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on Mar 25, 2023 14:48:34 GMT
Last Edit: Mar 26, 2023 16:53:57 GMT by biggles3: Revision to production date
Well, some excellent digging by the two leading experts on Yashica has yielded a superb clue to the likely production date of the radio phonograph; Paul Sokk of yashicatlr.com and yashicasailorboy (Chris Whelan) managed to dig up the advertisement below:  Yashica YP-600A 16 Jan 61 Ad resIt dates from 1960. The retailer in Singapore, Tithes, had a reputation for being among the first to receive Yashica's latest offerings, so it's now suspected that the music centre was produced in 1960. Also of interest is that the ad identifies a model number: YP-600A It's intriguing to note that nowhere on the unit does that model number appear. One further mystery surrounds the 70556 serial number as, with many Yashica cameras and lenses, the first digit in the sequence of a serial number denotes the year. If this was indeed manufactured in 1960, then to what does the '7' refer as I won't believe that Yashica produced at least 70,556 of these radio phonographs! |
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on Mar 25, 2023 19:26:34 GMT
Last Edit: Mar 25, 2023 19:37:16 GMT by lumiworx
If it doesn't match with the patterns Paul has managed to already have worked out, Japanese makers are known to have used "Showa" dates in serial numbers. Hirohito (Showa) came to reign in 1926 (i.e., Showa 1), so 1961 would be Showa 35, but unfortunately that won't match the "70" in your number. I've heard some makers have taken the 'significant years' of the year date and added them together, so 19'61' = 6+1 = 7. Any successive years that required 2 places (10/11/12/etc.) increase the serial number length by 1 digit. I'd presume the idea is that 100 years is a long time to expect any model number to stay in production, and unlikely to cause repetition problems. That might work if the expected total run is less than 9999 YP-600A units, but won't help at all if the other radio/phono/tape units are meant to share the same number pool. Although 5 (and later, 6) digits would seem to be far too few over a product lifetime for one product, let alone multiples. EDIT: It occured to me that 1992 or 1929 would give the same addition result of '11', so that wouldn't offer 100 years without duplications. |
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Group: Administrator
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on Mar 25, 2023 20:01:57 GMT
Posted: Mar 25, 2023 20:01:57 GMT
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Group: Moderator
Post: 2,038 (562 liked)
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on Mar 25, 2023 20:50:36 GMT
Posted: Mar 25, 2023 20:50:36 GMT
That's a nice find! I suppose I should honour the music centre by getting hold of a copy. GAS - it never stops...  |
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on Mar 29, 2023 20:23:50 GMT
Last Edit: Mar 29, 2023 20:32:54 GMT by lumiworx
The YP-500 PhotoFact came in today, so there is a bit of information included that will help with functions and parts. I'm unsure how much of a difference there might have been between the 600A and the 500, but with any luck, they might be near equivalents to each other on the general stuff. I suspect that there's one major difference in the electronics... the 500 seems to be Monaural, and the 600A is certainly labeled as 'Stereophonic'. The four control knobs on the 500 are labeled as: Volume & On/Off Switch, Phono Level, Tone, and Sensitivity (radio tuning knob?). The needle/cartridge came in two configurations. One was the needle and/or cartridge/assembly, and the other includes the tone arm with the base cartridge (marked here as ++). Yashica did not offer these with their own part numbers.
Maker
| Cartridge
| Needle | Astatic
| 74TS
| N8-7 (78rpm) / N8-3 (33rpm) | Astatic ++
| 420-YS-TB
| (As above) | Electro-Voice
| 96T
| Not Req. | Sonotone
| 12TH-S
| Not Req. | Sonotone ++
| T8C1-12THS
| Not Req.
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One other note suggests that they both had needled meters, and they were used as "Tuning Meters", so I'm assuming they kicked in when the Shortwave radio was used. I don't think I've ever seen one for AM, but it's certainly possible they might be used for both bands. biggles3 ... I'll message you and attach the scanned pages once they're done. It does have a schematic included, although my guess is that it might not be near enough the same for the main amplifier board unless it's been neutered and wired as mono output, instead of stereo for the 500 model. |
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on Mar 30, 2023 9:34:47 GMT
Posted: Mar 30, 2023 9:34:47 GMT
Hello lumiworx Many thanks for the information and your kind offer of the scanned pages; all very much appreciated. It would be great to get this little bundle of stereophonic joy working again... Looking at the cartridge/needle combinations, I had quite forgotten that there was often a need to switch needles when using the old 78rpm records. |
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