Yairi CY 118 questions
 

I just bought a 1990 Yairi CY 118 that was never played. It was a great find and the thing sounds and plays beautifully. However, there was no literature with it so I’d like to learn a few things about it.
1. What wood was used for the back and sides?
2. Are the back and sides solid or laminated?
3. What did it sell for in 1990?
4. What do other owners think of theirs?
I’d appreciate anything you folks can tell me about it.
Dragontooth

I once had a (beautifully
produced) catalog of the Alvarez Yairi CGs from the mid or late 80s, but I guess
it's gone.. I think, but am not sure, that all of them except *maybe* the
CY130 were laminated back and sides, of various materials, and were mostly
or all cedar tops. They were well made, and though I haven't owned one,
I have heard a number of others say they like theirs a lot.

There's a Yahoo group specific to Yairi guitars.

John R.

I play a Yairi 117 , 118 & a 132c in regular rotation & have a very opinion of them.
From a hard to read catalogue page from 1984 the 118 is called the "Black Jacaranda" Top is solid Cedar, sides & back are black jacaranda,fretboard is ebony, bridge is rosewood. Many opinions about what "Black Jacaranda" is... it might be Brazilian Rosewood...mine looks like it, in any case the side & back are laminated.No idea what they sold for new, used value in Northern California in excellent condition is 600-800 - at least that's what I had to pay & I'm happy...
These are really pretty guitars... they look much more like custom luthier builds than factory guitars. They are better looking that the better Takamines
& Yamahas which are much more conservative in visual design. All can be absolutely excellent sounding guitars of course but every older one I've come across has needed a through set up to bring out it's potential. Moe

Good bang for $ in Yairi models
 

I have had very pleasant experiences in my years of YAIRI NYLONS

Go online and look at WEB PAGE for YAIRI guitars. It gives tour and extensive info about the guitar build and quality.

The CY-140-CE is a relatively rare models. I have seen and played 140's but only saw one CY 140 CE (has cutaway, electronics and some Jac rosewood in the back. I think the list back when I bought this was about $2700 w/quality HS case)

There is a Yairi online forum, but hard to get much since their most knowledgeable member passed.

Hope you can find some of these Yairi models for a test drive. Good luck and happy 'pickin.

Loved these Yairis. I used to have a CY-140 that was one of the best classicals I've ever had. The Jacaranda B&S were stunningly figured. I also played some CY-118s and CY-127s that were awesome as well... and had planned on getting one of each back in the day, but moved away from classical for a while and didn't get around to it. I've seen used CY-118s occasionally on ebay, web forums, or even in local music/pawn shops for very reasonable prices. There was nothing that could compete with them at the time from a big company, in the same price range in my opinion. I had some nice Yamaha and Takamines during that era as well, but the Yairis were a cut-above those and you had to move into the (pricier) luthier-built instruments to get something better.

I have a CY-116, that I bought new from a music store in NJ in 1986, for $479 including case. R