I've never visited a piano manufacturer, but from the sounds of it, some of you folks have.

I'm curious what such a tour was like, especially a small outfit (Charles Walter?) compared to a large plant such as Steinway. Are the employees craftsmen (craftspeople), or do you find it's mostly a skill job, basically an assembly line?

Unrelated to the above -- if a piano manufacturer can stamp a serial number inside a piano in a variety of places, why can't they also stamp the date of manufacture? Seems it wouldn't cost too much more, and would certainly answer the first question everyone asks after viewing the serial number.

You'd probably have to stamp it twice, then, once for the number (goes on when you start), and once for the date (goes on when you finish). From a dealer's point of view, the dated piano might be worth slightly less (can't lie to the prospective customer), and the customer might look on a piano (still "new", as we understand these things) which has sat on the showroom floor for one and a half years, as being "old" or "used". We'd have to ask a dealer for his opinion on this, though.

Yes, I think you have a good point. A piano could sit for a few years for any number of reasons, and a clear manufacturers date would give the customer a sense that a piano is like a car: a year older means it should be cheaper.