Blind Dog

Hey Mr. Surly, and welcome.

Yamaha dating can be pretty hit and miss. I think you're likely looking at an eighties date, but the link might help zero in. It's the best date of manufacture resource I know of. There used to be a "Guitarchive" where you just populated a field, and it spit out a date, etc., -- but it, and other info were sometimes wrong. I miss it tho. Not all Yamaha guitars can be dated even to a year. They reuse most serial numbers every ten years, and sometimes the all important letter is missing. 

http://mycoolguitars.com/mij/yamaha-guitars/yamaha-guitar-serial-numbers-dating-your-guitar/

Somebody may have more helpful knowledge, but that's all I got. 

I'm a big Yamaha fan. There's some real gems out there. 

Good luck, and Season's Greetings!

Just me?  If I couldn't find a better playing guitar (for $5K) than an entry level lam' Yamaha, I'm not sure I would have the humility to admit it -- on a guitar forum anyways.

I have a lot of fond memories, & respect for Yamaha, but ...

by

I played a 331, for a year, while CFM/Gibson/Guild sulked in their cases. While it was no hardship -- it wasn't a boutique quality build or sound imo. Old shoulders & a disc issue made dread's painful. I replaced the dread's with OM, O, OO, OOO, thin-lines & MJs. I then passed on the 331 as it was just too good a little guitar to sit fallow. Imo it did not rival a $5K instrument. That old $100 'Scroe!' L series did -- but apples & oranges.

In support:

Perhaps you could share pic's (or name names) of any $5k guitars that don't stack up to an entry level Yamaha -- so others won't make the same mistake.

Jmo -- I'm no expert.