Yamaha serial number?
Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 10:09 pm
I couldn't find a decent list of Yamaha tuba serial numbers and was wondering if someone here could tell me when my Yamaha 103 was built with a serial number of 000714? Thanks!
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Re: Yamaha serial number?
Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 10:14 pm
000714? That's pretty early if I'm not mistaken. 100000 was 1988, so...
Re: Yamaha serial number?
Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 10:30 pm
What little information I could find pointed the same way: early. Most other serial numbers I found were starting with a 1, like you pointed out. That's what's got me interested...
Re: Yamaha serial number?
Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 10:57 pm
Yamaha has not published any serial number lists. The best your going to do is to know that your horn was made pre-1988. Horns built after 1988 start with 100,001.
Re: Yamaha serial number?
Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 11:03 pm
According to this ad, the owner of a 0053xx Yamaha euph bought it in 1969-1970.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-69-70-F ... true&rt=nc" target="_blank
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-69-70-F ... true&rt=nc" target="_blank
Re: Yamaha serial number?
Posted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 12:24 pm
I can't find a serial number anywhere on my YCB621. Am I missing something?
Re: Yamaha serial number?
Posted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:54 pm
Thanks for all the help. 30+ years old looks about right for this horn that likely was a school horn most of its life. The valves are in very good shape if they haven't been replated (probably not terribly likely for a school horn). Here's a link to some pictures I took after I did a "budget" rehab to it at home:
Photobucket Album
Here's the image from the original craigslist ad, just for a "before" shot.
And here's one for those that don't want to look through the photobucket album:
Photobucket Album
Here's the image from the original craigslist ad, just for a "before" shot.
And here's one for those that don't want to look through the photobucket album:
Re: Yamaha serial number?
Posted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 11:13 pm
Unfortunately it did not come with a case. I'm bringing it to our music educator's convention this weekend and hopefully will find a buyer there. We're just in need of some cash. I bought it with the intent of flipping it. My goal in the next few months is to get a newer old-style King 1241 (first valve already flipped, unwrapped third valve but still detachable upright bell).
Re: Yamaha serial number?
Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 9:45 am
In early 1966 I bought a single trigger Yamaha bass trombone through Renold Schilke because of the connections my professor had with him. It was a great cheap horn with the serial number 000003. I always thought it was the 3rd one made. Now I wonder? 
Re: Yamaha serial number?
Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 11:18 am
I've spoken with folks at Yamaha who should have knowledge of such things. I've always been told that there is no specific rhyme or reason for their numbering system and no records have been kept as far as manufacture or sales dates.the elephant wrote:That was the 714th horn of that design made. The "1" at the beginning is simply a marker that designates that the horn was made after 1988. 100000 was not where they were numerically in 1988. It was a reset number.TheHatTuba wrote:000714? That's pretty early if I'm not mistaken. 100000 was 1988, so...
What no one has made clear to me is this:
If horn 4822 of a given model is made on the last production day of 1987 it would be 004822. Would the next horn of that specific model, being made on the first production day of 1988, then be 104823 or 100001, again, for that model? I think it the SN would continue in order, with only the "1" being added to the top.
I have YFB-621 F tuba #100257, so I think that this means that my horn is the 257th example of the little F tuba ever to have been made and it happened to have been made during or after 1988 -- and NOT that it was the 257th example made since January of 1988 (excluding all the others made prior to 1988).
Re: Yamaha serial number?
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 10:00 pm
I work on tons of YBB-103s every year. The earliest ones came in a flat-sided black woodshell case. They had small valve buttons, and usually, Yamaha put the model on the bell in that maroon-coloured ink that wears right off. Yours probably dates from 1978 or so, from the way it's built, and given that these were fairly popular when new, and given that Yamaha fairly consistently gives a start year of 1976. I like them, but can't afford even a small BB-flat, not that any of the schools that have these are selling. These are like nothing Yamaha had ever done before (or did after. The 621 doesn't have nearly as many tubing twists.).