I’ve started a list of guitars I’ve found (including 3 of mine) with the model number, the serial number, and the date code, which will allow the 6 & 7 digit serial numbers to be grouped into a range for each year, allowing any 6 or 7 digit serial number to be cross referenced to the year it was made. Find out the date of your Yamaha using its serial number; Wiring Diagrams Excellent, super-clear wiring diagrams for all sorts of pickups and mods. Yamaha Catalogue Site! Old Pacifica etc brochures. Yamaha Electric Guitar Forums Big Yammy users site with guitar/bass section.
Being slightly obsessed with numbers, I was curious about the distribution of 938 serial numbers and 150 date codes I’ve collected (as of this moment) in the past 10 months. I found the COUNTIF and COUNTIFS functions in MS Excel allowed me to count cells in a range based on certain criteria; such as model number, text, or even count cells that have anything in them.
WANTED – Data from your vintage Yamaha FG guitars. See later in the post. See Yamaha FG Serial Numbers, Interior Markings, and Labels – 1966 to 1981 for the results of this search. My search expanded to also include the Taiwan FG’s. My latest interest is decoding the mystery of the 6 & 7 digit serial numbers. Jul 11, 2009 The serial number should be on a small cross piece of wood just inside the sound hole on the side away from the neck. That's should be ON the neck side, right near the top/sound board. It may be faded so use a good light and maybe even a magnifying glass. Dating a Yamaha Guitar. All you need to do is find your pattern somewhere in the larger list of serial number formats and then try and match it up with.
These functions allow the chart to be automatically updated (live) because it’s using data from other sheets in the file. The only time I have to edit the chart is if I add a new model to the other sheets.
I also use Conditional Formatting to automatically add a color to cells based on what Yamaha model number I enter. I tend to be a visual person, so organizing by color makes it easier to see for me.
After breaking the numbers out into model numbers, I figured I would take it a step further and break it out into Labels. This is where it gets interesting. You can see what models used each label, and how long a model was made.
You’ll probably notice there are duplicate total numbers. Those a “sanity” checks, calculating the same thing but in a different way. They are to catch any errors or if I add a new model and don’t add it to the chart.
I hope you enjoy this new way of viewing the history of vintage Yamaha FG guitars.
I bought a new Yamaha Guitar and When you look inside the guitar hole it looks like the model number is written by hand. Can you please tell me if this one is a fake one or not? The number written on it cannot be found on Yamaha website.
I have attached a pic below. Thanks!
2 Answers
Yup, probably.
A few reasons I say this:
- In my experience, the biggest strength of Yamaha musical instruments is consistency -- to see something that looks handwritten is a pretty big red flag.
- You haven't mentioned a serial number at all. I assume that if there was one, you would include it. One aspect of that consistency is that every single genuine Yamaha instrument will have a serial number, with which one could trace the instrument's origins. If it's missing by design, the instrument is not genuine.
- I did a google image search to compare your image with ones of genuine instruments. The design of the sticker inside the sound hole varies with the time period, but I noticed the following qualities that are present in ALL of those versions, even back many decades:
- The model number is always CLEARLY displayed in bigblockletters, often larger than the Yamaha logo itself.
- The sticker inside the sound hole is almost always the same shape as the border. For example, if the border is oval or rounded rectangular, the whole sticker is the same shape. Your image showing a rounded border but a rectangular sticker seems to be pretty anomalous.
Here's the closest example I could find: a Yamaha FG-402. The sticker pattern has the same kind of border as the one you posted, but the sticker itself is shaped to the border instead of rectangular.
This image also clearly shows where you would find the serial number.
It also brings up something else. See the language used on the sticker in that picture:
Made by Kaohsiung Yamaha Co., Ltd.
in Taiwan in accordance with specifications of
Yamaha Corporation
Whereas your sticker appears to say:
Made in Japan
in accordance with specification of
Yanaha Corporation
Typos are a HUGE indicator for counterfeit merchandise.
Edit:
After quickly looking over the other imagery you provided, I think the logo on the headstock in particular is quite suspect. I believe the 'YAMAHA' wordmark is not in the correct typeface. If you compare it to the inside sticker (which in your case is probably a photocopy), the middle stems of the letter 'M' are not supposed to meet the baseline in the proper wordmark, but on your headstock it does appear to. Also the other letters ('Y' in particular) look too wide to me. Every other genuine Yamaha guitar you ever see will have the same exact wordmark, in the exact same typeface.
The craftsmanship looks poor on the neck binding... This may be a chinese knockoff.
protected by Community♦Apr 19 '17 at 15:22
Yamaha Bass Guitar Serial Number Lookup
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