Yamaki YW 30W

Ok, my father got this guitar when he was 20. he is now 51, so do the calculation for the age of the guitar. I have been using it for 2 years now for recording , it had a sublime sound and a greeat style.
Plus the story brings definitely something spiritual to the playing. I am pretty sure my dad got it for cheap as he was broke at the time... but anyway... i wouldnt sell it, because i'll probably keep it for the next generations !

This guitar has a very light blonde finish, but otherwise is an exact Martin copy.

The sound and tonal balance on this instrument is incredible. I've been around a lot of high-end acoustics, and the Yamaki is a very close match to older Martins and Taylors.

This instrument had a slight fret noise at the 10th fret, but that was fixed. The overall craftsmanship is incredible. The top, back and sides are all bookmatched, and if you hold it just right, you can see where the finish was hand applied. The only thing I would remedy is the maple fretboard... great sound, but shows finger wear, but that's with any maple fretboard.

I haven't owned this guitar very long, but it seems to be very sturdy. The three piece neck does concern me, though.

No known current customer support.

I own quite a few guitars, some custom shop instruments, and some off the shelf ones. This Yamaki acoustic ties for the best acoustic I've ever played with only one... the Taylor.

The story on Yamaki is that they were mass produced throughout the 70's until they were sued for name infringement by Yamaha.

Here's the story I heard.

Before I paid for this guitar, I did some homework, and ran across a guy that owns a guitar shop that has been in business since the mid 60's. He was very familiar with Yamakis, as a good friend of his was vp of the company that distributed them. (He owns several Yamakis himself) I was told by him that there are 2 basic grades of Yamaki guitars, the mass produced ones built after 1974, and the hand built, one of a kind customs from 1974 and before. Because production was so very limited, the earlier customs are non-existant, and are often misgrouped with the later models. The confusion stems from the fact that Yamaki used the same model numbers on the customs as the did the later models. After showing him my model, he figured that there were probably less than 100 produced in 1973 (the year mine is), was over $600 new in 1973, and was easily worth $2500 dollars. And, I know his appraisal was accurate because he offered to buy it from me for that price.

I picked up this Yamaki acoustic guitar at a recycle shop in Japan. Thought I was probably paying too much at 160,000 yen (about $150), but it kept calling me back. Very pretty, light color, birch top I think.

Bright sound. Good volume. I like it.

Action is what really sold me. Extremely easy. My 10 year old boys will be learning on it. It's a little big for them but I think the ease of playing will make up for that.

I have no idea when it was made, but it wouldn't be where I found it if it hadn't been around for awhile. Finish is excellent.