Request For Vintage Yamaha FG Info

[CTGull]

WANTED – Data from your vintage Yamaha FG guitars. See the end of the post.

I’ve been collecting data on vintage Yamaha FG acoustic guitars for a few years. This past May Yamaha deleted their Yamaha Guitar Archive web page. I’ve written other articles on: the history of the Yamaha FG 1966-1981 & FG-3XX series; vintage Yamaha truss rod adjustment procedure; vintage Yamaha neck reset procedure; replacement nuts & saddles; Yamaha FG weights; Japanese emperor date codes; Republic of China date codes; and I’m working on many others.

My latest interest is decoding the mystery of the 6 & 7 digit serial numbers. It’s widely known that the 8 digit serial numbers start with the year as the first number. But the 6 & 7 digit numbers (located on the neck block) are just sequential numbers used by all the guitars they built, not just the FG’s. I’ve also found there are internal date codes that will reveal when the guitar was made.

Serial Number located on the neck block.


Date Code located on one of the interior sides of the guitar.


I’ve started a list of guitars I’ve found (including 3 of mine) with the model number, the serial number, and the date code, which will allow the 6 & 7 digit serial numbers to be grouped into a range for each year, allowing any 6 or 7 digit serial number to be cross referenced to the year it was made.

On YouTube I found a guy in Japan who’s posted short videos of many vintage FG guitars, with the year, model number, partial serial numbers, and in a most cases the internal date code. He’s obviously used the internal date codes to determine the years. I sent him a message asking if he saved all the information for these guitars, but I don’t know what will be lost in the language translation, of if he’ll even get back to me.

With this, and other data I’ve been finding, I’ve discovered even though Yamaha says the first Red Label models imported in the US where in 1968, I’ve found many Red Label FG guitars made in 1967. I’m also tracking the Green Label FG’s, the earliest models (1966-67) only made in Japan, that share the same pool of serial numbers. I’m looking for the transition between the Green and Red labels. I’ve also found the Green Label FG’s have a different truss rod cover, with “Reinforced Neck” on it, very different than the one you normally see. That cover made it onto the earliest FG’s imported into the US, before changing to the familiar one.





Truss Rod Cover on Green Label and very early Red Label FG's.


Regular Truss rod Cover used on Red Label FG's.


Since this is possibly the largest group of Acoustic Guitar players/collectors in existence, I’m asking for your assistance to demystify one of Yamaha’s great mysteries.


WANTED – Could you please add to this thread with the following data from your vintage Green and Red label Nippon Gakki FG guitars that have serial numbers less than 8 digits, located on the neck block? I have 77 serial numbers so far, but only 31 of them have confirmed years based on the internal date code, and 22 of those had the internal date code listed.

Model number.

Label color.

Serial number on neck block (you can put an “X” in place of the last digit if you’d like).

Internal date code (I use flashlight and a cheap USB endoscope with my cell phone, or my cell phone camera if the strings are off.) This is very important to establish the date range of the serial numbers.

If it has the old style “Reinforced Neck” truss rod cover.

Any other information you’d like to share about the guitar.


Thank you for your assistance.

[TNO]

I applaud your efforts.

[AndrewG]

This is great stuff; you need to get a book published eventually. As you are no doubt aware there is a paucity of information available on early Yamaha product, and 'The History of Yamaha Guitars' is next to useless. I have heard of a book exclusively dedicated to early Japanese acoustics but it is only available in Japanese, as far as I know.
I bought my Red Label FG180 from Ivor Mairants Musicentre in London, in 1969 for £40.90. It came with a small, cotton drawstring bag containing the truss rod socket wrench.
Keep up the good work.

[CTGull]

Originally Posted by AndrewG

This is great stuff; you need to get a book published eventually. As you are no doubt aware there is a paucity of information available on early Yamaha product, and 'The History of Yamaha Guitars' is next to useless. I have heard of a book exclusively dedicated to early Japanese acoustics but it is only available in Japanese, as far as I know.
I bought my Red Label FG180 from Ivor Mairants Musicentre in London, in 1969 for £40.90. It came with a small, cotton drawstring bag containing the truss rod socket wrench.
Keep up the good work.

Thanks!

I have that useless book.

I've heard about those Japanese books from a guy in various forums, you've more than likely seen him too. Even with him living in Japan and having a Japanese wife who can read the books, I think I've been able to dig up more info. I wish there was a way to scan and convert those books to English but anything I've had Google translate is barely readable and sometimes funny.

I got the truss rod wrench and bag with my FG-300. Someday I'll find an equivalent. All the ones I've found have a too long socket, you can't back off the nut without the socket getting stuck in the pocket.

Too many projects, too little time. I keep starting new things and don't finish the old ones!

[CTGull]

If anyone hasn't seen this I'd like to ask again for data on your vintage Yamaha FG guitars.

Thanks.

[fye]

I'm the original owner of a red label FG-150 that I got in March 1972. There is no serial number on the neck block but the number on the brace next to the sound hole is 20112466. It has the newer style truss rod cover.

I didn't know about the date code on the interior side, but I was able to locate it and read the number with an inspection camera. It is 46.12.27. The dates corresponding to the two codes are close (12/27/1971 and 1/12/1972), so it looks like the guitar was built spanning the new year.

[CTGull]

Thanks. That's a simple 8 digit serial number. It's good to see you where able to find the internal date code. Even though I'm looking for the sequential 6 & 7 digit serial numbers, I'll log your info to confirm that they were still putting the internal date codes in them in 1971. You can never have too much data!

It's probable in 1971/72, when they transitioned to Taiwan, they started using the 8 digit serial numbers. I have very little data for 1971 & 1972.

What inspection camera did you use? I bought a cheap ($16 on Amazon) USB endoscope claiming to be 2 mega-pixel. There seems to be hundreds of these camera's claiming to be 2 MP or more, but if you read the reviews it seems they are all only 0.3 MP (640x480). I'd gladly pay $50 for a true 2MP endoscope!!

[fye]

The camera I used is rather old having only VGA resolution and a small 2.4 inch screen. There are much nicer cameras available now.

[CTGull]

The ones with attached screens are expensive. The USB cameras use your phone or computer as the screen. Unfortunately I've never found one that actually has more than VGA resolution. It doesn't matter what they claim, they all seem to be VGA.

Has anyone seen a USB endoscopic camera with an ACTUAL resolution of more than VGA (640x480 or 0.3MP)??

[Rockysdad]

Are you "only" wanting Nippon Gakki? or red label FG-140 from Taiwan? Bought it new in early '73.

[brianhejh]

Hi Guys

I have a FG 365SA,made in Taiwan. Number on the neck block inside the guitar is: 1420376.

Can you tell me anything about this one.

Thanks

Brian

[CTGull]

I'm only interested in the real early stuff. Nippon Gakki.

It seems around the time they move production to Taiwan in about 1972 they changed to the 8 digit serial numbers. The Taiwan stuff has dual numbers, usually an 8 digit on the brace and a 7 number (some some starting with "T") on the neck block. I have a 1974 Taiwan FG-110 in front of me. with a rectangular tan label and both numbers.

There are so many variations I'd like to concentrate on the Japan Red labels, but it wouldn't hurt to collect some data from Taiwan models in the early 70's. Maybe figure out exactly when that happened.

But most important are the internal date codes. That ties the serial number to the actual date the sides were made. That's the hardest piece of the puzzle to find since no one knows they exist.

[CTGull]

Originally Posted by brianhejh

Hi Guys

I have a FG 365SA,made in Taiwan. Number on the neck block inside the guitar is: 1420376.

Can you tell me anything about this one.

Thanks

Brian

The FG-356SE was made 1981 to 1984. Is there a number on the brace?

[brianhejh]

Hi

FG 365SA is the number on the label.

Apart from the number provided, I could not find any other numbers on the braces.? Is this unusual.

Was there any chance that some of these early model Yamahas were made with Brazilian woods.

Thanks

Brian

[drplayer]

Mine has the following:

• Model - FG-140
• Label - Red Nippon Gakki
• Serial No. on neck block - 1438119
• No. Stamped on interior side - can't make out the first two characters as they are smudged, but followed by what looks like "11 24". There is also a larger circle/oval with what appears to be a "3" inside of it?
• Truss rod cover - Regular