appears unusually low for the apparent age of a grand piano may therefore be legitimate rather than an incorrectly read number.
The important point for this lookup tool is that the American Hobart M. Cable sequence consists of the numeric serial numbers represented in our database.
Later Asian-made Hobart M. Cable pianos use a different identification system. Their serial numbers may contain letter prefixes, and those prefixes must be retained when identifying the instrument.
AMERICAN VS. ASIAN HOBART M. CABLE SERIAL NUMBERS
If your Hobart M. Cable has a numeric-only serial number, it belongs to the original American production sequence covered by this lookup tool.
If the serial number begins with a letter or letters, it is generally indicative of a later Asian-made Hobart M. Cable and should not be dated using the American serial-number sequence.
Examples of later Asian serial formats include:
• T 80026
• RF 8092
• KF 8182
These examples are associated with later Hobart M. Cable instruments rather than the original American production sequence.
The prefixes themselves are part of the later serial-number system. Available historical documentation does not establish a reliable public decoding system in which each individual prefix corresponds to a particular year. Therefore, prefixes such as T, RF, and KF should be treated as identification markers for the later production system, not as year codes.
Our database currently does not contain the Asian serial-number system and will not identify the year of an Asian-made Hobart M. Cable piano.
WHERE IS THE SERIAL NUMBER ON A HOBART M. CABLE?
HOBART M. CABLE GRAND PIANOS
On a grand piano, begin by opening the lid and examining the cast-iron plate and the areas surrounding the tuning pins.
The serial number may be stamped directly into the plate or found on another internal surface depending on the production period.
Later revival-era grand pianos can have completely different identification conventions from the original American instruments.
If you find a letter-prefixed serial number on a modern Hobart M. Cable grand, do not enter it into an old American serial-number chart simply because the piano carries the Hobart M. Cable name.
HOBART M. CABLE UPRIGHT PIANOS
On an upright or console, open the top lid or upper cabinet and look inside the piano near the strings and action.
The serial number may be:
• stamped into the metal plate
• stamped or marked on the wooden structure inside the piano
• located near the tuning pins or upper action area
The exact location varies considerably between models and production periods. Several documented Hobart M. Cable identification examples place the relevant number inside the instrument near the strings rather than on the exterior cabinet.
Do not assume that every number found inside the cabinet is the serial number. Pianos can contain additional numbers associated with individual parts, cabinet construction, patents, or other manufacturing information.
Important identification note
- The serial number is always stamped into the metal plate. Do not use model numbers (e.g., GP-178, UP-118) as these are not serial identifiers.
WHAT THE SERIAL NUMBER CAN TELL YOU
For an original American Hobart M. Cable piano, the serial number can generally be used to determine the approximate year of manufacture.
It can also help establish the production era of the instrument and distinguish an early Hobart M. Cable from a later American piano.
However, the serial number normally cannot tell you:
• the exact month or day the piano was manufactured
• the date the piano was sold
• how long the piano remained in the factory or dealership
• whether the instrument has been rebuilt or substantially modified
• the condition or current value of the piano
The serial number dates the instrument itself, not necessarily every component currently installed in it.
HOBART M. CABLE SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP TOOL
Select Hobart M. Cable from the drop-down list. Do NOT select “Cable” or “Cable Nelson”.
COMMON SERIAL NUMBER MISTAKES
Common problems when dating Hobart M. Cable pianos include:
• Choosing “Cable” or “Cable Nelson” instead of “Hobart M. Cable”
• confusing a model number with the serial number
• entering a number from the cabinet or another component instead of the factory serial number
• assuming every Hobart M. Cable follows the original American serial sequence
• removing a letter prefix from an Asian serial number and entering only the numeric portion
• using an original American serial chart to date a modern Asian-made Hobart M. Cable
• mistaking patent dates or other numbers cast into the plate for the serial number
The most important point is that the Hobart M. Cable name was used over a very long period by more than one manufacturing operation. A letter-prefixed serial number should not be converted into a numeric-only number for purposes of this lookup.
HOBART M. CABLE PIANO HISTORY
Original American Production
The Hobart M. Cable Company was founded in 1900 by Hobart M. Cable after his earlier involvement with the Cable family piano and organ businesses.
The company initially manufactured pianos in Chicago. A large new factory was constructed in La Porte, Indiana in the early 1900s, and La Porte became the company’s principal manufacturing center. The company produced upright pianos, grand pianos, player pianos, and other instruments during this period.
This is the production era represented by the American Hobart M. Cable serial-number records used by our lookup tool.
Story & Clark Era
The original Hobart M. Cable company eventually ceased its own manufacturing operations, but the brand name did not immediately disappear.
Story & Clark subsequently used the Hobart M. Cable name on pianos. Instruments from this period are sometimes identified as “Hobart M. Cable by Story & Clark.”
This is important when identifying a mid-century or later piano because the name on the fallboard does not necessarily mean that the instrument was manufactured by the original Hobart M. Cable Company.
Modern Asian Production
The Hobart M. Cable name was revived again in the early 2000s.
America Sejung registered the Hobart M. Cable brand in 2002 and began selling upright, console, and grand pianos manufactured in China. The model-number system included UH for upright pianos, CH for console pianos, and GH for grand pianos. America Sejung stopped selling pianos under the Cable name around 2011.
These instruments are not part of the original American Hobart M. Cable serial-number sequence.
Modern Hobart M. Cable instruments may also have letter-prefixed serial numbers such as T 80026, RF 8092, or KF 8182. These prefixes identify the later serial-number system and should not be removed before attempting to identify the piano.
Our lookup tool does not currently date these Asian-made instruments.
Our database covers Hobart M. Cable serial numbers across the major production periods represented in historical records, helping you distinguish an original American Hobart M. Cable from later instruments that used the same brand name.
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