1970s Yamaha G-50A Classical Guitar

A friend gifted the shop this guitar and, as it's a perfect student instrument, it's available "at the cost of repairs" to the next owner -- in-shop only, of course. This model is one I find all over the place and they were built tough as nails to have all survived in the mostly-decent shape I find them in. Yamaha knows how to build rugged and functional gear, that's for sure!

It's a basic, student-level classical guitar -- all-ply in the body, fan-braced, and with the usual wider nut, medium-D neck profile, and flat fretboard. Like almost all of these, it's lived a bit of a rough life (the finish is scratched, scuffed, and nicked throughout) but, after cleaning, looks respectable enough.

The sound is warm and sweet with a "flatness" to its vibe that makes it a good "folk" guitar -- perfect for casual strumming and fingerpicking behind songs and with decent volume to boot.

I cleaned it all up, fit new strings, and set it up. In addition I modified the bridge a bit. Yamaha placed the saddle nearly 1/8" too far forward for good intonation and the saddle height needed to be reduced a lot, so I cut the saddle area down and recut the saddle-slot's back wall to turn it into the new "saddle" for the guitar. This has yielded the proper breaking point for good intonation and brought the action down to the spot-on, 3/32" it should be.

I also drilled through-holes so the bridge can be strung "string-through" into the interior of the guitar. One simply sends the string into the hole, pulls its end out the soundhole, knots it, and then pulls it tight up against the underside of the top and then up to the tuner. This is a system borrowed from ukulele and it allows for good back-angle on the newer, lower saddle slot.

It's a little uglier than a traditional bridge setup, but it works!