TromboneChat

I recently purchased a near mint condition YSL-681 from reverb that i like a lot. Is there a way to find out the year of the instrument and the type of bell material that it has?
I have been searching online and cannot really find much, I assume the bell is yellow brass one piece from the looks of it.

If it had a gold brass bell the model would say 681G. Otherwise it's yellow brass.

Depending on the age the serial number may or may not be of use. I bought my 682G around 1985 and I had two to try: 001110 and 001234 (one was a yellow bell and one was a gold bell).

The 681 and 682 were made from 1983 to 2005 (yes, yellow brass bell). I don't think a record of Yamaha serial numbers exists, and they aren't sequential so it wouldn't really be helpful even if you had one. But if it has the torpedo counterweight, it's an older one.

Thank you both for the helpful replies, appreciated
And yes it does have the torpedo style weight