Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Categories
- 231.8K All Categories
- 22 >> Start Here <<
- 12 New Members
- 8 FAQs
- 83.3K Gear
- 37.9K Guitar
- 3.2K Acoustics
- 1.3K Bass
- 14.1K Amps
- 16.7K FX
- 157 Digital & Modelling
- 730 Other Instruments
- 7.9K Making & Modding
- 406 Gear Reviews
- 100 Guitar Reviews
- 72 Amp Reviews
- 119 FX Reviews
- 84 Other Reviews
- 734 Made in the UK
- 932 Theory
- 1.8K Technique
- 2K Live
- 3K Studio & Recording
- 2.1K Making Music
- 202 Events
- 15 Guitar Show 2018
- 762 Plug My Stuff
- 100.6K Classifieds
- 39.2K Guitars £
- 2.6K Acoustics £
- 132 LH Guitars £
- 836 Basses £
- 10K Parts £
- 17.6K Amps £
- 32.8K FX £
- 2.6K Studio & Rec £
- 5.8K Misc £
- 443 Personnel
- 52.7K Chat
- 35.3K Off Topic
- 987 Tributes
- 6.3K Music
In this Discussion
Become a Subscriber!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
UNPLANNED DOWNTIME: 12th Oct 23:45
OGD
Is "old guitar day" the opposite of "new guitar day".
This is my old Yamaha FG-512. I bought it from a mate in about 1989. He was the guitarist in the band I was playing bass in. I think he bought it new a few years prior to that. I forget the price, it might have been $600.
I played it alongside my best guitar at that time, a Maton six string, model unknown, and a variety of other things including a Regal resonator, my old Eston 12-string (aka Eko Ranger) and of course my beautiful 1959 Fender Telecaster bass. (Not actually mine, it was on long-as-you-like loan from a very generous friend.)
So not counting the bass, it was my second guitar. A year or two later, the band broke up and I gave the bass back to my friend. A bit after that my house was broken into and they took all the guitars except (for reasons unknowable) for a Strat copy of little value, and the Yamaha 12-string. (Why take the Eston, worth maybe $200, and leave the Yammy worth triple that? Beats me.)
Anyway, this was also about the time I lost my urge to play music. A year or two playing weddings and functions saw to that. Plus I was 30-something and maybe growing up a bit. And I had thrown myself into a new business, which very soon grew to take up every waking moment. (You think playing in front of a big crowd is exciting? Try running a fast-growing business.)
So with one thing and another, I never replaced the Maton or the Regal and I just played the 12-string. As time went by I gradually played it less and less. by the 2010s I was lucky to be picking it up twice a year.
Then in my middle fifties I retired. A few more years went by before - for no special reason - I started playing again. The old Yamaha 12-string was the only guitar I had, so that was the one I played. By this time it was pretty rooted, but it was good enough to rekindle the fire. After a few months of playing it every day, I went down the street and bought a lovely Maton 6-string. That was pretty much the end of the old FG-512; I seldom played it after that. I bought a few more nice guitars and gave the 12-string to a mate in Ballarat. I think he found it a bit too difficult to tune and he didn't keep it.
So this week just gone I brought it back here to Tasmania, polished it up a bit, and (not without a touch of regret) gave it to our favourite local op shop. ("Opportunity shop". I think the UK phrase for the same thing is "charity shop".) They can't be expected to be guitar experts and I didn't want them ripping themselves off by giving it away for $40, nor sticking some poor ignorant bastard $250 for a guitar not worth half that, so I recommended that they ask $100 for it, including the worn but serviceable hard case.
The FG was made in Japan around about 1985 and is all-laminate with a bound mahogany neck and what looks like ebony fingerboard and bridge. It was always a right bastard to tune, and singlehandedly brought about my lifelong hate for slotted headstocks. But once tuned, the tone was as good as anyone could expect and I got many years of faithful service out it.
Slowly, over the years, the belly started to bulge and that characteristic dip in front of the bridge appeared. But I do mean slowly - all things considered it stood up remarkably well, and even now it remains perfectly playable if you don't venture too far up towards the dusty end of the neck.
In its day (and in my day, when I was a 12-string player) it banged out a bloody good tune.
This is my old Yamaha FG-512. I bought it from a mate in about 1989. He was the guitarist in the band I was playing bass in. I think he bought it new a few years prior to that. I forget the price, it might have been $600.
I played it alongside my best guitar at that time, a Maton six string, model unknown, and a variety of other things including a Regal resonator, my old Eston 12-string (aka Eko Ranger) and of course my beautiful 1959 Fender Telecaster bass. (Not actually mine, it was on long-as-you-like loan from a very generous friend.)
So not counting the bass, it was my second guitar. A year or two later, the band broke up and I gave the bass back to my friend. A bit after that my house was broken into and they took all the guitars except (for reasons unknowable) for a Strat copy of little value, and the Yamaha 12-string. (Why take the Eston, worth maybe $200, and leave the Yammy worth triple that? Beats me.)
Anyway, this was also about the time I lost my urge to play music. A year or two playing weddings and functions saw to that. Plus I was 30-something and maybe growing up a bit. And I had thrown myself into a new business, which very soon grew to take up every waking moment. (You think playing in front of a big crowd is exciting? Try running a fast-growing business.)
So with one thing and another, I never replaced the Maton or the Regal and I just played the 12-string. As time went by I gradually played it less and less. by the 2010s I was lucky to be picking it up twice a year.
Then in my middle fifties I retired. A few more years went by before - for no special reason - I started playing again. The old Yamaha 12-string was the only guitar I had, so that was the one I played. By this time it was pretty rooted, but it was good enough to rekindle the fire. After a few months of playing it every day, I went down the street and bought a lovely Maton 6-string. That was pretty much the end of the old FG-512; I seldom played it after that. I bought a few more nice guitars and gave the 12-string to a mate in Ballarat. I think he found it a bit too difficult to tune and he didn't keep it.
So this week just gone I brought it back here to Tasmania, polished it up a bit, and (not without a touch of regret) gave it to our favourite local op shop. ("Opportunity shop". I think the UK phrase for the same thing is "charity shop".) They can't be expected to be guitar experts and I didn't want them ripping themselves off by giving it away for $40, nor sticking some poor ignorant bastard $250 for a guitar not worth half that, so I recommended that they ask $100 for it, including the worn but serviceable hard case.
The FG was made in Japan around about 1985 and is all-laminate with a bound mahogany neck and what looks like ebony fingerboard and bridge. It was always a right bastard to tune, and singlehandedly brought about my lifelong hate for slotted headstocks. But once tuned, the tone was as good as anyone could expect and I got many years of faithful service out it.
Slowly, over the years, the belly started to bulge and that characteristic dip in front of the bridge appeared. But I do mean slowly - all things considered it stood up remarkably well, and even now it remains perfectly playable if you don't venture too far up towards the dusty end of the neck.
In its day (and in my day, when I was a 12-string player) it banged out a bloody good tune.
0
LOL 4
Wow! 0
Wisdom · Share on Twitter
LOL 4 Wow! 0 Wisdom · Share on TwitterBase theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
Any idea what brand of guitar Keith Potger (lead guitarist of The Seekers) uses? Maton? Cole Clark? Always wondered
EDIT: that was Keith Potger who sometimes played a 12
I'd figure out the chords A World Of Our Own, and their songs (plus Dylan and Donovan) made up my earliest gigs.
Yes Judith Durham's death was music's loss
Yes, Colours, Catch The Wind, Ballad Of A Crystal Man were among his hits, although the latter tbh came out on an LP rather than a single.
He had a beloved J-45 that was stolen. And the song Mellow Yellow, well that refers to...erm...dried banana skins