Post by CTGull on Feb 20, 2017 16:40:42 GMT -5
Well, I'm posting this with my tail between my legs. Yep, 3 guitars in 1 week. Totally unexpected.
Last night I was checking Letgo and found a "brown dreadnought acoustic guitar". The names of the things must be computer generated making selling or buying anything difficult since there's no detail. You have to look at the pictures and message the person. I happened to look at the picture to see the label inside the guitar. It was fuzzy but I could see it was whitish, oval, and said Yamaha FG-300D. At least that's what I thought it said. It took a few messages until I finally got confirmation this morning. And another message to get an address and phone number. So I picked up my 15 year old daughter and her friend and we took a 1 hour 45 minute trip to Warwick Rhode Island. I thought Connecticut was unfriendly!! We stopped at Wendy's after getting the guitar and all the people there were not only unfriendly, it looked like they wanted us out of there!! Walking back to the car 2 people almost hit us, none of them even slowed down. Couldn't wait to get out of town.
Back to the guitar. The model was made 1980 to 1986, for sale in Japan only, or at least not sold in the US. This guitar has a 5 digit serial number beginning with 1, so I'm guessing it was made in 1981. The top is Ezo Spruce, back & sides walnut. They only made 10 guitar models (out of hundreds!) out of walnut, and none of the sold in the US. I forgot the punchline. She was asking $20-$30, so I offered $30. Yep, $30 for a 80's vintage Yamaha FG. I asked later if she knew any history of the guitar. She said her grandpa used to play it with his friends.
Now the bad news. 80's Yamaha's are built heavier than the 60's/70's models. It sounds OK, nothing like the 70's models. Most of the strings were tuned many steps high. The B was at a high G!! That couldn't have helped the neck angle. After tuning the remaining 5 strings the action is nearly 1/8" at the 12th fret. The biggest problem is the guitar must have been sitting somewhere wet. The bottom of the cardboard case was distorted and moldy. The guitar doesn't smell moldy at all, but there is some odd discoloration in the top and some of the side material is delaminated at the endpin. I can certainly fix the delamination but I'm hoping the discoloration isn't under the finish. Other than that the top has a couple of minor dings and a scratch and a scratch on the back. If I can do something with the top discoloration it's a good looking guitar. Is it worth $30 and 4 hours driving??? We'll see.
Last night I was checking Letgo and found a "brown dreadnought acoustic guitar". The names of the things must be computer generated making selling or buying anything difficult since there's no detail. You have to look at the pictures and message the person. I happened to look at the picture to see the label inside the guitar. It was fuzzy but I could see it was whitish, oval, and said Yamaha FG-300D. At least that's what I thought it said. It took a few messages until I finally got confirmation this morning. And another message to get an address and phone number. So I picked up my 15 year old daughter and her friend and we took a 1 hour 45 minute trip to Warwick Rhode Island. I thought Connecticut was unfriendly!! We stopped at Wendy's after getting the guitar and all the people there were not only unfriendly, it looked like they wanted us out of there!! Walking back to the car 2 people almost hit us, none of them even slowed down. Couldn't wait to get out of town.
Back to the guitar. The model was made 1980 to 1986, for sale in Japan only, or at least not sold in the US. This guitar has a 5 digit serial number beginning with 1, so I'm guessing it was made in 1981. The top is Ezo Spruce, back & sides walnut. They only made 10 guitar models (out of hundreds!) out of walnut, and none of the sold in the US. I forgot the punchline. She was asking $20-$30, so I offered $30. Yep, $30 for a 80's vintage Yamaha FG. I asked later if she knew any history of the guitar. She said her grandpa used to play it with his friends.
Now the bad news. 80's Yamaha's are built heavier than the 60's/70's models. It sounds OK, nothing like the 70's models. Most of the strings were tuned many steps high. The B was at a high G!! That couldn't have helped the neck angle. After tuning the remaining 5 strings the action is nearly 1/8" at the 12th fret. The biggest problem is the guitar must have been sitting somewhere wet. The bottom of the cardboard case was distorted and moldy. The guitar doesn't smell moldy at all, but there is some odd discoloration in the top and some of the side material is delaminated at the endpin. I can certainly fix the delamination but I'm hoping the discoloration isn't under the finish. Other than that the top has a couple of minor dings and a scratch and a scratch on the back. If I can do something with the top discoloration it's a good looking guitar. Is it worth $30 and 4 hours driving??? We'll see.
?? The 2 red label ones sounded fairly incredible even with very old strings. This one is unincredible. Can't win them all!
