1972 Yamaha FG-140 Jumbo Guitar

I was lucky-enough to find a date-stamp inside this guitar which pinned its build to '72. This was at the very tail-end for "Red Label" Japanese-made Yamahas and must have been built in the first few months of that year. Like all of the bigger-bodied Yamaha flattops, this FG-140 flits between a "jumbo" and a "dreadnought" in form factor -- and like all of them, it also sounds kick-butt and full.

Yes, there's a reason the old Japanese Yamaha FGs are preferred. The Taiwan-made ones are excellent but there's just that little extra something about the "original" version. At the point of this one's build, the Taiwan factory had taken over production of the export guitars for the company, so it's interesting to see one of these "domestic" FGs with a "Made in Japan" stamp on the back of the headstock -- something I would expect to see on an export instrument.

At any rate, this came to me via trade and someone had already done some work on it -- a neck reset and apparently a refret! The neck reset was at a shallow but serviceable angle so I left it as-is and just gave it a fret level/dress and setup work. It's now playing spot-on and is ready to go.

Repairs included: fret level/dress and setup.

Top wood: ply spruce

Back & sides wood: ply mahogany

Bracing type: x

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 52w-12 custom lights

Neck shape: medium soft C/V

Board radius: 10"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium

Scale length: 25"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

Body width: 16 1/8"

Body depth: 4 1/2"

Weight: 4 lbs 0 oz

Condition notes: there's minor wear and tear (usewear) throughout the body but overall it looks good. There's some nicking on the fretboard and some finish crackle around the heel (presumably from the reset job) and average pickwear around the soundhole. The pickguard is slightly discolored close to the fretboard. The saddle is a replacement (bone) and compensated. It's also low, but being a ply box, I don't expect the guitar to move around much and it's been stable since stringing (a week-plus ago), so I don't see the action changing on it at all. Yamahas are stable beings.