1970s Yamaha FG-165S Dreadnought Guitar

While Yamaha calls their dreadnoughts "jumbo" guitars because of the 16" lower bouts, they're really more of an extra-wide dreadnought shape and they sound like that, too. The S in the FG-165S moniker denotes a sunburst finish -- not a solid top like on Takamine models from the time.

This Taiwan-made Yamaha is built along the lines of the earlier Japanese ones -- thin, lightweight ply top with thin, lightweight x-bracing -- a recipe that always means these guitars sound a lot better than they have a right to. These have a full, generous, warm bottom-end and a clean middle that makes them great chord-bangers for singers to use as backup. There are plenty of people who would never need to "step-up" from a guitar like this at all if their instrument is mostly used for strummed backup.

Post-repairs this guitar plays bang-on-the-dot and has remained stable in service. These have a bigger, C-shaped neck and a generous nut width, so if you need room on your board and like a vintage neck profile, they're a good choice. They're also relatively lightweight and due to the all-ply construction, you can take them just about anywhere in all sorts of conditions and have them remain stable and true setup-wise. I always have an old Yamaha at hand for working on songs in the garden, down at the beach, wherever...

Repairs included: a neck reset, new rosewood saddle (these sound nice and warm on old Yamahas), fret level/dress, cleaning, and setup. I removed a "Bridge Doctor" device that'd been installed at the bridge, too -- hence the pearl dot at the rear of the bridge. I also added a one-sensor K&K acoustic pickup to the guitar with a jack in the 3/4 position to replace an old '70s pickup that was no longer working -- so you can jack it right in and go.

Made by: Yamaha

Model: FG-165S

Made in: Taiwan

Top wood: ply spruce

Back & sides wood: ply mahogany

Bracing type: x

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Tone: big, warm, full, woody, mellow

Suitable for: folk, country, old-time, rock, fingerpicking

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 54w-12 (custom set: 54w, 40w, 30w, 22w, 16, 12)

Neck shape: medium-big C

Board radius: ~12"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: small-medium

Scale length: 24 7/8"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

String spacing at nut: 1 7/16"

String spacing at bridge: 1 15/16"

Body length: 19 3/4"

Body width: 16 1/8"

Body depth: 4 1/2"

Weight: 4 lb 3 oz

Condition notes: the saddle is a replacement and there's an extra pearl dot at the rear of the bridge's deck. There's a non-original strap button at the heel and a pickup jack on the treble-lower-bout-side position. I've also removed the Yamaha-label tuner covers because those tend to rattle obnoxiously. Otherwise the guitar is original throughout. There are no cracks, of course, but the finish is definitely worn-in here and there all over. At a glance it looks tidy and shows normal age but on the shoulders, at the heel, and at the lower bout where the arm makes contact it's been dulled/blemmed in the topcoat. It's all not obvious, thankfully, but I just want to be thorough. There's also a little buckle-rash on the back and minor scratches here and there all over. The back of the neck shows plenty of evidence of good use in the cowboy-chord position.