1976 Yamaha FG-160-1 Acoustic Guitar

Vintage folk guitar, Black Label era, made in Taiwan 

Looks like I've settled on a few brands on my quest for affordable vintage acoustic tone: Carlos, Takamine and Yamaha. This is the 2nd FG-160 that I've had in the last year and this one is a better player by a mile.

Like that other 160, this one is not in museum-quality condition, with a fair amount of nicks scattered along the face, back and sides of the body. But, all of the flaws are cosmetic, the guitar is still rock-solid, no breaks or cracks and all of the tuners are in good working order.

Whoever had this before set the action pretty low, but that suits me just fine. I set it up with Martin SP Custom Light strings last night and cleaned it up a little bit. Even with the smaller gauge strings, the low-end is still nice and warm. All of these FGs have been players, the next Japanese model that comes my way will be staying...

Thanks for looking, more high-resolution photos here.

1975 Yamaha FG-165S-1 Acoustic Guitar

Awesome Black Label dreadnought, sweet sunburst finish and dovetail pickguard, made in Taiwan

This is the 2nd Black Label Yamaha that I've been able to get my hands on within the last year and this one is a rare sunburst model in real good shape nearly 40 years later. As with the other two 70s FG Yamahas that we've featured, this one plays easy and has a nice low-end tone.

The sunburst finish and pickguard only add to the vintage vibe. There is some heavy wear on the face from hard playing and the finish is worn off a bit around the soundhole, but that's really it. Signs of heavy use, but no abuse. 

This one isn't as nice as the FG-200 that was featured a couple of months back or an FG-160-1 that we just picked up yesterday and will be featuring soon, but it was still a great find. Can't get enough of these old Yamaha, Takamine and Carlos acoustics. 

Thanks for looking, more high-resolutions photos here.

1970s Yamaha F-160-1 Acoustic Guitar

Beautiful vintage instrument has aged very well, just needs a little love

Mid-70's Yamaha acoustic guitar in great playing shape and still rock solid. The first number in the S/N is tough to read, but these black label Yamahas were only made from 1974-1976 and the only thing missing is one of the original covers for the tuning gears.

A new nut would be advised, as the B string sits down too low in the slot and buzzes out hard. I stuck a piece of masking tape in there as a temporary fix and it works just fine.

It still sounds great though, especially the low end. If you can find one of these in playing shape, I highly recommend it. I've seen them pop up every now and again from $100-$300.

Thank you for looking. More high-resolution pictures here.