MetalManiac
Li'l Junior Member
So this pops up on Craigslist for 50 bucks today in my small town. 1989-1994 Yamaha '420'..yes, 420! Knew then I might have to have it! So it's got some age on it- time for teh wood to open up..in short, it's already a classic.
Sure, totally laminated- 'Bubinga' fretboard, laminated Spruce top, 'Nato' laminated back and sides. Abalone Rosette . Rosewood bridge. Bound back and front, and bound neck. Nice 'center seam' on back. Genuine Pearl dot markers.Neck is straight as an arrow, and truss rod works.,
When I picked it up, I saw it was obviously played for awhile a long time ago then socked away in it's chipboard case . Some cowboy chord fret wear.
I set about to clean it up thoroughly, and put new Phosphor Bronze acoustic strings on it to replace the ancient dead strings. I crowned and polished the frets a bit,in particular the first 4 or 5 , and cleaned the fret board. The action was 10 miles high, and I filed down the bridge to where its damn near perfect ( for me).Tweaked the truss rod about an 1/8th of a turn for good measure. The whole process took less than a couple hours. I would have botched this bridge filing not too long ago, but this time I did a magnificent job if I do say so myself... It plays pretty great!, pretty amazing actually fopr what it is.
Think of this as a '57 Martin knockoff. It speaks softly, but carry's a big stick. The action is whats amazing on this. Amazing fretwork..no buzzing, no fretting out. Almost unheard of for a mid level modern production acoustic guitar.
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It had a street price of $300.00 US about 20 years ago. You can't really translate directly that into the price of modern craftsmanship for anywhere near that value. Innorite?
Look, I can't afford to spend any damn money, and I didn't have an acoustic, so this is about it, mmkay?
Sure, totally laminated- 'Bubinga' fretboard, laminated Spruce top, 'Nato' laminated back and sides. Abalone Rosette . Rosewood bridge. Bound back and front, and bound neck. Nice 'center seam' on back. Genuine Pearl dot markers.Neck is straight as an arrow, and truss rod works.,
When I picked it up, I saw it was obviously played for awhile a long time ago then socked away in it's chipboard case . Some cowboy chord fret wear.
I set about to clean it up thoroughly, and put new Phosphor Bronze acoustic strings on it to replace the ancient dead strings. I crowned and polished the frets a bit,in particular the first 4 or 5 , and cleaned the fret board. The action was 10 miles high, and I filed down the bridge to where its damn near perfect ( for me).Tweaked the truss rod about an 1/8th of a turn for good measure. The whole process took less than a couple hours. I would have botched this bridge filing not too long ago, but this time I did a magnificent job if I do say so myself... It plays pretty great!, pretty amazing actually fopr what it is.
Think of this as a '57 Martin knockoff. It speaks softly, but carry's a big stick. The action is whats amazing on this. Amazing fretwork..no buzzing, no fretting out. Almost unheard of for a mid level modern production acoustic guitar.



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It had a street price of $300.00 US about 20 years ago. You can't really translate directly that into the price of modern craftsmanship for anywhere near that value. Innorite?
Look, I can't afford to spend any damn money, and I didn't have an acoustic, so this is about it, mmkay?
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