Yamaha serial chart
Yamaha does not publish a serial chart. DC Sax is building one from dates Yamaha has given to owners. serials are dated so far. Pick your horn's size and model, then enter the serial. If Yamaha has dated horns near yours, you get a year. If not, you get the model's production years, narrowed by the letter in front of the serial. The main serial lookup gives the same answer with the generation checks.
What Yamaha has dated
Every serial below carries a manufacture date that Yamaha gave the owner. Purchase dates and remembered years are kept in the file but never used here. The last digit of each serial is hidden.
How the years are worked out
Which horns share a count. Since the February 2003 renumbering at 110001, every professional alto and tenor takes the next number from one shared count, whatever the model. Yamaha's answers on four different models line up in that order. Sopranos and baritones each count on their own, and altos and tenors before 2003 counted per model.
The pace of the shared count. Counting each letter as 100,000 numbers, the six lettered serials Yamaha has dated fall on one straight line: about 21,400 numbers a year from 2007 to 2016. The line misses each of the six by less than four months. It also puts the first F serial in mid 2019, which is when DC Sax first saw F horns.
| From | To | Numbers a year |
|---|---|---|
| C4711x (2007) | C8286x (2009) | 17,900 |
| C8286x (2009) | D3550x (2011) | 26,300 |
| D3550x (2011) | D9389x (2014) | 19,500 |
| D9389x (2014) | E2010x (2015) | 26,200 |
| E2010x (2015) | E3952x (2016) | 19,400 |
| C4711x (2007) | E3952x (2016) | 21,400 |
The single-step figures wobble because Yamaha gives the year only, so a one-year gap can be anywhere from 6 to 18 months. The nine-year figure is the one used.
The letters. If each letter runs 00001 to 99999, the line gives the year each letter began. These come from the line, not from Yamaha.
| Letter | First number, about |
|---|---|
| none (110001 on) | February 2003 |
| C | 2005 or 2006 |
| D | 2010 |
| E | 2014 |
| F | 2019 |
| G | 2024, if it exists |
What a dated serial does to your estimate. A serial Yamaha has dated fixes one point on its count. Your serial is placed between the nearest dated serials on either side. Past the last one, the estimate follows the count's pace for up to three years, then stops and shows the model's production years instead. A dated serial never widens a window, only narrows it.
Why the last digit is hidden. A serial that matches yours in every digit shown can still be a different horn from the same batch.
Why purchase dates are not used. A purchase date only proves the horn was made no later than that day. The chart uses Yamaha's manufacture dates only.
What would sharpen the estimates
- Any Yamaha answer on a plain serial above 121102. It fixes the 2003 to 2006 run and the year C began.
- Any Yamaha answer on an F or G serial. It extends the line past 2016.
- Answers with the month, not just the year.
- A second dated soprano, a second pre-2003 YAS-62, any YTS-62 before 2003.
Yamaha will tell you the month and year by email: bandandorchestra@yamaha.com. When you have the answer, add it to the chart. Each answer makes the chart more accurate.