MADE IN JAPAN 1973 GORGEOUS YAMAHA GC8D CLASSICAL GUITAR IN MINT CONDITION

Brand: Yamaha
;Country/Region of Manufacture: Japan

MADE IN JAPAN 1973 GORGEOUS YAMAHA GC8D CLASSICAL GUITAR IN MINT CONDITION

Please read my 7 days return policy at the bottom of the page.

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If you are thinking about a purchase of a used vintage guitar you need to accept the fact that such guitars may have cosmetic flaws solely associated with their age, but not related to any particular damage. For example their finishes change their look over the years and are not glossy and crystal clear like on brand new guitar. In addition, such guitars may require fret dressing, new tuners, string action adjustment or a simple repair before they can be fully enjoyed. I see guitars as musical instruments, not as furniture. When I describe guitar as being in excellent condition I don't talk only about its cosmetics but mostly about its structural & functional condition, sound and playability. If you are seeking a perfect looking, low maintenance guitar you should abandon a thought about buying used vintage one, especially from me.

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If you’d like to own equal quality instrument available at lower price take a look at El Vito Concert R guitars postings.

Yamaha GC-8D in mint condition

This a quite old Yamaha guitar, made in 1973 by Toshio Kato, one of the best luthiers ever working for Yamaha Corporation. At this time Japanese guitar makers started to introduce worldwide customers to their, pretty soon highly regarded, products. They offered the highest possible level of craftsmanship with great deal of attention to even the tiniest details.

This guitar doesn’t have any cosmetic flaws that could be seen by the naked eye.

It is a great instrument to play, especially since so well matured spruce top produces pretty loud and sweet sound, comparable to much more expensive guitars. It is not different from much higher priced Masaru Kohno guitars from the same era.

Priced 80 000 yen in 1973 it was very expensive guitar. The same grade guitar by 1975 would be relabeled to GC15 and by 1978 to GC20.

If this guitar was offered for sale in USA in 1973 it would priced at least $1000. A purchase power of $1000 in 1984 equals to a purchase power of $4,500 today.

It is definitely one of those guitars with “replacement value” much higher than its retail price at any moment in time. You need to experience this guitar yourself to understand how much value they offer, despite their very moderate retail prices in 1971-74.  Today naturally they represent also quite a bit of historical value.

 

SPECIFICATIONS:

GC8D

Year(s) Sold:

1971-74

 

Top:

Solid Ezo Spruce

 

Back / Sides:

Solid Indian Rosewood

 

Neck:

Honduras Mahogany

 

Fingerboard:

Ebony

 

Bridge:

Jacaranda

 

Color(s):

Natural

 

String Length:

662mm

 

Notes:

Hand Crafted

Strings Felipe Conde Concert 650 Soft Tension

 

Its current action is set to 3.5 mm under E6 and 3.00 mm under E1, with extra room on the saddle allowing for experiments with lower action.

This guitar will be shipped in almost new ARIA Hard Shell Case.

To Australia it will be shipped in brand new Hard Polyfoam Case.

In order to ship a package with guitar to Australia at affordable rate +/- $150.00 (USPS International Priority Mail), length of such package can’t exceed 42” and its girth (2 x times width + 2 x height) + length can’t exceed total of 97”. If you want original or non-original hard shell case, the size of the package will qualify it only for USPS/Fedex Global Express Guaranteed  at $400.00 price.

Real Value of Japanese Vintage Guitars

The key to understand value of vintage Japanese guitars is to acknowledge galloping devaluation of Japanese yen in 1960s & 1970s. This devaluation was somewhat slower in 1980s. The best measure of this devaluation is Starting Yearly Salary of Japanese College Graduate (SYSJCG).

SYSJCG in 1965 was 19 600 yen, in 1969 – 34 600 yen, in 1970 39 200 yen, in 1972 – 62 300 yen, in 1975 79 200 yen, in 1977 121 200 and in 1980 - 163 000 yen.

During 1960s and most of 1970s model numbers of Japanese guitars were strictly interconnected with their prices in Japanese yen. In late 1970s and during following decades model numbers were no longer strictly associated with their prices. Many Japanese guitar makers introduced model names instead of model numbers. Others were still using model numbers with addition of letter abbreviations or other symbols.  

The best and only logical approach while evaluating real value (real grade) of vintage Japanese guitar is to compare its price in Japanese yen with SYSJCG during the year guitar was made.

Any guitar priced 100 000 in 1970 (labelled usually as No10) would be priced 200 000 yen in 1975 (relabeled to No20 or 2000), 300 000 yen in 1977 (labelled as No3, No30 or 3000). Starting in 1977 Masaru Kohno introduced his model No50 priced at 500 000 (skipping theoretical model 40). Soon other famous Japanese luthiers did the same. By 1983 Kohno started using model names instead numbers and was raising their prices as he was pleased. Naturally soon other Master luthiers did the same.

Knowing all of that, you can bet on that Masaru Kohno No50 made in 1982 is practically the same quality as Kohno No15 made in 1972, or Kohno no20 made in 1975 or Kohno No30 made in 1977. I know it for a fact.

The lowest grade models currently made by Matsuoka workshop are M75 and MH75. They are commonly considered as “beginner guitars”. Matsuoka model M30 made in 1973 is simply far, far better instrument. It is naturally better than model M50 made in 1977, model 80 made in 1982 or model M100 made in 1990. At present, the highest grade Matsuoka models are M300 and MH300. They absolutely stand no chance in competition with model M150 made in 1975… or model M200 made in 1977.

It is very important to mention that if modern era luthiers are using 40 years old woods to make a classical guitar, its price is at least $8000.

Some info related to this guitar:

Yahoobuckarro.blogspot.com

The guitar enthusiast market has just started opening up to old Yamaha guitars during the past couple of years. This would include many of their acoustic and electric guitars produced from the 1960s through at least the early 1980s.

A couple of their classical guitars produced during the 60s are already going for nearly $2,000. 

It wasn’t until the 70s that Yamaha started producing some extremely good classical guitars that were also inexpensive and are still a real bargain today. The better 70s models had solid spruce tops with laminated rosewood backs and sides. Necks were generally made from nato or mahogany. The lower priced models had solid cedar tops. And any honest builder will tell you that it simply doesn’t matter whether or not the back and sides are laminated. Laminated backs and sides tend to sound the exact same as solid wood and some will argue that they’re stronger and will last longer. 

 The back and sides of a guitar contribute very little to an acoustic guitar’s tone. (The one exception is cypress which produces a sound with very little mids.) They’re just there to form an anchor for the top and neck and also to produce an air chamber to push the sound out. They don’t really vibrate at all. 

It’s all about the tops. It’s getting harder and harder to find good spruce from which to make guitar tops nowadays. On sub-$1,500 guitars the spruce tops are often made of wide grain that’s twisted and terribly musical sounding. Not all spruce is equal. The good stuff is saved for guitars costing twice that. Classical guitars have often used both spruce and cedar for tops along with redwood now and then. The problem with cedar is that it simply isn’t as strong as spruce and has a tendency to crack over the years. This is especially problematic with the greater tension of strings.

Kids today often think they’re getting a bargain and a great guitar because it’s listed as being made with solid woods all around for under $1,500 when in reality many of these guitars have twisted grain spruce tops or weak cedar and koa. A guitar with laminated backs and sides that has a truly great spruce top will sound better and last much longer.

Yamaha, Yairi, and a handful of other manufactures were already making guitars with rosewood laminated backs and sides along with top grade spruce tops decades ago. They often had plastic saddles and nuts to reduce costs, but those are easily swapped out for bone.

This particular Yamaha you’re looking at is a 1977 G-250S. This was Yamaha’s second most expensive classical guitar between 1977 and 1981. It sold for $300 new back then (about the equivalent of $1,200 today). The G-255S was their flagship model and sold for $360. As near as I can tell the G-255S was made from the same woods except for a jacaranda bridge whereas the G-250S had a more traditional rosewood bridge. The G-255S models are so hard to find that I’ve only actually seen one. 

Take special note of the medium grained spruce and how silky it is. You just can’t find spruce of that quality anymore on a guitar costing less than $3,000.

Old Yamahas are a great deal children. Look for models made between 1977 — 81 starting with the letter G such as the G-235S, G-240, G-245S, G-250S, and G-255S. Those all had spruce tops, rosewood backs/sides, nato necks, ebony fretboards and are the cream of the crop in my opinion. They also had the longer concert scale size of 260mm with a 52mm nut width. Also, in 1981 they came out with the G-260S model which is essentially the same as the G-250S. They made those through 1984, and they're also very fine guitars. 

Returns

If you are not happy with your purchase you may return the guitar for a refund of a purchase price of a guitar.  The cost of shipping both ways will not be refunded.

All you need to do is to:

1.    Notify me within 5 days after delivery   

2.    Pack guitar the same way I do it, using the same box and materials

3.    Ship it back to me within next 2 days

 

Another words I expect this “trail” period to occur within +/- 7 days. Naturally guitar has to be returned in the same condition as I ship it to you. This is simply honest offer for honest buyers. My goal is to make your purchase as risk free as possible. I know very well that spending $1000 of hard earned money is not emotionally easy undertaking for majority of guitar lovers. I am sure that reading my feedback can ease a bit your “purchase anxiety” but it still will be there no matter how hard I try.

Victor                                                              

P.s. If you'd like to check my other posted on E-bay guitars click on the links below:

http://youtu.be/W1FaCjodgZM

http://youtu.be/_3tJW9ljjdM

http://youtu.be/ExVwfhLy1gQ

http://youtu.be/XNdeSWxb2nU

http://youtu.be/mecVgriaKJ0

http://youtu.be/O9ErnhZhDxw

http://youtu.be/ceVTybPnq7c

http://youtu.be/Zyz8eZeTSRQ

http://youtu.be/T8bkPi4jhss

MADE IN JAPAN 1973 GORGEOUS YAMAHA GC8D CLASSICAL GUITAR IN MINT CONDITION

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