Thanks Ted! There’s a reason why I trusted you with these repairs. For clarity sake, this is my guitar, which was originally handed down to me from my grandpa when I started taking guitar lessons about 20 years ago. It’s been setup a few times and no one could get the relief right and the action was tough to play through. But Ted nailed it. Thanks again!
You know after watching and waiting for everyone of Ted’s new videos to come out. Everything he did seems pretty routine for setting up an acoustic guitar. Stuff I’ve watched him do many time. I guess my perspective is jaded from watching these videos. I might even say I’m a RU-vid certified expert! Lol
To whomever stole my 1981 Yamaha acoustic out of my VW Beetle in 1983, I sincerely hope that my guitar now needs a neck set and has the metal pins in it.
In 1971 I bought my first REAL guitar, before I headed off for college. It was a Yamaha FG 75. Before that, I had a $30 Silvertone guitar from Sears. Which I got for Christmas in 1966. Those old Yamaha guitars from the 70s are great guitars and they're worth putting a little bit of money into them after all these years. Thanks for the great video. It brought back memories.
I remember in the ‘80’s that was why Rik Emmett said he loved being a Yamaha endorsee so much. Apparently his deal included whatever they produced and manufactured, not just guitars.
One of your impressive qualities is your knowledge and experience regarding different guitar building methods of so many manufacturers! I'm sure it helps keep you out of trouble but its interesting as a free lesson for us subscribers as well. Its always a very interesting and entertaining 20-30 minutes!
I have repaired several solid top Yamaha guitars from the 70s and 80s for my students. You perfectly described the frustrating neck joints. As always, THANK YOU for sharing Professional experience and insight! However, the acoustic quality and balance of the Yamaha tone wood top construction, and true temperament intonation throughout the fret scale, share the precision, acoustic quality and dynamic range with our vintage Gibson B- series, 1952 Guild F- 20 and Martin guitars. Kind Sir, you are correct that older Yamaha guitars are not worth much as "collector value", but when they are good, they are very, Very Good. When an old Yamaha is donated to our school, I rejoice, because it is Worth Repairing, and will last...knowing that the neck block will be misery if I have to take it apart (huge smile).
Wow. Nice sound from that old Yamaha! And really clear and concise explanations, Ted. Being able to teach well is a gift not many have. Multi-talented, you are. Master craftsman and excellent instructor. Good on ya. Thanks for the videos.
Thank you so much. I have a very weird guitar from the Sicilian school with very minimal bracing and I was considering my options on the belly, you've cleared up a lot of thoughts
It's great to see you work on one of these! I have a Yamaha FG Dreadnought that my father bought in the late seventies. It's a great sounding guitar, I love to play it!
Great detail on the value of faults and fixes on acoustic guitars Some I've discovered and thanks for your expertise on those I suspected being the case
Love these videos..the way you share you vast knowledge and understanding of stringed instruments in a clear and concise way is very educational..thank you sir!!
A while ago I read that some of the Yamaha Red Labels used laminate on the top to help mitigate warping due to the humidity of shipborne transport to North America. For some reason, perhaps by lucky accident, these laminate topped guitars ended up sounding really nice.
Wonderfully informative ...as always! I really appreciate you so generously sharing of your vast expertise. Thank you! Cheap guitars with plywood tops can get a huge belly below the bridge. Many years ago I made my own bridge doctor to flatten the plywood top of a road weary Mansfield D28 look alike. It still plays just fine.
I'm a big fan of vintage Yamaha guitars (have a wonderful old Super Flighter in my collection), but I never knew about the dowel necks though. Thanks for the great info!
Great video.....All true information.....I've brought 14 pre '74 Yamahas back to life that needed everything. The first one I paid $50 the last one $300 plus shipping....They all got a minimum of a neck reset ,full refret and in most cases re contour the fret board from years of an overtightend truss rod..I am no longer afraid of performing a neck reset.....Martins are a piece of cake.Love these videos.
I have an old Yamaha DW5S My wife bought me new in the early 1980s, It needs a neck reset I tried my best I was able to loosen the fretboard extension but after an hour & half of steaming and heating I could not get the neck too move at all. Like you showed they packed the neck to body joint with so much adhesive, I finally gave up cleaned up the fretboard extension re glued it down but I had too refinish the guitar because I ruined the finish from all the steam and it’s a tobacco burst finish so it was a bitch. Thanks for all you do.
I have a late 60s fg 75. Looks like this one is in very similar condition. It needs new tuners and possibly a neck set but I still love to play it. It is very light and resonate. Fantastic sounding guitar.
Great information in this video, would not have thought a burr on a tuner peg hole could cause string breaks. The FG180 from this period is my favorite, I have one and my brother has one. The L series from the 90s are also fantastic. I have a '91 LS11 that is the one I reach for most, beautiful tone and very easy to play.
I watch pretty much any talking video on RU-vid at 1.5 or 1.75x speed, since it always seems like a waste of time to watch them at 1x. I did this for you as well Ted, but the last little while I find I enjoy watching at 1x and savoring your videos like a fine wine. Keep up the great work!
You cautioned me against attempting a reset on my F453 a few years back. Very wise council as it happens. The Yammy is now my bottle neck banjo.. Thanks.
Your following grows! I like the demo after the repair you do. You play enough to let us hear the guitar but you don’t go too long so as for some to lose interest. When I demo a customer’s guitar, I do it first then let the customer demo. That way they get both perspectives of the sound, in front and in person. I know you choose repairs that don’t replicate other videos you have done, but you can post any and all repairs no matter how simple or involved, or similar to others because let’s face it, you are teaching about that particular instrument. They are different! I highly enjoy seeing a new video and Iread the comments to see how many have the same opinion as I do. Most do! Love from NW Colorado. Thanxz
Ted, love your videos. Have learned so much. Coincidentally, I am adding a Bridge Doctor to a Yamaha FG75, same as yours in the video, later today. Thanks, for all the information and great teaching style.
I have this same guitar and did the steam application clamping the neck down for 4 weeks. It made it playable and lowered the action. It did spring back a bit more than I wanted so I may do a second try in a few weeks. It’s had strings on it for a month and hasn’t returned to it’s original state. It will be interesting to see what happens over more time. It’s a cheap experiment so what the heck. It sure sounds sweet.
Put one in my old Fender last night. Watched a lot of JLD and belly bow clips and for sure it is an issue, but you're the _first_ luthier I've seen also mention neck rise/top sink at the heel end. Sure enough, mine's got that too but luckily not very bad.
My first guitar was an FG75. Many years and dollars later has led to a different class of guitar, but I'm still grateful to that old Yamaha for getting me started.
I have an FG 170 bought in '74 and from new the neck had a pronounced lean making a very high action. I got a luthier to do a neck reset and he did it by peeling back the top part of the back, however he did it it has worked. Regarding the truss rod a friend has an FG 180 and it was supplied with a small socket spanner to adjust the rod. Both models have laminate bodies.
That, drill reminds me of the thing I used to scramble my eggs when I was a kid lol. It was a manual egg beater. Basically a manual hand mixer. I loved using that thing as a kid lol
Thank you so much. Never heard about that Bridge Doctor. I do own a 1973 Yamaki De Luxe wich was my first steel string. After a failed re glueing of the bridge that was made by a guitar shop i decided to fix it by myself the dirty way screwing the bridge down with 3 screws against a stripe of tin inside the guitar. That was almost 40 years ago. But after some time the whole soundboard bended and it was no more playable. Now 2 days ago after collecting dust for decades I attached an self copied bridge doctor. And she is still in tune.(almost). And . That sound shot me on a journey into the good times of my youth. I really love it. Thank you very much.
I am a beginner, but I can do pretty neat jobs. I usually take those guitars, that are not "worth" fixing. It's good practice for me, and the customer walks home happily. As I live in Ukraine, I started to target old, cheaply made soviet guitars and rebuild them to be really good. They usually sell for next to nothing, but after a 100-150$ repair, i make them sound like a 3-400$ guitar
This was a very useful video. My Dad found one of these at the dump heavily beaten, but decided to se what I could do to fix it. Its a 1974, made in Taiwan model. Love your channel.
I just did a reset, got lucky. hide glue.dovetail. bridge plate was not much thicker than a business card. bad belly. doctor would not work. job was challenging. really enjoyed your video.
Thank you very much for this video I have a Yamaha FG-200 with action that is similar to this FG-75. I now have a better idea what to expect when I take my guitar in for service.
I play guitar for over 45 years now. You've taught me how to eliminate all those little bugs that have bothered me with cheap guitars! Thank you very much
I am not a guitar repair person but I love your videos. I love the way you show us what it takes to keep these instruments alive. When you do a neck reset would it be possible to remove the heel plate of the neck and drill a hole from there and run your heat wand in from the bottom? Just curious. Thanks for the videos.
I have one of these hanging on my wall! A 1971 I believe, I've been considering trying a neck reset on it, but maybe I'll just be happy with the action as is Lol
Glad it didn't take too much to get the guitar playing again. Though not necessary in this case, I was wondering about an alternative to a Traditional Neck reset, particularly on tricky/complicated heel joints. Why not simply remove the fingerboard, and shim (a long thin wedge) underneath it so a correct string angle can be achieved at the bridge? Obviously, some cleanup and leveling of the neck might be necessary/useful. A correction for any underbow could be made on the neck when gluing back the fingerboard, if it was clamped accordingly.
Another enjoyable video. Godin and Seagull guitars use that neck/body sanding technique. And some Breedlove guitars come from the factory with a bridge doctor.
This is an older video I know but I am commenting on the steam neck reset. I have an old 72 Fg 160 nippon gakki Yamaha I bought a few years back it sounds fantastic, very loud and cuts through all other acoustics ive heard even 3000 euro martins and Taylor's maybe not as refined but great in sessions, its just louder than all of them. I get looks from people with my cheap old battered Yamaha. I watched the Australian Luthier who i learned it off, I forget his name. My Yamaha needed a neck reset but was not willing to attempt myself or pay 300 or more. I really got a great result, I clamped down the neck and steamed it every 4 or 5 days for 4 weeks. It hasn't really sprung back either. I got the action down to 2.5 mm at the 12th which is reasonable compared to 4 now before this I had already sanded the saddle down to a minimum and some off the bridge The only thing is to not steam it too much in the one go just for maybe 30 secs at a time until the area of the soundboard around the area where fretboard meets the soundboard the feels warm outside to touch. If you steam it too much the laquer begins to melt 😂. Also an after effect of the steaming was a slight paleness on either side of the fret board on the soundboard leading onto the soundboard from the stretching of the wood. Maybe if i was more careful this would not have happened. But now Im so happy with the setup after the steaming I would do it again. The guitar plays and sounds fantastic now. The steaming is supposed to be even more effective on solid wood guitar's, those old Fg Yamaha s are mostly all laminate. Its definitely worth the try just to see what happens! great video man. There is merit in it and I suppose if you do some experimentation and warn people of side effects its worth a try. From Ireland..
70's Yamahas are very nice indeed. They seemed to be better made for their price than any other acoustic out there, which may be why they claimed a good bit of the market. As usual a lovely piece of work .
Nicely made video. I like the way you explain why a guitar repairer might turn down a job. Have you ever tried to fix a neck block that was leaning back from the force of the strings over time by using something similar to banjo rim rod to exert pressure from the end block to the neck block? I did this once on a friend's guitar because it would have been a waste of money for him to have the neck reset. But it was an opportunity for me to try this as an experiment. I figured the guitar would explode from the force but it didn't and the action came way down and turned an uplayable guitar to one that's has pretty good action. It's kind of like the "tone bar" that Fender used in Fender acoustic guitars in the '60's. In fact that's where I got the idea. I saw a patent drawing in one of my guitar books - "Fender - The Sound Heard Round The World", I think.
I understand the value/sentiment problem. I have an old Goya acoustic, made in Korea, that I've owned since 1983. I put a Fishman pick up in it. At one point, re-fretted it myself because no one would work on it. I did a poor job, being my first time at it. The epiphone case it is in is worth more than the guitar, yet I can't seem to part with the instrument. I played so many gigs with it and it has been everywhere with me all these years.
A fantastic analysis of the guitar making process of that era in Japan and the issues it raises when repair time comes. Clearly. No one in the factory thought these things would ever last long enough to get your kind of TLC.
Learning so much from your posts! Thank you. I noticed a bench planet on one of the videos. Are you happy with it and what brand and model is it? Thanks!
Ah yes! " Hammer down with your Yamahama!" Sounds great. Somewhere I've read that the Bridge Doctor will add to the tonality of the guitar, maybe that extra ring that you got there?
I just got one of these and for the price Im sure I could have made 20-30 of them. I thought they were gonna be a nice piece of hard maple with an oak dowel but no, it's softer than pine. I got it in with no problem and while it actually raised my action it sure did sweeten the tone. I'll be shaving the bridge plate down. That seems to be the way to go.
Thanks for all of your great videos! This one is timely for me as I just took the neck off an old Global 402s this morning. It has the four dowel pins you describe, and the steel truss bar. This is basically a lost cause as the strings were about 1/2” above the last fret, but watching your videos inspired me to tinker with it and I won’t lose anything if I screw it up. I used cold vinegar to soften the glue and had it off in about 10 minutes.I suspect I will have to cut the dowels off and go to the floating tenon as you suggest in this video, possibly in addition to the bridge doctor (which I just learned about, thank you). If I had watched this video before I took the neck off I would’ve just tried the steam and clamp method as an experiment. Have you ever seen anyone put a wedge in between the fretboard and the top as a way of compensating for a large dip?
@@dennisyounkin644 おはようございます。good morning from Japan(9:30 am Feb 7th Sunday). Canadian luthier treated Japanese old guitar. thank his great skills and 職人魂(しょくにんたましい shoku-ninn-tama-shii. it means craftsman spirit).
@@freesiaboysince goodmorning, I only said Ohayōgozaimasu knowing its morning in Japan and evening here in Michigan USA. i agree he is Great Craftsman and i enjoy his videos very much. I have lived over 9 months in Japan over the years and hope to go back someday... I work for Toyota here in the USA and work with many Japanese staff and always say Ohayōgozaimasu in the morning and they say Good morning to me... :)
I thought you were going to break out and sing Bobs Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice” for a second there at the end. Always enjoy your videos .... Alberta Dave 🇨🇦
I have traditionally poo poohed yamaha guitars...I must now reconsider and regret all the ones I have pass by with out even a glance....I enjoy your videos...You are skilled indeed.
