The three numbers are the unit number this started over each month at 500, so unit number 21. (That first letter is an “oh” not a zero.)

Yamaha Music Craft, Made in Japan, 1997-1999: 111 is the unit number and the final letter is an internal code. Letter-letter-letter-#-letter, like so: QLY111C. The three numbers are again, unit number. 213=unit number and that last letter is an internal code. Using the charts, we see that H=1991 and P=September. The last three numbers indicate unit number. The number following the letter is the year, in this case. The letter at the beginning represents the month, so J would be March (see chart above).

If you still can’t figure it out, please see Yamaha contact info at the bottom of this page.Īlternate serial number configurations for Yamaha Classical and Acoustic Guitars First LetterĪ lot of people have written in to say, “Hey! My Yamaha serial number looks nothing like this!” To you folks, we offer the following: Several other serial number configurations used by Yamaha over the years. The last three numbers represent order of production on the day the guitar was made.Įxample: hm02316 = the 316th unit made on June 2 of 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, or 2001. The first two numbers indicate the day of the month. (Their numbering system began with “H” for 1.) The first letter indicates the last digit of the year of production. There can still be confusion, unless you know your models… since 09 was also used in 1997 as the 9th year of reign of Emperor Heisa.”ġ976 label courtesy of Bobbie.Serial numbers on Yamaha guitars repeat every ten years due to the way they are formed. So, some models during a span of a few years during the slow change over, will have both EmperorĬodes, and the new coding, which is that the first two numbers are the last two of the year made.Įxample: 2009 would be 09. When they started to change how they date them. There are a few exceptions, especially after 1999, Used the Emperor dating code…these are the numbers stamped on the heelblock of the guitar. On Alvarez (older) models, the SN is of no use in dating, as these were made in several different factories in Japan (early 1970’s into earlyġ980’s)…and if there were ever any records kept by the factories, they don’t know where they are now. According to D Hughes who ran the Yahoo Group for Yairi-Alvarez Yairi the “automated” dating site does not usually give the correct info when you input the numbers. There was an automated Alvarez-Yairi serial number decoder but link no longer working.

Louis or Woodinville offices of Loud Technologies can determine a manufacture date for a particular serial #” In some cases date of manufacture on label – see below. Alvarez brand guitars – imported to US by St Louis Music and established in 1965.ĭating these guitars is going to be hard.

Alvarez guitar serial number decoder