Yamaha FS-310?

Sounds like the truth will be in the playing. Good luck.

TonyKgull , seagullplayer ,

Well I went and did the deal in the strip mall parking lot near my apartment since the seller was coming in from out of town which was nice of him. I wasn't really able to play it since the strings were old and crusty and it was not in tune in anyway. Also one of the cheap tuning peg screws was stripped and one screw was missing. That being said I was able to determine that it was not in need of a neck reset anytime soon. The body just showed signs of normal 35 year old wear with or sunken top. No belly bulge and a solid bridge. The neck was straight, frets were not bad so I bought it after we haggled a bit on the price.

CTGull , Yes as far as it's age from what I can determine the FS-310 guitars were made between 1985-88. This one has a serial number inside the sound hole but it's faded and hard to read. It's a small guitar so somewhat lightweight but built like a tank. After spending a couple of hours doing the necessary fixups and cleaning the gunk off and oiling the fretboard and putting on a set of custom light gauge strings she's a nice little guitar!

Here are the official NGD photos.




The headstock with the bird logo.


The repaired tuners. Still very crappy but serviceable. I may upgrade them one day.


The label. Made in Taiwan.


The pics don't so the top justice. It's actually very dark from age and looks nice. It's also a slim body with 4" at it's widest depth and 3.5" at it's most narrow depth. The saddle has a shim under it right now and it will also get upgraded at some point. The action as it is right now is excellent and I wish I had put on a set of heavier gauge strings since the scale length is short at 24.5" which I really what I was looking for. For those with large hands this guitar is not for you. The width at the nut is 42mm and the string spacing is narrow but I have small hands so it's not that much of an issue but I did have to get used to it. My dreads have wider fret boards and wider string spacing. Also the truss rod worked perfectly and all I had to do was tighten it up since it was loose when I started working on it.

I am pretty happy with this little guitar!

Derick,

Thank you! After the new strings settled in it's a nice little blues box. The small body and short scale neck make it perfect for noodling on while watching the TV. Although the nut width is slim the neck gets chunkier as you play further on up. The tone is is in the mid range with plenty of sustain. Very good intonation as well. Even the cheaply made budget tuners are keeping it tune. Definitely a good buy!

Congrats! I'm working on a 1981 SJ-180, the same body size, probably the predecessor of this model. It's built like a tank too. I'm planning on lightening the braces to open it up. I'd be surprised the nut width is 42mm. Is it narrower than the neck? I'd expect 43.5mm to 44mm. My SJ-180 nut is 44mm. The nut can be replaced to widen the string spacing. I've made many. I love that dove logo!! They only used it for about a year in 1985 to 1986.

oldguitarplayer,

Looks good, as long as it works for you that's all the matters. I never had a Yamaha so I don't know a thing about them. It's does take a bit of getting used to a shorter scale. Three of mine are 24 3/4" and the RK is well supposed to be 25 3/8" and is a 12 fret so it's different plus it has a 16" radius board like my Seagull Grand. each one has it's use.

TonyKgull ,

Sorry I guess I wasn't very clear in my description. I was talking about the small screws that screw the tuner ( and the cover) onto the back of the headstock. Those holes were stripped so the screws wouldn't hold it tight



The tuning machine gears are not stripped and work fine but not nice and smooth like sealed diecast machine heads like Grovers or Gotohs. What I had to do for the tuner on the right was replace the missing screw with one I had in my supply of random screws. If you look closely you can see it's slightly larger than the original one. The other screw hole on the bottom of the same tuner was stripped so I just filled the hole with glue and a piece of toothpick and then reinstalled the screw until it was tight. Both screw holes on the tuning machine on the left were also stripped so I did the same toothpick and glue trick with them. Now everything is screwed down tight and solid.

CTGull ,

Here are a couple of pics of the plastic nut and the gap I was talking about.





I forgot to mention this guitar has a two ply plastic black & white binding around the edge of the top and black plastic binding around the edge of the back. Not bad for a budget guitar.

As for tone this guitar is very good with balanced midrange and volume on all the strings. It's also surprisingly loud when flat picked aggressively. When played lightly it's very good to use for vocal accompaniment. The shorter scale makes it also very nice for fingerstyle playing. It's pretty much what I was looking for in a small bodied acoustic guitar when I first started looking for one. I also saved a lot of money buying used. I am glad I can do basic guitar maintenance and fix up some of the small problems that needed attention.

This guitar is definitely a keeper!