1997 Yamaha FG-460S Super Dreadnought Guitar

Well, this guitar has certainly been around the block. The customer who brought it in has had it on long-term loan from his buddy for a number of years, now, and wanted to hand it back to him in better shape than it left. It'd already had its bridge cut-down to lower action so aside from cleaning that up, my other work was to cleat cracks where necessary, cut a new bone saddle, give it a fret level/dress, and set it up. I chose to string it with 11s as the truss rod is maxed-out... but the end result is an easily-playable guitar with a generous sound -- especially, and surprisingly, for fingerpicking.

The design is like other, older, "big Yamahas," with a dreadnought profile expanded to 16 1/8" on the lower bout. It handles in the lap about like a Martin D-18 fused with a Martin 0000 shape -- though because of a strategic move of the waist a little lower down than a Martin, it sits more comfortably in the lap than you might expect.

This one has a solid spruce top but, I'm guessing, laminate rosewood back and sides. It was made in Japan and the neck is mahogany with a rosewood headstock veneer and fretboard and a rosewood bridge.

The "pearl" details dress this up over other FGs of this nature.

The rosewood bridge was originally painted black and someone in the past cut it down... so it was only "half black" when it arrived. I sanded the debris off and polished it back up in natural.

The new bone saddle is a huge improvement over the uncompensated, bending plastic original.

The back shows tons of "ghosting" in the finish...

...and the tuners give a hint of the work-weary life this guitar has had thus far.