Japan · since 1887
Yamaha serial numbers
No public serial table — and the archive does not guess.
Yamaha documents where each serial number is located but publishes no serial-to-year chart for woodwinds; its service will date an instrument on request. This archive refuses rather than guess.
The numbering
- yamaha-no-dates
Saxophone · Clarinet · Flute
Yamaha publishes how to READ the number but never a year table: the serial is engraved at the bottom of the straight body section on saxophones, with the model stamp on the back of the body tube above it, and the firm answers only 'where is it', not 'what year'.
Codes, eras and engraving
No serial-to-year system exists (honest no_data) — 1950s-present
Yamaha publishes where the number is, not what it means: the model number and serial number are engraved at the bottom of the straight body section, and the same information is repeated on the reverse. The factory does not publish a serial-year table for woodwinds, so no code or range system can be built.
Era only: Yamaha horns are dated by model generation (the model number plus catalogue evidence), never by the serial number.
Yamaha never published a serial-number-to-year chart and none exists in the community either: the official FAQ page documents only WHERE the number is (engraved at the bottom of the straight body section on saxophones, with the model stamp above it on the back of the tube), and the answer to 'what year' is 'ask Yamaha'. dcsax carries a Yamaha entry with an empty data section, Stohrer has no Yamaha list, and neither Conn-Selmer nor saxophone.org publishes one. Date a Yamaha by the model generation and the cosmetic changes; the serial only helps if Yamaha answers a written request.
Questions
Can this archive date Yamaha instruments from the serial number?
Not from the number — no public serial chart exists for this maker, and the archive does not guess dates.
Where is the serial number on a Yamaha instrument?
For Saxophones the common location is on the lower body tube near the neck receiver, or at the bell bow — lightly engraved, sometimes two numbers on one horn.
What if my Yamaha serial number is not found?
Recheck the characters exactly as marked, including any letters. Letter prefixes often belong to student or stencil lines. Some periods may not be covered yet — every refusal here says why.