Turning 6 strings into 4...

Yeah, I know, I shouldn't have.

Poor old Canora.

I've put it through so much through the years. It's always been just a thumpy box. Sometimes it can drone.

Latest find Yamaha FG 75-1

It's a Black Label, made in Taiwan.
I won't go on. Because I don't have to.
The plywood guitars have a mystique around them. There are lots of  posts about it. On my site, but why bother hearing from me. Here's Guitar World's 50 year look back on Yamaha's.

There is an ultimate vintage Yamaha Red Label, Black Label, Green Label website.

So anything I have to say beyond what I've said already is superfluous....okay, I will include my fishing tale of finding it and some how-it-sounds notes ...but everything you need to know about awesome Yamaha FG guitars is HERE. And...wait.

I know my find (just last night) is a FG 75-1 that was made on December 17, 1975.

I know because of the exquisite serial number information that this incredibly obsessed person who authored Yamaha Vintage FG Acoustic Guitars is just the best.

I'll tell you more soon but for now just look at IT.

Okay. when I got the guitar the strings were old. The neck was high. In fact it was concave. I put some new strings but the guitar sounded muddy in the lower strings. Really murky.

I despaired a bit because the saddle was already pretty low. Any lower and the strings would have started scraping the bridge. I knew you could do something with the truss rod but had never tried.

Wasn't even too sure how. I was disinclined to try.

But I googled and found Taylor Guitar's page on truss rods. It was just enough information and even, josh darnit, demystifiying encouragement to give it a shot.

They wrote:

The truss rod is fairly rugged, so you shouldn't worry about experimenting with different adjustments.

Which is like such a simple but reassuring thing to say, instead of caveats and warning.

So I tightend the rod because the neck was concave. The action LOWERED. And while it's not perfect, the guitar now chimes. The sustain is good and the neck is playable.

It's a pretty sounding guitar of light construction. I'm super excited of letting the strings settle in and hearing how it can sound.