Post by CTGull on Sept 30, 2023 20:48:38 GMT -5
Her Story: I picked up this guitar at a local record store that also sold a few instruments every now and then. I had been on the hunt for a dreadnought style and was popping into every pawn/small music shop I could find in the city. Hanging on the wall of this shop was what looked like a 60's red label in really good shape with some interesting custom work done to the fretboard. It also had a hummingbird pickguard which made me initially think of the 60's. One of my close friends (and previous bandmates), Florence was a Yamaha person who had recently picked up a 60's red label FG-180 a few weeks before so I texted them immediately about this find. This guitar was unloaded from a collection the owner had bought from a local musician who had a doo wop band called The Parktowns. Original owner was Jerome Zeits, who sang tenor in the group. He was preparing to move into assisted living and wanted to offload the gear that he no longer had use for. I've been in touch with the owner of the shop, and once Jerome is newly situated, we are all planning to have dinner together so we can chat more about the history of the guitar and his own musical journey.
Observations: The guitar is tuned to Open C, but I will refer to the strings as if it was in standard tuning. The G string is missing. The tuners have been replaced with gold Grovers, and much have the gold has worn off the knobs. The nut was replaced with bone, and opened the Yamaha standard string spacing from 1.37” to a wide 1.49”. The pickguard has been replaced. And the bridge pins have been replaced; 2 look like bone, 2 look like plastic, both are ivory color with black dots, and the head shapes are different. Diamond fret markers replaced the Yamaha standard markers. There are very few marks on the guitar, with the exceptions of some pick rash outside the pickguard, an odd drop mark and ding on the end, and a little buckle rash that hasn’t worn thru the finish. There’s strap button attached to the side on the treble side of the body.
She said the frets had been replaced. I measured the fret heights with the Stew Mac digital calipers, that has a groove ground in the end to allow it to be placed over the frets to measure them easier than trying to hold the caliper perpendicular while trying to read it. I find they are all between .040” and .045”, which is very good. There are some divots in the 1st thru 3rd. As long as there’s no major dip in the neck, they should clean up with a fret level.
The nut action is just a little high for all strings. The neck relief is a just a little high. The straight edge hits the 1st and 16th frets with about a .005” gap in the middle. Pretty good. Then the bad. The neck projects 3/32” below the top of the bridge. Tuned to Open C (with the G string missing), the action is a little under 7/64” low E and a little under 3/32” high E. The bridge is a very thin .24”. The saddle is pointed and sticks out .06” (low E) and .03” (high E).
Very few marks on the top!
A little pick rash outside the pickguard.
The worst of the "damage". A small deep ding and a small area that looks like it was dropped.
Much of the finish has been worn off the tuners.
Only a little buckle rash.
The action is a bit high, but nowhere near the worst I've seen.
But the bridge and saddle are very low. If the bridge has been sanded, I may need to rout the saddle slot deeper to support a taller saddle.
Very little string break angle.
Now it looks like there are THREE different types of bridge pins.
The nut slots are rather deep.
Observations: The guitar is tuned to Open C, but I will refer to the strings as if it was in standard tuning. The G string is missing. The tuners have been replaced with gold Grovers, and much have the gold has worn off the knobs. The nut was replaced with bone, and opened the Yamaha standard string spacing from 1.37” to a wide 1.49”. The pickguard has been replaced. And the bridge pins have been replaced; 2 look like bone, 2 look like plastic, both are ivory color with black dots, and the head shapes are different. Diamond fret markers replaced the Yamaha standard markers. There are very few marks on the guitar, with the exceptions of some pick rash outside the pickguard, an odd drop mark and ding on the end, and a little buckle rash that hasn’t worn thru the finish. There’s strap button attached to the side on the treble side of the body.
She said the frets had been replaced. I measured the fret heights with the Stew Mac digital calipers, that has a groove ground in the end to allow it to be placed over the frets to measure them easier than trying to hold the caliper perpendicular while trying to read it. I find they are all between .040” and .045”, which is very good. There are some divots in the 1st thru 3rd. As long as there’s no major dip in the neck, they should clean up with a fret level.
The nut action is just a little high for all strings. The neck relief is a just a little high. The straight edge hits the 1st and 16th frets with about a .005” gap in the middle. Pretty good. Then the bad. The neck projects 3/32” below the top of the bridge. Tuned to Open C (with the G string missing), the action is a little under 7/64” low E and a little under 3/32” high E. The bridge is a very thin .24”. The saddle is pointed and sticks out .06” (low E) and .03” (high E).
Very few marks on the top!
A little pick rash outside the pickguard.
The worst of the "damage". A small deep ding and a small area that looks like it was dropped.
Much of the finish has been worn off the tuners.
Only a little buckle rash.
The action is a bit high, but nowhere near the worst I've seen.
But the bridge and saddle are very low. If the bridge has been sanded, I may need to rout the saddle slot deeper to support a taller saddle.
Very little string break angle.
Now it looks like there are THREE different types of bridge pins.
The nut slots are rather deep.
