Drum dating / Yamaha
Yamaha drum dating
Enter the serial or date code from your Yamaha drum and we read it against Yamaha’s own scheme to tell you the year it was built.
Can't read a digit? Type ? in its place. Looked-up serials are kept, never tied to you. How it works
Type the serial or code from the instrument. We read it as you type.
Example Yamaha serials and how they read
Made-up serials in each of Yamaha’s formats, read by the dater above.
| Serial | Reads as | Format |
|---|---|---|
| PP1234 | Sept 1989 | Date code, 1980s (year + month letter) |
| HIM1234 | Jun 2012 | Date code, 1990 on (two year letters + month) |
How Yamaha drums date
- 1980-1989: a year letter (last digit of 198x) then a month letter
- 1990 on: two year letters (last two digits of the year) then a month letter
More on Yamaha drum serials
Where to find the code
On the serial label. From 1980 the serial begins with a letter date code: on 1980s drums a year letter then a month letter, on 1990-on drums two year letters then a month letter.
When the serial has no date
Where the serial cannot give a year, a potentiometer or other part with an EIA date code can help; the pot and speaker code reader decodes it. This is one of the drums the drum dater covers.