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  #16  
Old 12-07-2011, 12:48 AM
bananas bananas is offline
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I actually have my own hanko that my wife had made for me...my " official" one is oval shaped, I have a couple of others that I used to use on my paintings... I had a choice of a few but selected the one that meant " wish sender "...thought that sounded cool. But yeah...I forgot to ask my wife last night...slipped my mind, senior moment I guess...I`ll see if I can ask her tonight. But that thing inside your guitar is way too big to be a hanko, I mean it could have been one of the huge ones used on large works but it wouln`t have fit through the sound hole plus, they are always much more elaborate than just a single character...looks like something somebody scribbled there. I have some old MIJ nylon string guitars with maker`s hanko and they`re always small and directly on the label...have seen old Morris acoustics with an oval stamp that was half on half off the label, and was just always something that said...made by Morris etcetcetc. in English.
So...I`ll try to remember to ask her tonight...off to work right now.
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  #17  
Old 12-07-2011, 06:18 AM
theaxeman theaxeman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Masao View Post
Sorry for the delay. I looked at my red label FG-110. It has a serial number of 644042 or 644942 (6 digits).

I used a mirror to look inside but found no marks, signatures or 'hanko'. To be honest i was a little surprised to see the 'hanko' on the brace of your FG-75. Because one puts the 'honko' on the label and not on the wood. This is because a 'hanko' on the wood might bleed and make it hard to read (remember a handmade hanko needs to show distinctive marks for authentication). If i had to guess someone put that 'hanko' after they purchased it so they could identify this guitar.

As to the 'mark' on your FG-110, that does not look like a signature to me. That 'mark' does not look like any Japanese hiragana, katakana, romaji or kanji. It sort of looks like a 'T' but it is not good. All Japanese are taught English (6 yrs - Junior Hi to High School) so anyone would have known how to make a proper 'T'. It vaguely looks like the Japanese character for 'person' (hitoh) but again it does not look correct (angle and lengths). If i had to guess someone spilled something but what do i know. I suppose someone who is not Japanese made the 'mark' but again the 'mark' does not make any sense.

Sorry i could not be more of a help.

Ken
Thanks again for your help! At least the big mark on the 110 will be helpful for me to identify it as mine if the need should ever arise.

The hanko on the 75 is probably what you said, just a personal identifier.

They are both great guitars, and I'm looking forward to a long time together.
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  #18  
Old 12-07-2011, 06:22 AM
theaxeman theaxeman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitchen Guitars View Post
The mark is nothing to do with manufacture. I have seen hundreds of signed Yamaha's. its always at the label and deliberate. Not wild and large like your mark. Maybe signed by someone quitting that day!


Quote:
If you like the small bodies try a FG150. Same as the 110 pretty much but with much better tuners.
I called a seller about an FG-160, but it was a black label, and his measurement across the lower bout was 16", which is bigger than I like to play.

I'll watch for a FG-150.

Thanks!

Quote:
Originally Posted by k.crabbe
Nice guitars Axeman. I love the look of the FG-75. Something about those rounded shoulders.
Thanks. Yes, the FG-75 is going to be a nice guitar to play for me.
__________________
Vantage VS-25SCE 1992 Model
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Goya GG-161 1971 Model
“Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.” ― Aristophanes
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  #19  
Old 12-07-2011, 06:25 AM
theaxeman theaxeman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bananas View Post
I actually have my own hanko that my wife had made for me...my " official" one is oval shaped, I have a couple of others that I used to use on my paintings... I had a choice of a few but selected the one that meant " wish sender "...thought that sounded cool. But yeah...I forgot to ask my wife last night...slipped my mind, senior moment I guess...I`ll see if I can ask her tonight. But that thing inside your guitar is way too big to be a hanko, I mean it could have been one of the huge ones used on large works but it wouln`t have fit through the sound hole plus, they are always much more elaborate than just a single character...looks like something somebody scribbled there. I have some old MIJ nylon string guitars with maker`s hanko and they`re always small and directly on the label...have seen old Morris acoustics with an oval stamp that was half on half off the label, and was just always something that said...made by Morris etcetcetc. in English.
So...I`ll try to remember to ask her tonight...off to work right now.
Thanks, I appreciate your efforts, but don't go to a lot of trouble, the mark isn't the important part of the guitar. It's how it sounds that counts, and it sound wonderful.
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Vantage VS-25SCE 1992 Model
Luna Americana Classic AMP-100 "Parlor" 2012 Model
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Goya GG-161 1971 Model
“Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.” ― Aristophanes
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  #20  
Old 12-07-2011, 07:31 AM
bananas bananas is offline
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She says it doesn`t look like any kanji...or other Japanese/Chinese character...that she knows of.
Personally I don`t think it would have left the factory that way unless it was written by the last guy to see it in quality control, but the way the ink has bled appears to me to be something that would not have been used by the builders, just too unprofessional in my opinion...I still maintain it was added by a previous owner...or an owner`s kid.
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  #21  
Old 12-07-2011, 08:06 AM
Masao Masao is offline
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Bananas and Kitchen are right about that mark (FG-110) being too messy, large and unprofessional. Yamaha was created to make organs in the 1880's and soon followed by pianos. Its corporate symbol are three tuning forks. Their first acoustic guitar was built in 1942. Yamaha branched out into motorcycles and other non-musical products (ski, archery, stereo, etc) after 1950 along with expanding their musical offerings (woodwinds, brass, etc). Woodworking is a very revered skill in Japan for at least a thousand years. And Japanese craftsmen are very meticulous and professional. I would find it a big red flag if a Yamaha musical instrument came with that mark from a Japanese factory. The shame, disgrace and humiliation for the person, factory and the company would be immense. Remember we are talking about 40 yrs ago when Yamaha is just expanding its market to other countries like the US. Also, any store in Japan would not sell it that way because no Japanese customer would consider buying such a 'defective' instrument (Japanese are extremely sensitive about form, clean look, and new).

But as you say, Axeman, it will be very easy for you to identify this FG-110 as yours . Maybe i should add something on my FG-110 to make ID easy ... NOT.


Ken

Last edited by Masao; 12-07-2011 at 08:21 AM.
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  #22  
Old 12-07-2011, 08:22 AM
♏artin ♏artin is offline
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Thanks for posting these two vintage Yamaha's. I used to own an FG-75 and it was an extremely nice sounding laminate guitar. For a $100 or so, you can't go wrong.

I ended up selling it because I found the neck to be too chunky for my liking, otherwise I'd still have it.
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  #23  
Old 12-07-2011, 09:24 AM
Zigeuner Zigeuner is offline
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My brother and I had a music store in Los Angeles in the 1970's and we were a Yamaha dealer. We sold literally hundreds of FG-75's, 110's, 150's and 180's. They were indeed called "Folk" guitars, thus the "F" in the model. That said, you could play anything on them. The fit and finish on the ones we saw were uniformly good. They even smelled good when they came out of the box!

We used to buy them from the wholesaler in large boxes of ten and twelve and often sold all of them in a week on a sale that we advertised in the L.A. paper. For the first few years they were "Made in Japan" and later they started coming in "Made in China". The Chinese ones were identical to the Japanese-built ones as far as I could tell.

The most common issues we had with them were broken truss rods. It wasn't the instrument's fault, either. Typically a broken truss rod was caused by the owner experimenting with various settings on the truss rod to change the neck relief. I developed a standard procedure to replace the rods which entailed removal of a couple of frets and carefully removing a section of the fingerboard over the neck joint to access the rod for replacement. This is not for the faint of heart. LOL.

Left unmolested and simply played, the FG models were bulletproof. Those Yamahas are neat guitars and are good players.

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  #24  
Old 12-07-2011, 12:02 PM
Kevin C Kevin C is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zigeuner View Post
My brother and I had a music store in Los Angeles in the 1970's and we were a Yamaha dealer. We sold literally hundreds of FG-75's, 110's, 150's and 180's. They were indeed called "Folk" guitars, thus the "F" in the model. That said, you could play anything on them. The fit and finish on the ones we saw were uniformly good. They even smelled good when they came out of the box!

We used to buy them from the wholesaler in large boxes of ten and twelve and often sold all of them in a week on a sale that we advertised in the L.A. paper. For the first few years they were "Made in Japan" and later they started coming in "Made in China". The Chinese ones were identical to the Japanese-built ones as far as I could tell.

The most common issues we had with them were broken truss rods. It wasn't the instrument's fault, either. Typically a broken truss rod was caused by the owner experimenting with various settings on the truss rod to change the neck relief. I developed a standard procedure to replace the rods which entailed removal of a couple of frets and carefully removing a section of the fingerboard over the neck joint to access the rod for replacement. This is not for the faint of heart. LOL.

Left unmolested and simply played, the FG models were bulletproof. Those Yamahas are neat guitars and are good players.

I would love to know more details on your truss rod replacement. I sent you a PM. Thanks!
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  #25  
Old 12-07-2011, 12:20 PM
JLS JLS is offline
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Default It's how it sounds that counts, and it sound wonderful.

Uuuh, YEAH!
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  #26  
Old 12-07-2011, 01:59 PM
theaxeman theaxeman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bananas View Post
She says it doesn`t look like any kanji...or other Japanese/Chinese character...that she knows of.
Personally I don`t think it would have left the factory that way unless it was written by the last guy to see it in quality control, but the way the ink has bled appears to me to be something that would not have been used by the builders, just too unprofessional in my opinion...I still maintain it was added by a previous owner...or an owner`s kid.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Masao
Bananas and Kitchen are right about that mark (FG-110) being too messy, large and unprofessional. Yamaha was created to make organs in the 1880's and soon followed by pianos. Its corporate symbol are three tuning forks. Their first acoustic guitar was built in 1942. Yamaha branched out into motorcycles and other non-musical products (ski, archery, stereo, etc) after 1950 along with expanding their musical offerings (woodwinds, brass, etc). Woodworking is a very revered skill in Japan for at least a thousand years. And Japanese craftsmen are very meticulous and professional. I would find it a big red flag if a Yamaha musical instrument came with that mark from a Japanese factory. The shame, disgrace and humiliation for the person, factory and the company would be immense. Remember we are talking about 40 yrs ago when Yamaha is just expanding its market to other countries like the US. Also, any store in Japan would not sell it that way because no Japanese customer would consider buying such a 'defective' instrument (Japanese are extremely sensitive about form, clean look, and new).

But as you say, Axeman, it will be very easy for you to identify this FG-110 as yours . Maybe i should add something on my FG-110 to make ID easy ... NOT.


Ken
Thank you both for your very helpful information. There is so much to learn about guitars to begin with, and then to learn about cultures, craftsmanship, quality from other countries is phenomenal.

My Father's youngest brother married a very nice Japanese lady during the Korean war in Tokoyo. His plane went down 200 miles East of Guam while en-route transporting him and about 100 others to serve in Vietnam in 1961. She is my aunt, and still lives in the small town where I was born, waiting for him to return. I spent a lot of time with her when I was much younger, and she tried to teach me some of the language, but I was just a kid, and would rather play than learn. If only I had paid more attention.

She has always, and still is very kind to me whenever I see her which is not too often.

Thanks again for your help!
__________________
Vantage VS-25SCE 1992 Model
Luna Americana Classic AMP-100 "Parlor" 2012 Model
Cort Luce L900P 2011 Model
Goya GG-161 1971 Model
“Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.” ― Aristophanes
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  #27  
Old 12-07-2011, 02:05 PM
theaxeman theaxeman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ♏artin View Post
Thanks for posting these two vintage Yamaha's. I used to own an FG-75 and it was an extremely nice sounding laminate guitar. For a $100 or so, you can't go wrong.

I ended up selling it because I found the neck to be too chunky for my liking, otherwise I'd still have it.
I paid $150.00 for the FG-75, and $140 for the FG-110. I don't think I got hurt on either one of them. As I said, they are in excellent condition, straight necks, and low action. I think they were well worth what I paid for them.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zigeuner
My brother and I had a music store in Los Angeles in the 1970's and we were a Yamaha dealer. We sold literally hundreds of FG-75's, 110's, 150's and 180's. They were indeed called "Folk" guitars, thus the "F" in the model. That said, you could play anything on them. The fit and finish on the ones we saw were uniformly good. They even smelled good when they came out of the box!

We used to buy them from the wholesaler in large boxes of ten and twelve and often sold all of them in a week on a sale that we advertised in the L.A. paper. For the first few years they were "Made in Japan" and later they started coming in "Made in China". The Chinese ones were identical to the Japanese-built ones as far as I could tell.

The most common issues we had with them were broken truss rods. It wasn't the instrument's fault, either. Typically a broken truss rod was caused by the owner experimenting with various settings on the truss rod to change the neck relief. I developed a standard procedure to replace the rods which entailed removal of a couple of frets and carefully removing a section of the fingerboard over the neck joint to access the rod for replacement. This is not for the faint of heart. LOL.

Left unmolested and simply played, the FG models were bulletproof. Those Yamahas are neat guitars and are good players.
I have read in other places that adjustment of the truss rod must be done very carefully. Hopefully I'll have a long time before I need to do anything to these 2 beauties.
__________________
Vantage VS-25SCE 1992 Model
Luna Americana Classic AMP-100 "Parlor" 2012 Model
Cort Luce L900P 2011 Model
Goya GG-161 1971 Model
“Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.” ― Aristophanes
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  #28  
Old 12-07-2011, 02:07 PM
theaxeman theaxeman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JLS View Post
Uuuh, YEAH!
Sometimes we get caught up in minutia, instead of simply enjoying our good fortune.
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Goya GG-161 1971 Model
“Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.” ― Aristophanes
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  #29  
Old 12-07-2011, 08:04 PM
bananas bananas is offline
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True. many Japanese craftsmen, especially the ones who carry on the traditional arts and crafts are extremely meticulous and share a sense of honor and pride in their work...I like to watch a show called Kiwameru on TV here...it`s on today at 1 PM... it focuses on just these type of people and sadly the vast majority are elderly...not sure how many Japanese youth are interested in carrying the torch and I fear the old ways may be lost unless something happens.
But that deep pride is not shared by many big corporations, somewhere along the way, money became the motivation factor...it`s evident in politics here as well...but there have been numerous scandals over the years I`ve been here, with Olympus being just the latest...one shocker that stands out was the sweet old lady always dressed in kimono who owner a restaurant that was handed down from here father and it was a very expensive place, very exclusive, in Osaka...she was caught recycling food that was left on plates...probably a disgruntled employee...isn`t it always...anyways, she had to shut down and I remember her final press conference...I mean she looked like anybody`s sweet old gran...exquisitely dressed in kimono where she said she had disgraced the family and how her father would have been so disappointed etc.etc.etc...point is...Japan is undergoing huge changes...they just caught a 16 year old Dexter type character this week who had already stabbed a couple of people recently, and when he was caught he said he planned on killing strangers...and he`s not the first.
Anyways...I could go on but I won`t. I too have a small bodied FG, a 170.
One more thing...guess I am going on but it`s guitar related...but my oldest Yamaha Dynamic nylon strings guitars have the yellow and black label...with a piano logo. There is a small but almost fanatical group of Dynamic collectors in Japan who run a web site and they seem to think the old ones...my oldest evidently dates to the early `50`s...were in fact made FOR Yamaha by somebody else and if the interview with Mr. Ueda... the guy who says he was responsible for setting up Yamaha`s first guitar factory which went on line in 1966... in one of my Japan Vintage books. The guys here name Tenryu and/or Suzuki as possible factories building them and it`s not too far fetched since I own a 1948 Suzuki nylon string, dated on the label, but there are many unanswered questions.
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  #30  
Old 12-07-2011, 08:10 PM
bananas bananas is offline
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For those interested in Yamaha history...this is, according to the Japanese web, the oldest type of label used on Yamaha guitars which, they say, pre date the Dynamic series. I have seen a few of these on line here at auction sites but they were always full of cracks so I never bid, I simply do not possess either the know how nor the space to be able to repair one properly.
They supposedly predate the Dynamics and as I said before my oldest is evidently from the early `50`s...it has a 3 digit serial number.



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