finally some pics of my awesome find........

Keira-WitherKay

this is not a custom luthier instrument or anything special, except that i traced it to be 37 years old........ an G 125 series yamaha, made in 1972... with a recommended selling price at the time of production of $142 (which i guess in 1972 was a fair wack of greenbacks)
this guitar has the warmest tone i have heard on a nylon for ages......... and it has a wide fat traditional neck ... i love that the strings are virtually in a dead straight line from nut to bridge... ...... it also has a slightly different body shape than the newer yamaha's ...more like they copied a ramirez in detail...it also has a smaller sound hole and intricately engraved tuner plates...which i have temporarily exchanged for a set of newer tuners as they were a hint suspect.... but i want to return the old tuner plates but with new tuner mechanism....
and of course i bought it in a pawn shop for a give away price.......

but i have even heard from a luthier who listened to the sound of this guitar that he said even if i paid him to build me a nylon he could not gaurentee that the sound would be as rich as this yamaha is.... so yeah nice to hear it's not just me who likes this....

and sure i think this is a lucky find... and prob find other models with same model number will not sound so good..... so yeah my top of the production line yamaha has been shelved in favour of this..........

for those of you that like pristine guitars don't even bother looking she is a well played instrument ... but one i have in last months come to love dearly ......

she actually feels like an old classical guitar .... i love that ...... traditional feel and look

oh you can see i mic her up and oddly contrary to the ussual mic'ing over the 12th fret i find the best tone is when i aim the mic just below the soundhole...... gives me a fat but non boomy sound... 100% natural to the acoustic sound( i test this by switching off the mic then playing and then switch it back on and listening for any tonal changes or bass boosts ... this is the perfect spot to mic this instrument....

this is a pic of a 1972 ramirez .. and the heel with the over pointy end...the smaller soundhole..... all looks like the yamaha was copied from this...

oddly enough i feel i like this tone and feel ... and don't GAS after anything else........ maybe i found my holy grail of nylons ... in a pawn shop... and in not a custom guitar .... but time will tell........

peace and light
keira

FatBoy

Awesome, I'm not a big fan of nylons myself, but I'm happy to see another forum member find something that really works for them, and at a bargain price? even better!

Attila

K

I have a G-50A Nippon GAKI CO,LTD Made in Japan which to me sounds brill. I want to try some low tention strings as see how they feature on this instrument.

I added a sound port to mine which I can recommend to anyone...... try it with an old beater and you'll see

FenderBender

She is beautiful Keira. I can only imagine how she feels when played. I still enjoying playing my C40 more than my electric.

Keira-WitherKay

Attila wrote K

I have a G-50A Nippon GAKI CO,LTD Made in Japan which to me sounds brill. I want to try some low tention strings as see how they feature on this instrument.

I added a sound port to mine which I can recommend to anyone...... try it with an old beater and you'll see

yeah atilla, the old yamaha's have awesome tone......... i recall stings guitarist dominique miller i think thats the right name........... saying that he rates yamaha acoustics as some of the best he's ever played... and highly recommends them......

actually attilla i would love to find some of the older nylons even than my one....

mmm and as for the ound port thing..nah not interested....... i like the cosmetics of the guitar... and i hear my instrument just fine........ heheheh and i'm sure some will enjoy it.... but in truth i'm a purist... and the look of a nylon with a port on the upper bout would putme off playing it ..i love this old yamaha for the reason that it reminds me of the old design nylons... the modern design is slightly narrowed necks and thiner profiles...and in most cases slightly larger bodies.......... i love this guitar not just cos it sounds awesome but because it has the look i love... even the distressed finnish makes it look the part for me...... so yeah thats my story and i'm sticking to it heheheheh

but i'm not knocking or devalueing the advantages of a sound port but it's not for this dinasour....

although love to see and hear your yamaha sometime...

OH AND ATTILLA IF YOU FIND SOME LOW TENSION STRINGS LOCALLY PLEASE PM ME ASAP... I CAN'T SOURCE THEM LOCALLY AT ALL AT MOMENT ...... I DETUNE MY NORMAL TENSION STRING A HALF STEP.......

peace and light keira

singemonkey

Wonderful guitar. You must be very proud.

I have a deep loyalty to Yamaha for total commitment to quality whatever the price. Japanese businesses don't seem to believe in ripping people off to make a profit.

vic

singemonkey wrote Japanese businesses don't seem to believe in ripping people off to make a profit.

Agree, usually good quality and value for money. However, they don't have to spend anything on designers of instruments and tooling for making them...do not have to test the market waters for any of their products....all of which are copies of tried and tested classics - especially in the early years, and even up to this very day ?

AlanRatcliffe

Since we are talking classical guitars here anyway, R&D is something no-one has done for a hundred years or more. ? Yamaha are one of the more innovative companies, and always build their own instruments in their own factories. Any factory has to tool up to manufacture - Yamaha more than anyone else, because they make everything themselves, they do not outsource anything. And they are definitely not stuck in the '50s.

Anyway, how many of the big American companies put money into R&D these days? It's the newer, smaller companies doing that. Also the big companies aren't the same ones that came up with the classic designs in the first place either - they've changed hands a few times over the years.

Attila

Keira WitherKay wrote
actually attilla i would love to find some of the older nylons even than my one....

I saw a G-50A like mine at Cash Converters, North Gate shopping center - +- R850 in pretty good shape....

Keira-WitherKay

ok where is north gate shopping centre heheheh as in which offramp off which highway ????

i' ve been in jhb for over a year and a bit now and find i know sandton and surrounds pretty well, and northcliff.... but little else....and pta is a totally blank slate .... so let me go look at this........

thanks for the tip..... btw i have a friend who owns a 1970's classical who was told it was a yamaha but says it has a japanese label as in all the writting is in japanese.... is your nippon yamaha also like that? i have yet to see her guitar personally

my GA120 has english script

peace and light
keira

singemonkey

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Since we are talking classical guitars here anyway, R&D is something no-one has done for a hundred years or more. ? Yamaha are one of the more innovative companies, and always build their own instruments in their own factories. Any factory has to tool up to manufacture - Yamaha more than anyone else, because they make everything themselves, they do not outsource anything. And they are definitely not stuck in the '50s.

Anyway, how many of the big American companies put money into R&D these days? It's the newer, smaller companies doing that. Also the big companies aren't the same ones that came up with the classic designs in the first place either - they've changed hands a few times over the years.

+1

If you have a look at the wikipedia page I rewrote on the Yamaha Pacifica (there's not much detail, but you should have seen it before ? ), it turns out they did some extensive R&D, and even took a risk on an experimental design that wasn't originally intended for manufacture.

When I'm one day ready to buy a new nylon string guitar, I'll almost certainly try to find a well-aged Yamaha.

Jack-Flash-Jr

It is beautiful. My first guitar was a nylon yamaha. And I'm still playing guitar... the fact that it was a good playing experience kept me persevering, so I'm in the yamaha fan club too.

AlanRatcliffe

Well, I'm not a big fan of their electronic stuff (because they do things so differently and local backup has always been a bit shaky), but I have a GD-20 handmade classic, and I'll only ever upgrade if I find something like a Hirade H8 (going cheap of course). Come to think of it, my first guitar was a G-series classic.

Keira-WitherKay

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Well, I'm not a big fan of their electronic stuff (because they do things so differently and local backup has always been a bit shaky), but I have a GD-20 handmade classic, and I'll only ever upgrade if I find something like a Hirade H8 (going cheap of course). Come to think of it, my first guitar was a G-series classic.

heheh alan but how could you think we would ever consider a classical with any electronics in it hehehehehheh thats just sacrilige hehhehe

yeah alan i have played on the handmade yamaha's and i agree.... they awesome ..........but i see in jhb they as expensive as a ramirez saw one recently with a 20 something K price tag ...and sure thats before discount .. but it sounded beautiful.... so Alan the one you got is it the one that was advertised for 6K on the site a while back, ..damn i shoulda snapped that up........... i was under the impression at the time they were only in 10 K range

AlanRatcliffe

It's more their synths and Hi-tech stuff I'm leery of. Living in the Cape, if anything goes wrong, it has to travel to JHB for repair. Experience taught me that can take months, because it will often be a propriety Yamaha part (the downside to them not outsourcing anything), they won't have stock locally and will have to order from Japan. That's not on for pro gear, AFAIC. So given a choice, I'll usually go Roland - local backup and spare parts are plentiful.

heheh alan but how could you think we would ever consider a classical with any electronics in it hehehehehheh thats just sacrilige hehhehe

Lawks! You know me - I'm not scared of technology (I wouldn't mind a Godin Multiac Nylon SA - solidbody nylon with 13-pin synth output, radiused fingerboard and a slightly narrower than trad neck). The Yamaha APXs are a fine range of acoustic electrics anyway. The first electric-acoustics to incorporate dual piezo/mic sytems. Love the controls that push into the body, out of harm's way. Comfy players too, if a little small in the neck department.

The GD20 was the one I picked up from the woman selling her late husband's guitars and keyboard. A fine guitar by any standards and in absolute mint condition. I told her what it was worth, what it should sell for and said I might be interested myself. She in turn offered it to me at half of what it should have sold for as a thank you for helping her out - how could I refuse?

singemonkey

Hey. Has anyone tried one of their hokey "Silent Guitar"s? I've seen them going on gumtree a whole lot. I can see they might be convenient for travelling and recording. Just wondered how they played and sounded. Hmm... although it's not like a classical guitar is exactly *inconvenient* for any of those things in the first place.

AlanRatcliffe

Not bad - surprisingly comfy to play and tonally decent. You're obviously limited to the piezo sound from it, which is a trade-off, but it works and sounds recognisably like a nylon-string.

Basically a plank with strings if you have to chuck it in an airplane hold it's a lot more robust than a relatively delicate acoustic.

Keira-WitherKay

yeah they pretty good...... the silent guitars....... same neck and quality of construction as the CGX range..... and alan they don't have a piezo pick up but the B band under saddle pick up which unless i'm mistaken when i read the B band site (cos i own a CGX) they not piezo but some other sort of transducer ...and yeah they sound way more natural than most other nylons i have tried..... also the silent guitar has high quality onboard reverb ..... but i believe if you use it on batteries the reverb only lasts a few hours...there is place for an adaptor tho ...and i believe one can bypass the reverb setting too....

they truly nice guitars.... but i will agree with singemonkey ...i'd rather just carry around a small classical nylon .... cos the silent guitars may have small construction but still the same length as a normal guitar and they decidedly weighty for what they are.... i have played on a few and know a few people who own them....

so me i'd just carry a standard nylon with me to travel..... in a good case.... cos playing thru headphones sucks or else you need to carry an amp too...

AlanRatcliffe

Keira WitherKay wrote alan they don't have a piezo pick up but the B band under saddle pick up which unless i'm mistaken when i read the B band site (cos i own a CGX) they not piezo but some other sort of transducer ...

Ahem. It's a piezo - just a polymer one (same as the Fishman Matrix/Prefix pickups). Doesn't have six individual piezoceramic transducers (which are the ones that really give piezos a bad name), but very little does these days.

singemonkey

Keira WitherKay wrote cos playing thru headphones sucks ...

And hence the built in reverb I guess. Yeah. It sounds like a mixed bag. I can't say I've ever liked the piezo sound. I feel like (nylon strings aside) that I'd rather just use an electric guitar than have a flabby plasticy sound from an piezoed acoustic. A micd up acoustic is great though. And it's great that it sounds like they've made some progress with piezos.