Members OldStump Posted January 19, 2015 Members Share Posted January 19, 2015 Recently picked up this 1981 Yamaha LCX-5E and haven't been able to find alot of information on it. It comes up as "Model Number Not Found" on Guitarchive. I do know it was made in Taiwan, Yamaha customer support confirms based on the serial number that it was built in 1981, but didn't have much additional information about it. From what I can gather this model was only built in 1980 and 1981, with 1981 being the only year for this model to include a two way piezo pickup system. Wondering if the back and sides are solid or not, and would like some more information on the pickup system, and for that matter any other information on it would also be appreciated! Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted January 19, 2015 Members Share Posted January 19, 2015 At one time Yamaha had a serial number wizard on their web site (pretty well hidden if I recall). That might help. Otherwise, sorry, I can't help but welcome to HCAG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FretFiend. Posted January 19, 2015 Members Share Posted January 19, 2015 If the top is laminated wood, the transverse grain of the filler wood will show at the edge of the soundhole. Locate some distinctive grain feature in the wood on the outside of the guitar. Look at that same area inside the guitar. That grain feature will carry through from outside to inside if the wood is solid. IDK anything about the pickup system tho. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarist21 Posted January 19, 2015 Members Share Posted January 19, 2015 At one time Yamaha had a serial number wizard on their web site (pretty well hidden if I recall). That might help. Otherwise' date=' sorry, I can't help but welcome to HCAG[/quote'] http://www.yamaha.com/apps/guitararchives/serialnumberwizard.asp Here ya go, unfortunately Yamaha serials don't tell you about the model, just the date of manufacture. Best of luck to you getting that guitar figured out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldStump Posted January 19, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 19, 2015 Thanks guys for the input, appreciate it! I happened to try putting L5E into the Yamaha Acoustic Guitars "Guitarchive" (as opposed to LCX-5E) and got some basic information from that, in which I'm assuming that the CX denotes a cutaway model and otherwise an L5E and an LCX5E are built the same. From this, and comparing it with the information provided on an L10E of the same year I can gather that the back and sides of mine are Coral Rosewood, but not solid. It lists the L5E as having had no US distribution, which I guess justifies why there's not much information readily at hand on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldStump Posted February 8, 2015 Author Members Share Posted February 8, 2015 Just as an update, for any out there in the future that might be looking for information on this particular model, here's what I've managed to find out about it with the assistance of a very helpful Yamaha rep: The guitar turns out to be the same as a L-5A (which are listed as having been made from 1978-1984), the only difference being the options of the cutaway and pickup system on the LCX-5E. Solid spruce top, solid mahogany back and sides, African mahogany neck, Indian rosewood fingerboard and bridge, handcrafted. From what few listings on the internet I've been able to locate on the LCX-5 and LCX-5E, all that I've seen were built in 1981. They have a six digit serial number, the first five numbers pertain to the date of manufacture, the last one is the unit number. The L-5As of this year have a seven digit serial number (two available digits for unit number), and most of the other guitars produced in the Taiwan factory between 1971-2001 have an eight digit serial number. The Yamaha rep who I was dealing with told me that Yamaha doesn't keep records of production run numbers, but it's fairly safe to assume that the run on the LCXs was small given that they only allowed one digit for the unit number. The implication being that they didn't produce more than ten per day as that would have caused duplicate serial numbers. Yamaha Guitarchive lists the L-5A as having an original MSRP of $710, there is no listing for the LCX-5 and LCX-5E, but presumably they would have been more expensive than the L-5A. Another point of possible interest, I suspect this was the first acoustic cutaway offered by Yamaha, as I've not been able to find any older. If anyone has additional information on this model, I would certainly be interested in it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blind Dog Posted June 20, 2016 Members Share Posted June 20, 2016 I just stumbled upon an L series LCX-5E quite by accident. I had a feeling it might be a special Yamaha, and I was already aware of Yamaha being generally a solid performer. I couldn't be happier with mine. Well except for the lack of info available. Thanks Harmony Central, and OldStump. You have the market cornered. Afraid I can't offer any additional info other than a few pic's. And some fwiw advice: if you're offered one -- buy it. A flatpicker's dream. I'm old, had/have a lot of guitars, and this is my pick of the litter. They're a true "Gem". And the litter's not such a bad one to be the pick of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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