Serial numbers ???

  • Thread starter Thread starter SmeagolPrecious
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SmeagolPrecious

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Can someone please tell me how to "decipher" the serial numbers you see on various reel to reel decks ? What do they really mean ? I'm particularly interested in knowing what the correlation is between the serial number and the quantity of units made and year built.

Thanks much!!!
 
I can't speak to all brands and coding practises but, I do know TASCAM did use a 3 digit code after the serial number on some of their equipment in the 80's and 90's.

The code related to year and quarter so something like 387 would mean; Fall, 1987 but, not all machines had this date code and some had no code at all so don't pull your hair out trying to figure out a system that changed from day to day and varied on each model. :eek:

Cheers! :)
 
The Ghost of FM said:
I can't speak to all brands and coding practises but, I do know TASCAM did use a 3 digit code after the serial number on some of their equipment in the 80's and 90's.

The code related to year and quarter so something like 387 would mean; Fall, 1987 but, not all machines had this date code and some had no code at all so don't pull your hair out trying to figure out a system that changed from day to day and varied on each model. :eek:

Cheers! :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Ghost!

Yeah, I meant the TEAC/TASCAM brands.

So what would the following mean (TASCAM 34 I recently saw): "220030 871" ? I assume the "871" means that the recorder was made in the first quarter of the year 1987 ? What does "220030" mean then ?

THANKS!!!
 
What does "220030" mean then ?
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I don't know and no one else on the planet does either, bud. :cool:

Don't sweat it, is my best advice to you.

Cheers! :)
 
The Ghost of FM said:
I don't know and no one else on the planet does either, bud. :cool:

Don't sweat it, is my best advice to you.

Cheers! :)
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks Ghost but ... I'd still like to know .. ;)
 
Nah,... of course we DO!!

The "871" you've determined correctly, is 1987, 1st Quarter.

The "220030" is just a numerical sequence. The next one they produced off the line was likely #220031, and so on. Simple as that. :eek:
 
A Reel Person said:
The "871" you've determined correctly, is 1987, 1st Quarter.

The "220030" is just a numerical sequence. The next one they produced off the line was likely #220031, and so on. Simple as that. :eek:
Click to expand...

By "numerical sequence" do you mean that this particular recorder was # 220,030 ? That's how many were made up to that point ?

Thanks REEL!
 
I don't believe that is correct.

The 22 may have been a country code for different electrical standards and power supplies.

As popular as some models were, I don't believe they were produced in the hundreds of thousands.

Cheers! :)
 
It could be any number of embedded codes, and we laymen are left to guess.

It could be:
Country code: 2
Numerical sequence: 2003
Revision level: 0

Somehow, I also doubt they made 220,000 of those machines, but there may be embedded codes in the number 220030. They could easily have made over 2,000 of them, though.

Probably, the people most likely to actually "know" by first hand knowledge, would be Tascam retirees. Heh.

Call & ask! It can't hurt!
 
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