Two letters followed by five numbers (e.g., HM12345 ). First Letter = Year of the decade. Second Letter = Month of manufacture. Example: NL05123 N = 7, L = 5. The guitar was made in 1997 (7) in the month of May (5).

An incredibly detailed, community-run board dedicated to dating vintage FGs, including detailed information about internal ink stamps.

Unlike Martin (continuous serials since 1898) or Gibson (intermittent but well-documented), Yamaha treated serial numbers as for quality control, not consumer dating tools. Furthermore:

If the official Yamaha charts feel too technical, several community-driven websites offer "calculators" where you can simply type in your number.

Download the official "Yamaha Guitar Serial Numbers" guide from the support section of the official Yamaha website. Match your number's format (e.g., LLNNNNNN or NNNNNNNN) to the corresponding chart. 2. Online Serial Number Decoders

If you have your serial number and still cannot date it, please reply with the following details so I can look it up for you: The full serial number The model number (e.g., FG-180, PAC112J) The country of origin (e.g., Made in Japan) The color of the label inside the soundhole (if applicable)

If you run your serial number through a formula and get an ambiguous result (e.g., deciding if a guitar is from 1975, 1985, or 1995), follow these steps to narrow it down: Step 1: Identify the Country of Origin Look for the "Made in..." stamp.

To find and decode a Yamaha guitar serial number, you first need to locate it on the instrument, then use Yamaha's specific alpha-numerical charts or an online decoder to determine the manufacture date and origin .

Before you can decode the number, you need to find it. Yamaha has placed serial numbers in several locations depending on the model and year of manufacture. For Acoustic Guitars

A widely recommended community-driven tool that supports 29 Yamaha serial formats .

Early Yamaha FG models often do not have a standard serial number on the label. Instead, they feature an ink-stamped date code inside the body, usually located on the brace or the side of the lower bout, often appearing as YY.MM.DD . 2. Best Yamaha Guitar Serial Number Search Methods