1970s Yamaha FG-331 FSOT - OM sized with a great sound

rexter

Selling my much-loved Yamaha FG-331 - in rough cosmetic condition but I love the way it plays and sounds. It's been my only acoustic for a while. It's a Taiwan model, same body shape and size as the Red label MIJ FG-110 and FG-130 i believe... Interestingly the heel stamp seems to read 130? Does anyone know if they shipped unused MIJ bodies to Taiwan for the beige labels in the '70s?

Anyways... it's a nice guitar, I like it, but my Dad just handed me down his old acoustic and I haven't got space for two and am past my gear hoarding days.

Neck is set pretty much flat, truss works great. I added a bone nut, intonated bone saddle and some really great Grover Sta-Tite tuners. The original tuners are long gone sorry. They were really terrible but I sold them for a silly amount on ebay last year 

Has a huge mahogaany neck, like a fat V-C shape. Frets are in generally good condition and present no playability issues.

Does it need a neck reset? I don't think so, but maybe one day. The action is great for me, super low in the lower frets. A bit higher up at the 12th of course. The saddle could be taken lower still I think.

Intonation and sound are great. I'd take an old Yamaha over many expensive new acoustic guitars. I tried a lot of high end stuff and tbh I found them all boring. This one is covered in dings and scratches with some pretty severe knocks as you can see, so not for anybody who likes case queens. Big ding by the headstock especially.

Clearly the lacquer on the headstock is milky, guessing this is a case of some moisture under it at some point historically. I always thought I might strip and relaquer this one, but same old story - was too busy doing this for a job to do my own guitars! Couple more milky spots around the heel joint too.

I'm really unsure about pricing for this. It's battered, but also a really great guitar. Online searches bring up pretty crazy prices (optimistic I think) approaching red label money, but it's NOT a red label!

I'm going to say £150 ono. I would also trade for a set of boutique Jazzmaster pickups or a Jazzmaster neck (allparts or similar) or large headstock strat neck maybe.

Collection would be good, I'm in Norwich - can meet in Cambridge if that helps. Could possibly find a box if that's a dealbreaker.

Here's the full album of photos detailing all the wear and dings etc close up:

https://imgur.com/a/NtsuVbL

Gandalph

What is the nut width and string spacing at the saddle on this please? 

rexter

Gandalph said:

What is the nut width and string spacing at the saddle on this please? 

Just measured up the nut width for another user and it’s 1 3/4”. Scale length is 25”.

saddle spacing looks to be 51mm, using a tape measure not calipers 

rexter

Thank you 

Gandalph

rexter said:

Thank you 

Thanks for that. 51mm across the saddle is too narrow for me. Interesting guitar though. 

guitarjack66

I hate relics but like really original wear and tear on a guitar like this one. You can really go afar with a Yamaha. 
Good luck with the sale.

DavidR

Wow. That's pretty authentically 'pre-loved'. Looks like it's been beaten up! Love it.

btw FG's usually considered to be square-shouldered dreadnought size rather than OM. The FS Yamaha range is more of an OM size.

In this condition your price is probably right although if it plays well and the action is good it might go for more even though not Red Label. There is a market for these old FG's because so many learnt on them back in the 1970's. They are loved. They were a definite, cheaper, playable, nice sounding alternative to everything else that was about at the time especially more expensive US instruments, especially Gibsons, which just weren't great at that point in time. There's a lot of them still in circulation and the FG marque has had numerous iterations up to the present 800 series and the FG7 and 9 which are more expensive. In the case of the FG9 much more expensive.

Good luck with the sale.

rexter

DavidR said:

Wow. That's pretty authentically 'pre-loved'. Looks like it's been beaten up! Love it.

btw FG's usually considered to be square-shouldered dreadnought size rather than OM. The FS Yamaha range is more of an OM size.

In this condition your price is probably right although if it plays well and the action is good it might go for more even though not Red Label. There is a market for these old FG's because so many learnt on them back in the 1970's. They are loved. They were a definite, cheaper, playable, nice sounding alternative to everything else that was about at the time especially more expensive US instruments, especially Gibsons, which just weren't great at that point in time. There's a lot of them still in circulation and the FG marque has had numerous iterations up to the present 800 series and the FG7 and 9 which are more expensive. In the case of the FG9 much more expensive.

Good luck with the sale.

Thanks for the info David! I'm not as knowledgeable on the acoustic side of things as electric so that's helpful to know. I always thought these were a bit similar in size to the 000 Martins, don't know if that's the case or not?

My friend has a red label FG150 which I covet, even though his needs a neck reset. The size and shape of it seem identical to my FG331. Only difference between the two that I feel/see is the neck on his has a slightly softer V and is slightly less chunky.

Once I put the bone saddle and nut on this guitar it really became a great sounding and playing guitar.

Wouldn't be selling if not for my Dad's old Landola having been given to me. 

DavidR

They do sound great. Some say that's because the tops on many early FG's were quite thin with a resulting nice tone. Occasionally you find older FG's have tops where the bridge has pulled up and the action is high because of that. But usually they're fine and one of the reasons they have always been and remain popular is because they have always been well made by Yamaha whether that's in China, Taiwan, Indonesia or Japan. 

lovestrat74

Jon, I've sent you a couple of PMs. Let me know either way.