Customer Repair - 1967 Yamaha FG-180
Oct 4, 2020 17:52:59 GMT -5
seagullplayer and ancient1 like this
Post by CTGull on Oct 4, 2020 17:52:59 GMT -5
His Story: I am writing to see if you can help me with a vintage Yamaha guitar. To start, I know nothing about guitars. I am, however, a collector of vintage watches - and after reviewing your site, I can say the parallels between scholarship on vintage watches and guitars are remarkable. I must also commend you on the amazing depth of knowledge on your site - it’s inspiring and an amazing resource.
Back to my guitar. I have two teenage daughters. Recently, their beloved piano teacher passed away (she was in her 80s). We have been spending time with her husband lately during a difficult time for him. He is also in his 80s. A few weeks ago, he gave me a guitar he bought when he was a young man and asked me to look after it for him. I finally got around to opening the box and I took some pictures of the guitar and began doing some research on the internet and came across your site. It appears to be a vintage FG-180 red label (common version of the label) with serial number 698887. According to the owner, he bought it brand new in Davenport, Iowa in the late 60s/early 70s and has owned it ever since. He does not remember ever repairing the guitar or changing anything on it, not even the strings. He believes it is all original as it was the day he bought it. He did not play it often. From what I can tell it appears to be in really nice condition. I am attaching a few photos, including the label and serial.
I’d love to know whatever information you can share with me about the guitar. Also, I’d love to get it back into playing condition and perhaps present back as a gift to the original owner (who is now living with his son). I don’t believe Yamaha services their own vintage guitars and I would not know where to turn. I live in New Jersey (near NYC).
Any advice or observations you have would be greatly appreciated. As with vintage watches, there is a lot of misinformation out there and real expertise is hard to come by. From your site, I can appreciate your knowledge and passion about these guitars and I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you in advance for your help.
My notes: We met today at Sam Ash in New Haven. The guitar is nearly minty, hardly any marks or dings, considering it is 53 year old. And it was almost tuned, the (4) wound strings were ½ step down. The strings do look like they’re as old as the guitar! The bridge has a long crack thru the pin holes, extending 1-5/8” out on the bass side & 1-1/8” on the treble side. The pickguard is almost off. The “A” tuner shaft screw is missing. There is what looks to be a surface crack along the whole treble side about 1/16” from the top binding. Most of the nut slots are low. The neck relief is high. The neck projects .08” below the top of the bridge with a .03” gap in the middle. The bridge is .29” high with the saddle sticking out .12” on the low E side & .08” on the treble side. The action is over 3/32” low E & 3/32” high E.
The pickguard is very loose.
The bridge is cracked thru the pin holes.
Yea, the action is a little high.
The bass side heel corner.
End of the heel.
The treble side heel corner.
The sides are very clean.
Except for an odd surface crack all the way around the treble side near the upper binding.
Some lacquer has been scraped off the bass side of the fretboard.
The back of the neck is very clean.
Except for some marks close to the heel.
The "A" tuner is missing the shaft screw.
The back is very clean.
Except for a couple of very minor scratches and one ding.
There is some minor divoting in the first three frets, the worst being the B & E strings at the first fret.
Back to my guitar. I have two teenage daughters. Recently, their beloved piano teacher passed away (she was in her 80s). We have been spending time with her husband lately during a difficult time for him. He is also in his 80s. A few weeks ago, he gave me a guitar he bought when he was a young man and asked me to look after it for him. I finally got around to opening the box and I took some pictures of the guitar and began doing some research on the internet and came across your site. It appears to be a vintage FG-180 red label (common version of the label) with serial number 698887. According to the owner, he bought it brand new in Davenport, Iowa in the late 60s/early 70s and has owned it ever since. He does not remember ever repairing the guitar or changing anything on it, not even the strings. He believes it is all original as it was the day he bought it. He did not play it often. From what I can tell it appears to be in really nice condition. I am attaching a few photos, including the label and serial.
I’d love to know whatever information you can share with me about the guitar. Also, I’d love to get it back into playing condition and perhaps present back as a gift to the original owner (who is now living with his son). I don’t believe Yamaha services their own vintage guitars and I would not know where to turn. I live in New Jersey (near NYC).
Any advice or observations you have would be greatly appreciated. As with vintage watches, there is a lot of misinformation out there and real expertise is hard to come by. From your site, I can appreciate your knowledge and passion about these guitars and I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you in advance for your help.
My notes: We met today at Sam Ash in New Haven. The guitar is nearly minty, hardly any marks or dings, considering it is 53 year old. And it was almost tuned, the (4) wound strings were ½ step down. The strings do look like they’re as old as the guitar! The bridge has a long crack thru the pin holes, extending 1-5/8” out on the bass side & 1-1/8” on the treble side. The pickguard is almost off. The “A” tuner shaft screw is missing. There is what looks to be a surface crack along the whole treble side about 1/16” from the top binding. Most of the nut slots are low. The neck relief is high. The neck projects .08” below the top of the bridge with a .03” gap in the middle. The bridge is .29” high with the saddle sticking out .12” on the low E side & .08” on the treble side. The action is over 3/32” low E & 3/32” high E.
The pickguard is very loose.
The bridge is cracked thru the pin holes.
Yea, the action is a little high.
The bass side heel corner.
End of the heel.
The treble side heel corner.
The sides are very clean.
Except for an odd surface crack all the way around the treble side near the upper binding.
Some lacquer has been scraped off the bass side of the fretboard.
The back of the neck is very clean.
Except for some marks close to the heel.
The "A" tuner is missing the shaft screw.
The back is very clean.
Except for a couple of very minor scratches and one ding.
There is some minor divoting in the first three frets, the worst being the B & E strings at the first fret.