1. Fender Guitar Serial Numbers Lookup
2. Fender Serial Number Chart

Ever wondered what you’re Yamaha guitar serial numbers tell you about your guitar? Or maybe you’re just curious about the year that your guitar was built?

How can I find out when my old Fender® banjo was manufactured? How can I find out how old my instrument is if it uses an odd or non-standard serial numbering scheme; What can you tell me about the historical patent markings that appear on some of your products?

Here’s the system that Yamaha uses for their acoustic guitar serial numbers and what those numbers can tell you about your guitar.

Where to Find the Serial Number

If you don’t already have your serial number, you’ll need to locate it and in some cases you’ll need to find out where your guitar was made as well – this information will usually be found next the serial number and will say “made in..” and then the country that the guitar was built in (either Japan, Taiwan or Indonesia).

This information is usually found inside the sound hole of your guitar.

How to Decode your Serial Number

Yamaha’s serial number system is one of the more complicated ones I have come across – so it’s a little bit involved.

But the complexity of decoding the number isn’t the most frustrating part of this particular serial number system – it’s the fact that the serial numbers actually repeat every decade – so you actually have to know what decade your guitar was built in to begin with.

Anyway, let’s start with how the main system works – if you don’t have a serial number that looks one of the ones in the next section, then carry on to the following sections for the less common serial numbers.

Most Common Yamaha Serial Number System

The most common Yamaha serial numbers follow a system that uses 2 letters, followed by 5 numbers.

Let’s look at an example of what this might look like – MM12022

From this we can tell that this is the 22^nd guitar built on June 12 of either 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996 or 2006.

O.K. so how does this work?

The First Letter

The first letter represents the year that the guitar was built.

The letters H to Q each represent the number that the year the guitar was built in ends in.

H = 1

I = 2

J = 3

K = 4

L = 5

M = 6

N = 7

O = 8

P = 9

Q = 0

But it gives no clue as to the decade so for each letter it could represent the following years.

First Letter Years

H 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001

I 1962, 1972, 1982, 1992, 2002

J 1963, 1973, 1983, 1993, 2003

K 1964, 1974, 1984, 1994, 2004

L 1965, 1975, 1985, 1995, 2005

M 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006

N 1967, 1977, 1987, 1997, 2007

O 1968, 1978, 1988, 1998

P 1969, 1979, 1989, 1999

Q 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000

I can only assume that this has been continued beyond 2010 because I haven’t been able to find any information for a different system but I can’t confirm this. If anyone knows please feel free to leave a comment in the comments section at the end of this post.

So, in our example we have an “M” – so it could have been built in 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996 or 2006 (and maybe 2016?).

• MM12022

The Second Letter

The second letter represents the month that the guitar was built. A similar number system is used but includes 3 extra letters (X, Y & Z) to represent 10 (October), 11 (November) and 12 (December).

Second Letter Month

H January

I February

J March

K April

L May

M June

N July

O August

P September

X October

Y November

Z December

In our example, M = June.

• MM12022

The First 2 Numbers

The first 2 numbers represent the day of the month so this is pretty straight forward.

In our example 12 = the 12^th day of the month.

• MM12022

The final 3 Numbers

The last 3 numbers represent the unit number that was built that day.

So, in our example 022 means that this guitar was the 22^nd guitar built on that day.

• MM12022

If your serial number follows this format and you want a faster way of deciphering it check out the serial number wizard at the link below:

Note: The Serial number wizard at the link above only works for serial numbers that follow the format above. If yours doesn’t you’ll need to keep reading to decipher it.

What if My Yamaha Serial Number Doesn’t Follow This Format?

If your serial number looks nothing like this 2 letter, 5 number format, check out the other systems used below, your guitar might fit with one of these.

For these ones you will also need to know where your guitar was built – which you should be able to be found next to the serial number of your guitar and will say “made in..” and then the country it was built in (either Japan, Taiwan or Indonesia).

Note: The following only applies to acoustic, acoustic-electric and classical guitars. There is a different system for electric guitars and bases.

Made in Japan Custom Shop 1966 – 1985

These were just sequential serial numbers from 001 up to 1042.

To work out the year you’ll have to take a rough guess. The closer to 001 it is the closer to 1966 and the closer to 1042, the closer to 1985.

Made in Japan Custom Shop 1986 – 1990

These serial numbers have 1 letter followed by 4 numbers.

The letter represents the month and follows the same system for months as the most common system above.

The first number represents the year.

The last 3 numbers represent the unit number.

For example: J7012

This would be a guitar built in March of 1987 and it was the 12^th Unit made that day in the Japan custom shop.

The J is March as per the main system above and the year has to be 1987 since this system was only used between 1986 and 1990.

Made in Japan Custom Shop 1991 – 1996

This was a 2 letter, 3 number, then 1 letter system.

The first letter is the year and follows the same code as the main system above.

The second letter is the month and also follows the same system as the main system above.

The 3 numbers represent the unit number – but in this case the unit numbers started at 700 for some reason – so the first unit of the day wasn’t 001 but rather 701.

The final letter is an unknown internal code.

Fender Guitar Serial Numbers Lookup

For example: IP703J

The example serial number above belongs to a guitar that was the 3^rd guitar built in September of 1992.

Made in Japan Custom Shop 1997 – 2003

This is the same as for 1991 to 1996 with the following differences:

• There is no internal code at the end
• The unit numbers start at 001 instead of 701

For example: PP045

The example serial number here represents the 45^th guitar built in September of 1999.

Made in Japan Custom Shop 2004-

This uses a 3 letter, 3 number, 1 letter system.

The first 2 letters represent the year in this case. So you do get the decade here.

The third letter represents the month as per the main system.

The 3 numbers represent the unit number.

The final letter is an internal code.

For example: QNK026C

This guitar in the example serial number was the 26^th guitar built in April of 2007.

The Q represents an 0 and the N is a 7, meaning 07 for 2007.

Made in Japan Tenryu/Wada Factory 1946 – 1968

This is a 5 digit sequential system. There is no indication of year of production in this system.

Made in Japan Tenryu/Wada Factory 1969 – 1984

This is a nice and simple 6 digit system.

The first two numbers represent the year.

The Second two numbers represent the month.

The last 2 numbers represent the unit number.

For example: 790507

This is simply the 7^th guitar built in May (05) in 1979 (79).

Made in Japan Tenryu/Wada Factory 1985 – 1986

For this short period there is also a 6 digit serial number but doesn’t show the month.

The first 2 numbers are the year.

The last 4 numbers are the unit number.

For example: 860102

This represents the 102^nd (0102) guitar built in 1986 (86).

Made in Japan Yamaha Music Craft 1997 – 1999

This is the same system as used for “Made in Japan Custom Shop 1991 – 1996” except that the unit number started at 501 except for 701.

Made in Japan Yamaha Music Craft 1999 –

The first letter is the year.

The second letter in the month.

The 3 numbers are the unit number.

The unit number starts at 200.

For example: PL225

This guitar was the 25^th guitar built in May of 1999.

Made in Japan Yamaha Music Craft 2001 –

This is a 3 letter, 3 number, 1 letter system as follows.

The first 2 letters represent the year following the same coding system.

The 3^rd letter represents the month following the same coding system.

The 3 numbers are the unit number.

The last letter is an internal code.

For example: QJK033A

This would be the 33^rd (033) guitar built in April (K) in 2003 (Q = 0, J = 3)

Made in Taiwan Kaohsiung Factory 1971-2001

This is an eight number system.

The first number represents the year.

The second and third numbers represent the month.

The fourth and fifth numbers represent the day of the month.

The Final three numbers represent the unit number.

Because there is only 1 number representing the year, there are possible duplicates using this system.

For example: 30914023

This example serial number was the 23^rd guitar built on the 14^th day of September in either 1973, 1983 or 1993.

Made in Taiwan Kaohsiung Factory 2001-

In 2001 the Kaohsiung Factory system changed to a 3 letter, 6 number system as follows:

The first 2 letters represent the year.

The 3^rd letter represents the month.

The first 2 numbers are the day of the month.

The last 4 numbers are the unit number.

For example: QLY180122

The example serial number represents the 122^nd guitar built on the 18^th of November 2005 (Q = 0, L = 5).

Made in Indonesia YMMI (Yamaha Music Manufacturing Indonesia) 1990-1996

For this period in this factory they used an 8 digit serial number.

The first number is the year.

The 2^nd and 3^rd numbers are the month.

The 4^th and 5^th numbers are the day of the month.

The final 3 numbers are the unit number.

For example: 30814023

The example serial number represents the 23^rd guitar built on the 14^th of August in 1993.

Made in Indonesia YMMI 1997-1999

This is the same as for 1990 to 1996 except there are 9 numbers. The last 4 (instead of 3) represent the unit number, the rest are the same.

Made in Indonesia YMMI 2000-

This is the same as for 1997-1999 except there are 10 numbers. The first 2 numbers represent the year (instead of just 1 previously).

Made in Indonesia YMMI 2001-

The YMMI changed to a 3 letter, 6 number system in 2001 as follows:

The first 2 letters represent the year.

The 3^rd letter represents the month.

The first 2 numbers represent the day of the month.

The last 4 numbers represent the unit number.

For example: QKZ160062

The example serial number above represents the 62^nd guitar built on the 16^th of December 2004 (Q =0, K=4).

Is this Everything?

Apparently, some could even fall outside of this range. If you’re serial number doesn’t seem to match any of the above, you’ll need to contact Yamaha to see if they can tell you about your serial number.

Hopefully this will help most people to find the information for the serial number of their Yamaha guitar.

Photo Credit

By mt 23 from New York, USA (Land Locked Blues.) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Gibson guitar serial numbers are, like a lot of serial number systems from guitar manufacturers, a complicated beast.

But with a little bit of research you should be able to find out when your Gibson was built and in some cases where.

There are a number of distinct time periods for Gibson’s serial numbers, where the systems differed. There are also other ways of determining the age of your instrument, including FON’s and things such as logo designs.

FON’s

In addition to serial numbers older Gibson guitars also had Factory Order Numbers (FONs) imprinted. In some cases, in fact, only FONs were used and there was no serial number (this was mainly for early low-end models).

FON’s (and serial numbers) on Gibson guitars are usually found either on the inside of the back of the guitar (inside the sound hole) or on the back of the headstock).

FON’s were used from 1902 to 1961.

Other Identifiers

There are some other ways you can get an idea of the age of your Gibson.

Logo

Gibson’s logo has been largely unchanged since 1947 but before that time the logo changed a bit, so you can use that to help identify the era your guitar was built.

Made in USA

From 1970 onwards a “Made in U.S.A” was engraved below the serial number. This can help determine if your guitar was from the 1960s or 1970s (some guitars during those 2 decades had the same serial number).

Other Features

You can also use other features to help identify the time period of your instrument. Some of these include:

• Volutes: Extra bits of wood carved into the headstock where it meets the neck. These were starting to be added in 1969 – so if your instrument didn’t have them then it’s likely to be pre-1969
• Things such as tuners, capstans, plates can also give you clues – though remember that an older instrument could have had these items replaced so it’s not a definite clue.

Serial Numbers

O.k. so why discuss all these other aspects, when this post is supposed to be about serial numbers!

Good question – and the answer is simply that the serial number system used up until 1977 wasn’t the easiest or most reliable system – so you may not be able to accurately determine anything about your guitar using the serial number alone.

O.k., let’s take a look at the different time periods of serial numbers from Gibson Guitars.

1902-1947

The following serial numbers apply just to acoustic guitars.

During this period, the system was actually relatively simple. Guitars were just given the next available number.

The chart below shows the year that relates to the serial number. The serial numbers shown represent the approximate last serial number for that year. The first serial number for acoustic guitars was 100.

1947 to 1961

Once the serial numbers hit 99999, Gibson decided to change to a new system, rather than go into 6 digits.

The new system used a letter to prefix the numbers. The first guitar in this new system was A 100 which was in April of 1947.

1961 to 1970

A new system, introduced in 1961, was made to cover all of the instruments in Gibson’s line (not just acoustic guitars). This was pretty poorly done though (IMO) and meant that some serial numbers were reused so a certain serial number could be from a guitar from different years.

1970 to 1975

It didn’t get any less confusing during this time either. The biggest telling factors for guitars from this period, as opposed to the guitars from 1961 to 1969 is the “Made in U.S.A” that can be found on guitars from 1970 onwards.

6 Digit Serial numbers were still used so a lot of the same numbers were also used on 1960s models. To make matters even more confusing, there wasn’t really an order for these serial numbers – so you could have something from 1975 that started with a 1 and something from 1972 that started with a 9.

Some serial numbers also used a letter (just because?)

Fender Serial Number Chart

1975 to 1977

Thing get a little simpler. These serial numbers started with either “96” “00” or “06” with the 96 representing 1975, the 00 representing 1976 and 06 representing 1977. Not sure why these numbers were used, but at least it was uniform!

1977 to Present

Finally, in 1977 a much more logical serial number system was introduced.

This is an 8 digit system and follows the format YDDDYPPP.

• The YY represent the year the guitar was made
• The DDD is the day of the year that the guitar was made
• The PPP represents the factory the guitar was made in and the number of production

So, for example, let’s take the serial number 80351045.

• This guitar was built in 1981 – 80351045 – remember in the format that the year is the 1^st and 5^th
• This guitar was built on the 35^th day of the year – so this would have been February 4^th – 80351045
• This guitar was built in the Kalamazoo factory and it was the 45^th instrument stamped that day.

So this serial number represents the 45th guitar built on February 4, 1981 in the Kalamazoo factory.

Factories

The Kalamazoo factory operated until 1984 and guitars made in that factory from 1977 to 1984 had the last 3 digits (the production number) that were between 001 and 499.

Guitars built in the Nashville factory from 1977 to 1989 used the production numbers 500-999.

For example, the serial number 81457556 – would be May 25^th, 1987 and the 56^th guitar built in the Nashville factory. The first guitar built that day would have the production number 500.

Guitars built in the Nashville Factory from 1990 onwards have production numbers 300-999 – so the first guitar produced that day would have the production number 300.

The Montana factory uses production numbers 001-299 and this was from 1989, when that factory was opened.

Exceptions

There are guitars that will be exceptions within all of these time periods.

If your guitar doesn’t seem to fit within any of these systems, check out the resources below to see if you can decipher your serial number.

Thanks for Reading

I hope this helped you to decipher your (often complicated) Gibson serial number.

Photo Credit

By Henry Zbyszynski from Cambridge, USA (P1060339) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons