What to pay for Yamaha acoustic 12. String - FG-413S

MikeWoodward · March 2022

Hi I have the chance to buy a Yamaha acoustic 12 string FG-413S with hard case. Not sure how old but both guitar and case are immaculate. A beginner bought it to learn on! Any rough idea what would be a fair offer? Thanks Mike

Mellish · March 2022

If it was me, I'd offer 50-60% of new price

TTony · March 2022

It's not a particularly high-end model.

Does it play well and sound good? Does it call to you more than any number of similar options? Can you afford what's being asked, or do you need to cut the price by £50? Does the seller need the cash, or just want rid of it? Do you need to feel that you've come away with a "bargain"?

Being a Yam, you can probably assume decent materials and build quality, so it's going to be a safer buy than a no-name eBay alternative.

Check eBay / Reverb sales, take off the selling costs (20%) and use that as a starting point. I'd guess £200-£250 but wouldn't bother arguing the difference it is plays well and sounds good.

DavidR · March 2022

Here's the Yamaha London website price Mike for the current 12 string FG

Yamaha FG820-12 12-String Acoustic Guitar In Natural Finish | Yamaha Music London

You haven't said which year but there is from time to time a good market for old FG's which are much loved. I would think £150 - £200 would be a good price but depends on instrument and how much you want it.

Yamaha FG-413S-12 Solid Spruce Top 12-String Acoustic Guitar Natural with TKL case | Reverb

Caution with the tops on old FG's - especially 12-strings. One reason FG's were so popular (apart from being cheap and available) back in the day was that the (usually laminated) tops were quite thin and lightly braced. The tone was nice but over the decades the tops sometimes bow outwards at the bridge which makes the action quite bad and its difficult to compensate for this by the usual bridge saddle/nut/trussrod tinkering. This is a common but not invariable problem. Its a major rebuild and often not worth it on an uncherished instrument.

Good Luck. Sounds nice.

DavidR · March 2022

P.S. Unless you don't have info, these are the details on the FG 413S-12 from a yamahavintagefg.com .pdf I just looked at. I think $449 would have been original price so not much help to you. FG production runs are usually/always quite short for each different marque. If you've got the serial number you can put that into one of the Yamaha websites to get more info but your instrument almost certainly built between 2001 and 2004. So not old. The S stands for Spruce top. At the time this would have been a mid-range Yamaha.

"FG-413S-12 12 String Jumbo 2001 2004 4 $449.00 Spruce,Solid Sitka Nato Nato Rosewood Rosewood 100-118mm Natural High Gloss TMW28 (Chrome) 650mm"

MikeWoodward · March 2022

Thanks for the help everyone - probably will leave it as asking £375 which seems a bit steep

bertie · March 2022

learn on a 12 string !! crikey most peeps moan about how hard it is learning on an acoustic

Tannin · March 2022

Good value at half that price. A fair price is £200 to £300 absolute tops. The solid top adds value to it, but in the end it's still a fairly cheap guitar. (I have owned a very similar model for many years, but without the solid top.)

And learn on a 12-string? Why not? I did. (Not the Yamaha, an Eston.)

guitarjack66 · March 2022

bertie said:

learn on a 12 string !! crikey most peeps moan about how hard it is learning on an acoustic

No wonder he quit.

drofluf · April 2022

bertie said:

learn on a 12 string !! crikey most peeps moan about how hard it is learning on an acoustic

It’s an easy mistake to make

as a 16 year old my first (if you ignore the classical guitar that I fitted with steel strings) was a 12 string which I bought because I wanted to sound like my heroes of the time.

I knew very little at the time, as evidenced by the examples above, and learned even less and my parents sold that guitar when I left home. But I think a lot of first purchases are driven by the desire to imitate their idols rather than any practical considerations.

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What to pay for Yamaha acoustic 12. String - FG-413S

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