| Serial Prefix / First Digit(s) | Likely Year | Factory Origin | Model Range | |--------------------------------|-------------|----------------|--------------| | 1 or 01 | 1971, 1981 | Nippon Gakki (Japan) | FG-200, FG-300 | | 2 or 02 | 1972, 1982 | Nippon Gakki (Japan) | FG-1500, L-52 | | 3 or 03 | 1973, 1983 | Nippon Gakki (Japan) | FG-160, G-100A | | 4 or 04 | 1974, 1984 | Nippon Gakki (Japan) | FG-180 Red Label | | 5 or 05 | 1975, 1985 | Nippon Gakki (Japan) | FG-230, FG-350 | | 6 or 06 | 1976, 1986 | Nippon Gakki (Japan) | FG-335, L-15 | | 7 | 1977, 1987, 1997 | Japan / Taiwan | FG-331, Pacifica 112 | | 8 | 1978, 1988, 1998 | Taiwan / Korea | FG-340, CGX series | | 9 | 1979, 1989, 1999 | Korea / China | FG-365, APX-4 | | JPN | 2005–2015 | Japan (Handcrafted) | LL-16, LS-6 | | IDN | 2010–Present | Indonesia | FG-800, F-310 | | CHN | 2015–Present | China | FS-800, CSF-1M |
(Second Letter) = This represents the month code, or in some iterations, the specific factory/production day configuration. yamaha guitar serial number search best
Typing “Yamaha guitar serial number search” into Google yields a minefield of misinformation. The worst offenders are generic “guitar serial number lookup” sites that attempt to apply Gibson’s dating logic to Yamahas. These will return confident but wrong answers. Another common trap is assuming the number on the paper label inside a cheap student model follows the same logic as the stamped number on a high-end L-series. | Serial Prefix / First Digit(s) | Likely
The absolute "best" place to start is the source. Yamaha provides an official digital archive (often a PDF or a web-based database) that covers almost every system they’ve used since 1966. These will return confident but wrong answers
The second letter represents the month (e.g., N=Jan, O=Feb, P=Mar... up to Z=Dec).
Sometimes. The model number (e.g., FG800) is more useful for finding the base model, while the serial number gives you the exact production date.