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Earlier today I saw a local online classified which advertised a Yamaha FG720S-12 for CAD$250 with hardshell case and stand. I couldn't care less about the stand but anyone who has been reading my posts on the AcousticGuitarForum knows that I've been looking for an affordable 12-string with a case in Canada, the land of consumer price gouging on everything from cellular service to groceries to consumer toys like guitars.
The seller was running errands around my area so I didn't have to leave the house as he brought the guitar to me. Nice.
The guitar was made in Taiwan and the serial number is QLH067215. I'm trying to run this through the Yamaha Serial Number Chart, Example A10 (Taiwan serial numbers) (http://www.yamaha.com/yamahaguitars/...berSystems.pdf) and, to the best of my ability, I am able to decipher that this means my guitar was made in 2005 (QL), January (H), 6th day (6), 7215 unit number. Does this mean it is the 7215th guitar, with a birthdate of January 6, 2005?
I gave it a thorough inspection (it's in better condition than my current guitars and I'm one who really tries to be careful) and everything looks structurally sound. For such an inexpensive guitar, the craftsmanship is very good, with minimal (if any) sloppiness.
The tone was fine enough for an affordable instrument. To be honest, despite my nearly decade and a half of playing, if you make me do a blind test, I will probably think that every halfway decent guitar you play for me will sound "good" as long as it is in tune and intonates well, no matter the differences in wood choices. To me, tone is in the fingers.
But, what about playability? Though the neck shape is appropriately comfortable to me, I am actually struggling to play this guitar. The action is very high. I should have snapped a photo (oh well) but I just measured the action at the 12th fret and it is 3/16ths of an inch. The action is so high that the intonation is off when I did the test where you sound the 12th fret harmonic against the 12th fretted note, no matter how gently I am fretting that 12th fret note. It's frustrating because I can tune the guitar's open strings, and some chords will sound fine but others will sound horrendously off. When fretted, some of the strings won't even intonate with their partners; I think the biggest violator is the low E string and its octave partner. They can be perfectly in tune with each other when open, but will exhibit varying amounts of dissonance when fretted on random places on the fretboard. Quite frustrating.
I don't even have perfect pitch and can tolerate minor discrepancies, but intonation this far off is preventing me from playing this otherwise-lovely guitar for more than a few minutes at a time. I picked up another one of my guitars and played around with it for a few minutes just to detox myself.
So, how do I simultaneously go about correcting this horrendous high action and intonation issue? New saddle with a lower profile? Any recommendations or advice? I should emphasize that I'm not willing to spend tons of money to correct an issue on what is a low-end guitar and it might be better to resell it instead of investing too much in it, and then just get something I know I already enjoy (like a Taylor 150e).
There is also a small bit of neck relief (backbow) that I need to correct, but I've never adjusted a truss rod from inside the sound hole before; I suppose I'll have to do my research to see what tool is needed for this, as all my guitars all have truss rod adjustments made at the headstock and that is what I am accustomed to tinkering.
Despite these current playability issues, I still bought it. The seller knocked down the price to CAD$225 without me even asking. I figure that if it's too much trouble to personalize, I can easily offload it for the same price and recoup my money.
Note: The strings are old and nasty, and the G string is missing its octave partner. Obviously not a dealbreaker as I have to go buy new strings anyway.
Specs on the Yamaha website: http://usa.yamaha.com/products/music.../fg/fg720s-12/
Thoughts welcomed! Excuse the horrible photos, as as the guitar is a little dusty from not being played or looked after by its owner, and incandescent room lighting indoors at night makes it difficult to shoot white-balanced photos with decent clarity. If there is enough interest in more photos, especially of the insanely high action and the bridge/saddle area, I'll shoot more during daylight over the weekend.
The case is in darn good shape. 3 latches is new to me, but seems secure enough. No idea what brand the case is though.
Diagonal lines across the top are just the legs of my tripod, not faults in the solid spruce.
Diagonal lines across the back are just the legs of my tripod, not faults in the laminated mahogany.
Frets are in great shape, since the seller hardly played this guitar.
Just noticed a few of the tuners are slightly crooked. Does that matter?
The nato on the neck has some subtle kind of interesting diagonal pattern to it, like a barber shop pole. I can't tell if it's the grain or if it's actually flame.
The heel is cosmetically the worst part of the guitar but I'm exaggerating. If you look closely, there are some minor imperfections with the finish, and a tiny bit of binding seems to be missing in two places (see if your eagle eyes can find them). There is also a very thin vertical line (a crack?) in the body binding in the middle where it meets the heel, if you can even see it. I'm being nitpicky only for the purposes of this discussion, and I reiterate that this guitar is in overall better condition than all of my own!
Here is the only tiny fault with the top. There is a very shallow dimple (perhaps a millimeter or less in depth) in the finish on the top. It is difficult to see unless the light hits it at just the right angle and it's barely even noticeable to the touch. I wouldn't have known it was there otherwise. It's even difficult to capture it in the following photo.
The guitar was so infrequently played by the seller that the plastic film protecting the pickguard is still on the pickguard! I suppose I COULD peel it off at some point.
The seller was running errands around my area so I didn't have to leave the house as he brought the guitar to me. Nice.
The guitar was made in Taiwan and the serial number is QLH067215. I'm trying to run this through the Yamaha Serial Number Chart, Example A10 (Taiwan serial numbers) (http://www.yamaha.com/yamahaguitars/...berSystems.pdf) and, to the best of my ability, I am able to decipher that this means my guitar was made in 2005 (QL), January (H), 6th day (6), 7215 unit number. Does this mean it is the 7215th guitar, with a birthdate of January 6, 2005?
I gave it a thorough inspection (it's in better condition than my current guitars and I'm one who really tries to be careful) and everything looks structurally sound. For such an inexpensive guitar, the craftsmanship is very good, with minimal (if any) sloppiness.
The tone was fine enough for an affordable instrument. To be honest, despite my nearly decade and a half of playing, if you make me do a blind test, I will probably think that every halfway decent guitar you play for me will sound "good" as long as it is in tune and intonates well, no matter the differences in wood choices. To me, tone is in the fingers.
But, what about playability? Though the neck shape is appropriately comfortable to me, I am actually struggling to play this guitar. The action is very high. I should have snapped a photo (oh well) but I just measured the action at the 12th fret and it is 3/16ths of an inch. The action is so high that the intonation is off when I did the test where you sound the 12th fret harmonic against the 12th fretted note, no matter how gently I am fretting that 12th fret note. It's frustrating because I can tune the guitar's open strings, and some chords will sound fine but others will sound horrendously off. When fretted, some of the strings won't even intonate with their partners; I think the biggest violator is the low E string and its octave partner. They can be perfectly in tune with each other when open, but will exhibit varying amounts of dissonance when fretted on random places on the fretboard. Quite frustrating.
I don't even have perfect pitch and can tolerate minor discrepancies, but intonation this far off is preventing me from playing this otherwise-lovely guitar for more than a few minutes at a time. I picked up another one of my guitars and played around with it for a few minutes just to detox myself.
So, how do I simultaneously go about correcting this horrendous high action and intonation issue? New saddle with a lower profile? Any recommendations or advice? I should emphasize that I'm not willing to spend tons of money to correct an issue on what is a low-end guitar and it might be better to resell it instead of investing too much in it, and then just get something I know I already enjoy (like a Taylor 150e).
There is also a small bit of neck relief (backbow) that I need to correct, but I've never adjusted a truss rod from inside the sound hole before; I suppose I'll have to do my research to see what tool is needed for this, as all my guitars all have truss rod adjustments made at the headstock and that is what I am accustomed to tinkering.
Despite these current playability issues, I still bought it. The seller knocked down the price to CAD$225 without me even asking. I figure that if it's too much trouble to personalize, I can easily offload it for the same price and recoup my money.
Note: The strings are old and nasty, and the G string is missing its octave partner. Obviously not a dealbreaker as I have to go buy new strings anyway.
Specs on the Yamaha website: http://usa.yamaha.com/products/music.../fg/fg720s-12/
Thoughts welcomed! Excuse the horrible photos, as as the guitar is a little dusty from not being played or looked after by its owner, and incandescent room lighting indoors at night makes it difficult to shoot white-balanced photos with decent clarity. If there is enough interest in more photos, especially of the insanely high action and the bridge/saddle area, I'll shoot more during daylight over the weekend.
The case is in darn good shape. 3 latches is new to me, but seems secure enough. No idea what brand the case is though.
Diagonal lines across the top are just the legs of my tripod, not faults in the solid spruce.
Diagonal lines across the back are just the legs of my tripod, not faults in the laminated mahogany.
Frets are in great shape, since the seller hardly played this guitar.
Just noticed a few of the tuners are slightly crooked. Does that matter?
The nato on the neck has some subtle kind of interesting diagonal pattern to it, like a barber shop pole. I can't tell if it's the grain or if it's actually flame.
The heel is cosmetically the worst part of the guitar but I'm exaggerating. If you look closely, there are some minor imperfections with the finish, and a tiny bit of binding seems to be missing in two places (see if your eagle eyes can find them). There is also a very thin vertical line (a crack?) in the body binding in the middle where it meets the heel, if you can even see it. I'm being nitpicky only for the purposes of this discussion, and I reiterate that this guitar is in overall better condition than all of my own!
Here is the only tiny fault with the top. There is a very shallow dimple (perhaps a millimeter or less in depth) in the finish on the top. It is difficult to see unless the light hits it at just the right angle and it's barely even noticeable to the touch. I wouldn't have known it was there otherwise. It's even difficult to capture it in the following photo.
The guitar was so infrequently played by the seller that the plastic film protecting the pickguard is still on the pickguard! I suppose I COULD peel it off at some point.