Everything Vintage Acoustic Guitar

[paulsarcia]

Hello everybody.

I am a new member here. just got my activation some hours ago.

I want to learn about everything I could possibly know about vintage acoustic guitars, because I've put up a blog(see my signature) about the guitars, but there seem to be very little information that can be found online..

Hope you can all help me.
Thanks gang!

[sneakypete]

any specific makers you are talking about? do you own any older acoustics? By your definition, I have a lot of vintage acoustics, all Japanese made...Yamaha, S. Yairi, Suzuki and a few more. oldest is a 1948 Suzuki nylon string but I have some early 50s Yamaha Dynamics too. Not easy finding info on them because it seems few thought about keeping records back then.

[paulsarcia]

none YET...

actually i've been playing guitar since i was eight, but as of today, i still haven't got my own. I've played one, though, my classmate's father's..

but what I want is information....

history, or trivia, or anything...
I hope this forum accepts people who want to learn new things...

[sneakypete]

well I`m relatively new here too, so far I haven`t gotten any death threats so seems to be a cool place.

[Spud1950]

Some good stuff here.

[sneakypete]

yeah theres some good info at that site but.... he`s completely off the mark with the stuff he`s written about the Yamaha Dynamic #40. I own 3, they were not export models so the info I have comes from Japanese guys who own some, and the Japan Vintage series of books I have with extensive articles on the Dynamics. They were not cheap copies of anything, they were Yamaha designs and the bracing was patented by the man who designed it. They are not plywood as he states but all solid wood...the S series Dynamics, the S-50 and S-70 were plywood...and came between the Dynamics and the light green label FGs that were introduced mid `60s. When the Dynamics #40 was first listed in 1961 it retailed for $65.oo, a time when the average Japanese office worker made $100.oo...a month! I know because I teach some retired folks here who told me, one of my guys said his starting salary was $84.oo a month.
I sent a mail to Frets but never heard anything back, I`m pretty sure I linked him up to the site I visit when I have questions about the Dynamic line...theres a small, but growing, nearly fanatical following of the old Yamahas here, I mean pre FG models, which every one seems to be after these days...me...I`ll stick to the all solid wood Dynamics, I pass by red label FGs here every day.
Heres the on line museum...a start for your old acoustic guitar blog...

http://www.geocities.jp/mmasmcb/catalog.html

and heres a link to somebody playing a few of the Dynamic models...there were quite a few...

http://www.geocities.jp/mmasmcb/kyoku/original.html

[paulsarcia]

Thanks spud1950 and sneakypete...

i'll be looking for those sites you mentioned...

however my search for info does not stop here, anyone, i still need your help...

[sneakypete]

it never stops, I`ve been looking for the last 13 years, even in Japan it`s not easy finding accurate info on many older MIJs. Record keeping was not a priority it seems and the Japanese authors who write books on the subject have difficulty sifting through everything, tons of opinions but little definitive...it`s even worse for electric guitars.
Be careful `cause theres lots of bad info on the web, once something gets written on line, it travels around the world in no time and it`s accepted as fact...Wikipedia is one of the worst offenders in my opinion. Best we can hope for is to share data on the guitars we own or have seen and compare notes.