New Yamaha Alto

[Loganchovie]

Hey, I got an alto of my own recently. It’s a Yamaha YSL-673. I think it’s just like the Yamaha YSL-671 just that it’s silver plated. I had never seen a silver plated Yamaha alto before and it was decently priced so I had to get it. Just thought I’d share this with you guys, I didn’t even know Yamaha made a YSL-673. I can’t find anything about it online either. It plays really well and it’s very in tune. My teacher has a 671 and he says it plays even more in tune than his does

[SlideCrook]

Yamaha usually denoted silver-plated instruments with an ‘S’ behind the model number, not a whole new number. I wonder if that model was or of the Europe or Japan-only offerings with a different leadpipe than the 671.

[walldaja]

Check this out

https://www.yamahamusiclondon.com/YSL-6 ... YAM-YSL673

[walldaja]

Interesting that the web page above mixes 671 and 673 and doesn't talk about silver. Obviously they made it. Enjoy!

[SlideCrook]

673 has larger dual bore slide tubes than the 671 per that Yamaha London website.

[harrisonreed]

The bell is HUGE

[Crazy4Tbone86]

Yep, looks like everything is just a little larger than the YSL-671. That’s pretty cool. I have never heard of the 673 model before.

[Loganchovie]

The bell seems to be the same size as a 671 as far as I can tell. As for the bore I don’t have any way of measuring that

[dcslideman]

Here is a second resource showing the bores are different. https://www.yamahacollector.com/trombone

671 is listed as .470/.490 and 673 as .480/500. It interestingly says the 673 was also raw brass finish? That would make the silverplate an aftermarket addition if true. The London website above says "unlaquered finish" as well, but then later on mentions Gold Lacquer (which seems like what the picture shows).

[WilliamLang]

if it was bought used it could've been a US military horn, i think i remember that they require silver lacquer?

[Loganchovie]

Here is a second resource showing the bores are different. https://www.yamahacollector.com/trombone

671 is listed as .470/.490 and 673 as .480/500. It interestingly says the 673 was also raw brass finish? That would make the silverplate an aftermarket addition if true. The London website above says "unlaquered finish" as well, but then later on mentions Gold Lacquer (which seems like what the picture shows).

That’s an incredibly extensive list of Yamaha trombones. It also seems strange to me at least that Yamaha would make a non-custom raw brass horn. Perhaps someone thought the larger bore sounded too dark and silver plated it to make it brighter. My teacher says it doesn’t play as dark as his old 671. Interesting also that it was only produced for 3 years. Also I bought this horn used but not from the United States, from a man in Italy

[harrisonreed]

if it was bought used it could've been a US military horn, i think i remember that they require silver lacquer?

There may be some of the ceremonial groups in DC that require that, but none of them would be using an alto trombone in a ceremony. For the most part, you can play whatever you want in the military.

[teachyteach]

Yamaha usually denoted silver-plated instruments with an ‘S’ behind the model number, not a whole new number. I wonder if that model was or of the Europe or Japan-only offerings with a different leadpipe than the 671.

Hi, resident trumpet player here.

This is the 2nd time I have seen this exact comment, except the other time it was on trumpetherald. Yamaha almost never stamps the S for silver and have not as a general rule since the late 70s/early 80s. Even back then though, they usually just used a different model number, for example the YTR 637 and YTR 737 were the same horn, 637 was lacquer, 737 was silver. The model number might technically have an S tacked on if it is silver, but they usually just don't engrave it.

I have seen probably a hundred silver Xeno and 6335 series trumpets in my life, never seen an S stamped.


Horn was probably factory silver, do not read too much into it.