AK47

The problem with MIJ guitars of that era is that there is a fine line between fact and folklore. There were so many guitars built and some of excellent quality but the builders and factories were interwoven. It reminds me of the USA in the 40s' when Regal, Harmony, Kay, and others built guitars for each other in Chicago. IMO The important thing on these guitars is to just take them on their own merit. Overall condition, quality of materials, Is it solid wood. How does it play, how does it sound, and quality of craftsmanship? By the way it's a beautiful guitar and if it's half as nice as you say it is you made a fantastick deal. There was a thread on Cortez guitars a few weeks back on this forum if you care to dig through the archives. Congrats on a beautiful guitar. We have some members who are in Japan that may have better answers if they happen to pass by.

Just wanted to add that the Daion guitars made in Japan in the 80s' had many models with brass saddles. They were great sounding guitars wih solid cedar tops. I wouldn't discount the brass but I think I need to A/B them to bone sometime. I found my next experiment thanks.

First don't be intimidated by the truss rod. A truss rod can always be readjusted. [unless you crank it so many times as to break it] If a saddle is sanded too far it must be replaced. The problem you are having sounds like you can't identify the problem. If you don't identify the problem properly you can't fix it. I think freeman Keller has a sticky post on guitar setup. Frets.com has tons of information by Frank Ford. I would suggest researching these areas and if you are still nervious about diagnosis or setup take the instrument to the nearest reputable guitar shop for a setup and ask the tech to walk you through it. Many will. With the info you would've allready learned following the tech will be easy. Setup is easy when you know what to look for. Remember "strings too high" is not the problem but the result of the problem. Good Luck:idea: