Yamaha Guitar Serial Number Archive Music
Matty Fiedler
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ARCHIVED TOPIC: Yamaha L Series Guitar
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My wife has a Yamaha L- Series "LSX-11" Acoustic Guitar. Hand built and solid wood. A beauty! Sound is awesome. Does anyone have one of these they play at Bluegrass Jams etc. I was hoping to be able to use it but would like some opinions. I have seen some Yamaha's at jams but not sure of type/model used.
I have a Yamaha FG-300 I bought in 1976 that I play bluegrass with all the time. If you wife's LSX-11 is anything like my 300 you can't go wrong. I know most bluegrasser's play Martin's, Blueridge's, and Gibson's but they all shake their heads when they hear my Yammy.
I spent a few hours in music shops yesterday playing various acoustic guitars in an effort to find something to help me move on to the next level... I know a bad workman always blames his tools but I can play stuff on my little Yamaha APX4 that I simply can't get near on my ancient, high-actioned, FG335. So I know there's music in my fingers that I can't get out at the moment. Alas, the sound of the APX4 is thin and boxy (as expected on a small electro-acoustic - but it's a great guitar and I've used it at many gigs over the last 10 years) and anyway it's now been appropriated by the boy! So I've decided it's time to try and find something with the playability of the APX but with a sound too.
Anyway, without digressing further, I tried various sizes and woods of Washburns, Tanglewoods, Farida's, Takemines, and Yamahas. You can tell by the first paragraph that I'm a Yamaha fan anyway but the LL6, the LL16, and the LLX6 were by far the nicest of the guitars I tried. Out of the three it was the cheapest (cheapest, but not cheap in my world) that moved me the most - the LL6. Really nice tone, playability edging closer to the aforementioned APX4 (but still nowhere as easy, but I think you'd need an electric guitar for that), and the ability to handle chords (even when played with a fair bit of 'passion') without the sound breaking up. I was even offered a gig by a passing customer whilst sitting in one of the music shops finger-picking some old rags. So my vote is for the Yamaha L series.
I'd like to try a Taylor and a Martin (it would have to be lowest of the low-end to get into my price bracket) before making up my mind, but there's nowhere in my locality that does such things, so at the moment I'm thinking if I can sell enough junk on eBay I might go for an L series myself.
I think Yamaha's are great guitars, I've heard 100 dollar ones that have sounded better than other brands that have cost 500 bucks, don't worry about what others think when you show up to play, I have shown up with an Egmond (made in Holland in the 50's parlor size), that I pick up at a flea market for 15 bucks, everybody was impressed with the brightness of the sound and offered me up to 50 bucks for it on the spot. My next guitar will probably be a Yamaha, the sound will determine the model. good luck to jammin
The L series used to be the more hand made models. Don't know about the recent models. I have a number of Yamaha acoustics (58 of them) and most are excellent players. The old Nippon Gakki models (Red and Tan labels) are all good. I have two older L models that are really tough to beat.
Watch for me on the Hoarders program. Don't let them take my guitars!!!!!!
My brother has an old Yamaha FG-180 guitar that he got from dad who purchased it a long time ago. It is the red label guitar, not the beige labeled one. What I'm wondering, is what kind of new guitar is equal in sound to this guitar. My brother is very partial to it, and he also doesn't like to spend a lot of money on an instrument. $400 is considered high to him, and he wants to learn banjo -_- The main problems is has with it, besides the scratches, and dings, is that it needs a new bridge on it. How much would something like that cost to replace, and is it worth it for this guitar. I would post it on Flatpickers hangout, but considering there is 3000 online members here versus 50 on the guitar hangout, I figured I would get more answers here. Thanks.
Does it need a new bridge, or just a bridge saddle? A new saddle is simple. If the bridge has pulled loose from the top it very possibly can just be reglued, not a major deal. If it's cracked at the edge probably needs to be replaced. If cracks don't go to the edge it might be repairable. The Yamaha is probably worth fixing. I'd have somebody look it over to make sure there are no other issues. If everything else checked out ok and I wanted a decent affordable guitar to play I wouldn't hesitate to spend a reasonable amount to have it fixed.
John, I thought the red label was made in Japan using all solid woods and yellow label (Korea I think) being solid top with ply back and sides .....? I could be wrong. I remember back in the 70's the FG-180 was the most recommended affordable guitar for folks who couldn't afford a Martin.
I will do that although the action seems very good. I did call the luither, and he said that a job like that would be around $100. Jim, I'm pretty sure that is true about the red label ones. I'm not sure, I was reading articles on the internet to see how much it was worth, and I came across that information. I did find out that this guitar sells for $300 to $750. So I guess it most be fairly popular.
I think only the lower numbered, lower priced models were laminate. I recall trying out different models in a music store back in the sixties. There was a point, as one went up the line where the tone quality just jumped. I think that was the laminate-solid wood division.
Do you mean like the FG-110s? I have seen some comparison videos of them on YouTube, and there is a distinct sound difference, of course they also have a different body, or are you talking serial numbers versus model numbers? I don't have a clue about guitars, so bear with me. :)
When I had my music store in LA in the 1970's, I was a Yamaha dealer among other brands. The FG180's that we got from the wholesaler were originally built in Japan. They were laminated back and sides with a poly type finish. Later on, they were built in China. The orange label one were the earliest as I recall. The list price on the FG180;s was $150. We would often purchase 24 at a time and with a discount we could sell them for $110 each. The workmanship on them was generally very good and we seldom had a return for that reason.
They were probably the best of the Japanese guitars of that price range and many of them that I set up were a match for some of the used Martin 000-18s and D-18s that we had in the store from time to time.. I'm not surprised that they would bring $300 or so nowadays due to the collectibility factor that is common nowadays.
The bridge being cracked on the one in question is not a deal breaker and replacement bridges can be bought on eBay and elsewhere. Some luthiers or repair shops might charge as much as $100 for such a repair, however.
I was able to find a local luither who could fix it, and yes, they would charge around $100 to fix it. I told my brother about it, but he hasn't done anything just yet. I am wondering though, how hard would it be to fix it on my own?
You could certainly do the work yourself. Before proceeding, I would take a closer look to see if the bridge couldn't be glued and touched up without removing it. The problem with doing any work on a Yamaha FG-180 is that they were built with epoxy glue. This is because they were built for a world market where humidity is always an issue. That means that the regular method of using heat to remove a water-based glue isn't going to work. I've replaced bridges on these guitars and what I've done in some cases is to plane the bridge down so that it is paper thin and then simply tease the remaining portion off. It's also possible to pop the bridge off with a wood chisel, but this is not recommended since it can take portions of the top wood with it.
It could be glued back down, and that would work. However, it does have a crack in it right behind the string pegs. It doesn't go through either side, so with a little glue that could be fixed too. If I ever get around to it, perhaps I'll take a picture, although that might be a while from now.
Hi, there seems quite a few types of TRB in the Yammy line. I was impressed by my own TRB1005, which is about to leave but that is the only one I have played and I'm curious about the others. I wonder if someone could give me a quick run down of the TRB linage, with info on changes in stats and sounds? It would be much appreciated.
I can remember when they first came out in around 1990 and they were all 34 inch scale, and were quite a sleek-looking and futuristic departure from the BBs that had been the staple of Yamahas range for so long. They were a bIt controversial in as much as they weren't cheap , were made in Tiawan, and had a fairly noisy preamp . Much was made of the fact that John Pattitucci played one, and I seem to remember that Mike Rutherford of Genesis was also sporting one for their live shows around that time. Later in the nineties they were revamped with humbuckers instead of pj pickups , simplified somewhat in construction with a bolt -on neck , made in Japan and also went over to 35inch scale exclusively. I always preferred the earlier ones. The later ones always sounded colourless and relentlessly dreary to me. I haven't played any of the more recent incarnations after that and so couldn't comment on them.
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