Members Satchel Posted May 2, 2012 Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 I was given a Taiwanese (tan label) Yamaha FG-75 the other day. I put a new set of EJ-16 lights on it and fussed with it a little bit today. It basically sounds like dog doo. Here's what I can see with my untrained eye that is wrong with it physically. The bridge is split between each of the pin holes but not outward to the ends of teh bridge. The bridge is deeply slotted by the strings forward of the pin holes, enough that you have to pull the strings backward to get them out of the slots to change them. The saddle is about gone. There is very very little saddle holding the string above the bridge. The upper frets are in bad shape. There are litterally dips in the frets above the g and b strings on the first 3 frets and all look worn worse than any guitar I've ever held in my hands. So the question is...is it worth it to have all this fixed and end up with a Yamaha FG-75? If so is it something I might tackle myself, as I have a very extensive woodworking background, but no guitar work experience. What will the parts alone cost, and what would the total cost be if I had someone who knew what they were doing fix it? I have a couple of other guitars that are in good shape so it's not a matter of this being my only instrument, I just had it given to me and would like to see if it's salvageable. If it's going to cost very much to have it fixed, ie. $100 I probably won't do it. There are just to many guitars for sale out there for $100 that are at least as good an instrument as this FG-75 to begin with to put much into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Opa John Posted May 2, 2012 Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 Look at it like this. If it was in really nice shape it might be worth $100, tops. And I'm pretty sure you could easily spend more than that to get it into nice shape. Part of the reason I say this is because I see stuff like this (below) all the time on Craigslist. This one has a solid top AND comes with a hardshell case. http://columbus.craigslist.org/msg/2989951872.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted May 2, 2012 Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 Satchel, welcome to HCAG. First, there is quite a bit of love for old Yamies on this forum, but they come with a very big price. I happen to own an old FG-180 and think it is a wonderful guitar, but I also know what goes wrong with them. For background, I also build and work on guitars so I sorta know what I'm talking about here. That was not a high quality guitar when it was new - the tan label ones were not as desirable as some of the others (red). I paid a hundred bucks for mine in 1969, yours was probably less. You sometimes see them on evil bay for what I consider way too much money - several hundred dollars - but lets just be honest that it is not a valuable guitar. It may, however sound decent if it was fixed up. Which brings us to the next problem - these things are fairly hard to fix. Yours needs at least two things - the bridge must be replaced and the neck must be reset. Normally these aren't too difficult (but not do it yourself tasks if you don't have the tools or experience - the problem is Yamaha used glue that is very difficult to get apart. So if if you take it to a repair person if they are smart they won't even consider it, if they don't know about the glue they will quote you $50-100 for the bridge and $300 plus for the reset. However, there are a couple of techniques that people who know Yamies use to get around this - we have one very experienced person on this forum - he may chime in. The neck reset technique involves sawing thru the joint and making a bolt on out of it - if you can find someone who does this it might be possible to safe the old git. If I saw some pictures of the bridge I could give you a better idea what is involve here too. So, don't give up yet, but also don't put a lot of faith in this thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katopp Posted May 2, 2012 Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 Raise the nut and put in a taller saddle and tune it in Open G and slide the hell out of it, man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members geek_usa Posted May 2, 2012 Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 if you want an FG-75, list that guitar on eBay AS-IS needing some repairs, and get $20 out of it. Then turn around and buy an FG-75 for $100. Some Luthier will get some satisfaction and glee out of spending time restoring that instrument in his/her spare time. That's worth more than money... well, you could tell yourself that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Satchel Posted May 3, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 3, 2012 Exactly what I thought. I have already put $4.49 in a new set of EJ-16s and I ain't spending another dime on it. Freeman. I have been around a while, but thank you very much for the welcome. The stry that goes with this guitar is that a freind of mine who is an Anesthesiologist, ( I am an RN and work in surgery) walked in one morning and said...Dang, I should have thought of you. I just gave a guy an old acoustic guitar I was going to cut up for firewood. I was a little put off, but found out that he had given it to another old RN from surgery who is a friend of mine and he really didn't want it either. He has several including a Martin of some sort. Long story short, he handed it off to me. Not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I have it now, including an old broken down pasteboard case. Anybody want it??? I'm taking bids???? Can I get a $10 bid.. Who's gonna give me ten here??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FretFiend. Posted May 3, 2012 Members Share Posted May 3, 2012 FK, I thought you were looking for a test subject for your neck resetting efforts. Well, here ya go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members killindux Posted May 3, 2012 Members Share Posted May 3, 2012 Raise the nut and put in a taller saddle and tune it in Open G and slide the hell out of it, man! That's what I did with mine...do this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted May 3, 2012 Members Share Posted May 3, 2012 FK, I thought you were looking for a test subject for your neck resetting efforts. Well, here ya go. Actually, I am. Satchel, I have been looking for a one to practice on before I try to do my beloved old 180 (it was my first guitar, I'm kind of attached to it). Here is the deal, I would pay shipping to me - UPS ground or whatever you wanted to use. Get a free box from one of your local guitar stores, I'll talk you thru packing it. I would document the repair attempts for the forum and if it is sucessful I would either donate it to a local music program that gets instruments for kids or I would donate it for the next HCAG caper (Satch, you'll learn all about capers if you hang here very long). I'd also return it to you, but you'd have to pay the shipping back. No promises, I could muck this up terribly, but I have been look for a donor at yard sales and such, and this was what I was going to do if I found one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Satchel Posted May 4, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 4, 2012 Freeman, let me think on it for a few days. It has a cheap POS case with it and a couple of pieces of bubble wrap. That owuld certainly help in the packing. I'll get back to you in a few. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted May 4, 2012 Members Share Posted May 4, 2012 Freeman, let me think on it for a few days. It has a cheap POS case with it and a couple of pieces of bubble wrap. That owuld certainly help in the packing. I'll get back to you in a few. You should take a lot of time, even put this away under your bed or something. As FF says, I have been casually looking around for an old Yamie to practice on before I do brain surgery on mine and my whole plan was, if it was sucessful I would donate it to a good cause. I've done this a couple of times before, it lets me learn a repair technique and gets a guitar in someone's hands who needs one. A couple of those have happened on the forum, a couple with the local music program. My suggestion is to hold on to it, if you know anyone who works on instruments have them take a look, and if sometime down the line you think this makes sense let me know. Otherwise, honestly, it wouldn't hurt to wick a little CA or epoxy in the pin hole cracks, throw a taller saddle in there, put some mediums on it, tune to D or G and learn some bottleneckin'. My FG-180 is an incredible bottle necker - slide on in and give it a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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