Members makayafox Posted July 5, 2008 Members Share Posted July 5, 2008 I received an inheritance from my distant grandmother and she left me a classical guitar. I have tried to look up this guitar with no avail. The guitar reads inside simply "Yamaha, No. 150, Nippon Gakki" and has a white label with gold fringe. I know that she bought this guitar pre-1969. The guitar is identical to the c40 classical. I am searching to find out any info about this guitar as possible. Specs and value. I have played alot of classical guitars and this one feels like the best one that I have ever played. Solid , deep, resonating sound. This is one well balanced guitar and feels like a $1000 dollar guitar. If anyone can help I sure would appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zenbu Posted July 5, 2008 Members Share Posted July 5, 2008 got two. Most I paid was about $120.oo for the first one in very good condition, second one cost me $20.oo because the seller said the binding had come off...he made it sound like it was missing but in fact it had just come unglued, and nobody else bid on it... so I stuck it back down and bobs your uncle, plays great...I`m lookin at it right now. They have the distinctive headstock, only the 150s have...I also have a No. 60...laminated back and sides, No. 80...appears to be all solid maple, No. 100...certainly all solid maple, and No. 120...solid mahogany . The 150s are listed as being all solid Palisander. In my books...this may go on for a bit but I`m happy that somebody else finally has some of these incredible old Yamahas and may not be able to control my gushing...my books say the No. 100 was made by Yamahas best luthiers at the time, and they`d been building guitars since at least the early 50s , and sold for about 2 months wages. At the time my book was printed in 2005, there was no info on the 120 or 150, but if the 100 was made by their best builders... ipso fatso... stands to reason the 150 was rated higher and sold for more. To complete the series I`d have to buy the No. 25 but so far I haven`t seen any that were worth the money sellers wanted, anyways they were all laminates.OK...my books say the small JIS symbol...Japan Industrial Standard...first appeared in 1963, so if yours doesn`t have it either on the headstock where the truss rod cover would be, or on the label, we know the guitar was made before that year...if it does have the JIS, we know Yamaha stopped production on these earliest classicals mid 60s once they introduced laminates. We can go back even earlier than the No. 150 classicals, they made a No. 45, No. 80 [and the mythical Dynamic No.300]... the ones I own...pics were posted in other threads so do a search...are natural highly flamed maple, and have the rounder fatter necks found on the Dynamics as opposed to the No. 150 you have...which has a more conventional classical neck...least mine do. For the record 35mm tuners will fit the No. 150 and on my Dynamics the tuners were the weak point on the otherwise stellar guitars...and have 32 mm tuners, real hard to find these days here, had to special order my extras. Couple a questions...what kind of saddle did yours come with? Did it come with a felt lined "hard" case?Almost finished...no, really...if you don`t mind fat necks and think the 150 sounds good, look for a Dynamic...early to mid 50s Yamaha was exporting three versions...#30, #50 and #70...I just need the #70 to add to my collection but they have all the blingy inlay around the top of the guitar, doesn`t really appeal to me and those sell for quite a bit in Japan...lots a people after em now. But those Dynamics are also great guitars, they also exported a #15 later...whiye label with red border... and in fact as a response to cracked tops on the exports Yamaha decided to start looking at laminates to solve that problem. Once they began issuing the S Dynamics...those don`t say Dynamic on the headstock, just Yamaha but say Dynamic on the labels... the all solid Dynamic series came to a close, mid 60s as I said above. I have a bunch from the Dynamic series...28 now... and my two #40s have the fattest necks and weigh more than other s from the series, but my beater #15 is an incredible guitar, I keep it on a stand ready to go and it plays so smoothly, I like the fat necks. Sorry for the ramble but it`s really nice to have somebody that understands my gushing for the old Yamahas...folks here have a lot of love for the red labels...but I believe we are the only two here with the first run, true classicals Yamaha made. Unfortunately if you were planning to sell the guitar and buy Microsoft stock and retire, ain`t gonna happen soon unless the rest of the world wakes up to these old beauties...even though the guitar feels like a $1000.oo instrument, they don`t sell?for nearly that much in Japan...yet...though demand is on the rise. I`ve posted a link to a Dynamic web site on line museum here before so do a search to see some real beautiful Yamahas from their early years, and hear some played too.Any questions don`t be shy, I`ll see iffin I can answer some of em.Congratulations on a beautiful guitar...by the way, some of mine looked like they hadn`t been cleaned in over 40 years, so it was nice to give them a second shot at life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zenbu Posted July 5, 2008 Members Share Posted July 5, 2008 I guess I`ve put all my No. 150 pics on disc but I do have a pic of my No.100, basically the same label as my 150s... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fmw Posted July 5, 2008 Members Share Posted July 5, 2008 I sold my CG150C on Ebay several months ago. I got $210 for it. I regret having sold it. It was during one of those "cleaning house" fits. The fit and finish of Yamaha guitars is usually outstanding. My 150 stayed out in the open on a guitar stand for 15 years. No cracks, no movement, no problems at all. It's really a pretty nice guitar. Instead of selling why not play it? I think I have a picture of my 150. Ah, here it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DADGADammit Posted July 5, 2008 Members Share Posted July 5, 2008 whats the action like at the 12th fret on these guitars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members makayafox Posted July 5, 2008 Author Members Share Posted July 5, 2008 Okay, to answer your question Zenbu this guitar,yes, has a plush yellow felt lined hard case with it. Very nice. ALso the JIs symbol is on the Label. So of what you are saying it is probably mid-60's model of younger. To answer your quesion Dadgadammit the 12th fret action is a little high but playable and doesn't fret out all the way down the line. Also thank you Zenbu for the detailed return message. I was baffeled by the lack of info on the No.150. I knew as I held the guitar that this guitar is of the highest quality and craftsmanship. So I am definetly going to keep this guitar. It is probably the best sounding classical guitar that I have ever played or heard. One question though about the specs. Zenbu, you had mentioned that the quitar is made of solid Palisander. As I look at this guitar it seems that their is two kinds of wood. The top looks like a completely different wood than the sides and body. I was guessing cedar top and rosewood body. So thanks once again for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zenbu Posted July 6, 2008 Members Share Posted July 6, 2008 the JIS symbol first appeared in 1963, that much seems certain in my books, and once laminates came into being the all solid Dynamics and first run classicals ended...was there some overlap in the production of the laminates and solids...may be, nobody really seems to know for sure and Yamaha was not keeping very records, but if there was evidently it didn`t last long because mid 60s is noted as the time when FGs came in and Dynamics went out...all the evidence points to the first run of classicals ending at the same time and the company introduced many laminated guitars...so a No. 150 with a JIS seems to have been made between 1963 and mid 60s...not very long which may explain the lack of data plus, these were not cheap priced guitars at the time, so they could have sold very few of them AND there were many top notch builders of nylon string guitars in Japan at that time so competition was fierce. Usually understood that the top of a guitar and the back and sides are not the same wood, though all mahogany guitars do exist, but when I say the No. 150 is listed as Palisander it means just the back and sides, the top may be cedar but I have some Dynamics that have spruce tops that have really changed color over the years to honey gold, cedar generally has a real nice aroma but mine just smell old...if there was a cedar smell, it`s long gone.What type of saddle did the guitar come with? An solid cylindrical type of bone like material? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members makayafox Posted July 6, 2008 Author Members Share Posted July 6, 2008 Wow, all of this is very helpful! It is so nice to know the facts. So the guitar was definetly made between 1963 and 1965 and the wood is Palisander rosewood and either spruce or cedar top. Just interested in why you have wondered about the saddle? The saddle looks like a solid cylindrical type of unbleached bone. WHen I get a camera I will be sure to post them here of the entire guitar and case. One last question.. If you where to put a real value on this guitar in excellent condition what would that look like and also in the future do you believe that the value of this guitar will rise.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zenbu Posted July 6, 2008 Members Share Posted July 6, 2008 well these are the facts according to the Japanese folks who write the books and from what I`ve gathered on line over the last few years...I wouldn`t bet the farm that everything is carved in stone, as I said Yamaha wasn`t keeping great records and probably everybody who was directly involved in the building of these guitars is either retired or dead...maybe add senile to the list. From what I know, it was made after 1963 but hard to say for sure when they stopped production completely, may have been some overlap with the all laminated models, but seems 1965/1967 somewhere in there.I asked aboput the saddle because I have seen fat saddles, thin saddles, brass saddles, Japanese toothpicks used as saddles...they`re like miniature Japanese chopsticks if you`ve never seen them...I`m just trying to piece together which saddles were stock, but it seems they varied. Value eh...in Japan I`ve never seen a No. 150 go for more than a couple of hundred dollars on line...20,ooo or so thousand yen...hard to believe but welcome to the world of Yamaha, one of the most underrated builders out there, which is both good and bad...good of we`re buying em...bad if we`re selling. One may go for more depending on timing, and they don`t show up that often here either and hard to say if they will ever become really valuable, hey the red labels are gettin` up there and I believe the only reason the Dynamics and early classicals haven`t caught up yet is because they not as well know, Yamaha didn`t export as many of those as they did the FGs and I`m guessing because of the trouble they had with split tops on exports they evidently put down to climate change, which in turn led to laminated tops and after the first two FG light green labels came out, all hell broke loose and they went nuts with all kinds of models. I only have one FG, just wanted to know what all the fuss was about, but honestly I`m so happy with my Dynamics, I`ll stick to those...though if I come across an FG 1000, 1500 or 2000 I`ll be all over it...but those are going for a few thousand dollars these days.I`ll repost the links to a site dedicated to the Dynamics which also has a couple of pics at the bottom of classicals from the same series as yours. http://www.geocities.jp/mmasmcb/catalog.html a little audio of some Dynamic models... http://www.geocities.jp/mmasmcb/kyoku/original.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zenbu Posted July 7, 2008 Members Share Posted July 7, 2008 just played one of my 150s for a bit and noticed that one has the JIS on the top right corner of the label. Also remembered something else...the books say Yamaha reached 6 digit serials at the start of the 60s, if you look inside the sound hole you may find a serial stamped onto the block where the neck meets the body, see what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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