Looking for info: Nagoya F307 1972

[Brig]

Hi all. I’ve searched pretty far and wide, picked up a Nagoya F307 off of FB Marketplace the other day. I took a chance as it was fairly cheap. It’s in decent shape.

The Bad: One tuning key was replaced, it has a missing a screw in the bridge, and it has a small crack in the back.

The Good: this thing sounds amazing. The action is low, very little buzz, it’s a smaller bodied guitar but it projects really well.

I hope to source a better tuning key and have it set up.

Any info would be appreciated.

[Jim]

Nagoyas were the inexpensive house brand student model guitars of the Veneman Music stores that used to be in business (no longer are) in the Washington, D.C. area. I remember going to Veneman's a few times but my impression was always that they were more of a store that did most of their business supplying grade school and high school music students their rental instruments. Their Nagoya acoustics had plywood backs and sides with a nice looking veneer to make them appear to be rosewood, and solid spruce tops. Venneman contracted with a factory in Japan to make them for the store and to make them look similar in style to Martins but that were priced for folks who were just starting out trying to learn acoustic guitar. A Nagoya in perfect condition today might go for as much as $200 but with the damage that you describe to the back I think that a fair price might be more in the $50 range, or less if there is more damage than a cracked back. But all of that aside, the only important thing to know is that you like it.