New to “red labels”

Welcome Scott!! I'll be working on making your parts this afternoon.

Humidifying doesn't work much with plywood. The glue layer acts as an insulator.

Yamaha FG's aren't laminate, they are plywood.  The layers are at 90 degrees.  That makes them split proof.  I have seen some minor center seam cracks, but it was only in the thin outer ply because that layer dried out.  There's no way the thick inner ply is going to shear against the grain.  About the only structural damage I've seen to an old FG is loose or cracked braces, they are very small and thin, which is probably the reason they sound so good.

The date code can be very hard to find.  Sometimes its light, smudges, or partially under the kerfing.

Hello, not sure if this is still looked at but my brother gifted me a Yamaha Red label Gakki 230 which was really beat and needed a neck reset, frets, fretboard plane, bone nut/bridge. I did all this plus sanded the whole guitar down and refinished with transtint dye (light) and Tru Oil. Turned out really good with one exception, the bridge is slightly misaligned due to the hide glue setting so fast. I compensated by cutting slots in the bone bridge. It has a tight focused sound and sounds great. The action is good also due to neck reset and new frets. I may in the future install a new bridge to align better but due to how it plays it's on hold. I'm confused as to the serial number 1176794 and by looking at the red label 7 digit chart, it seems to be early 70s. Anyone able to decipher the number?

Anyway, this guitar was headed for a trash bin and I was conflicted on doing all this, but I'm very pleased at the outcome.

Tony