Yamaha FG-420 Acoustic 6 string guitar-

General

Guitar

Piano

Drums

Theory/Comp

Promote

Site

[?] Subscribe To This Site

Yamaha FG-420 Acoustic 6 string guitar-

by Ken
(Ontario, Canada)

Please settle a dispute.
This guitar was bought new approx. 1980.
The label says FG-420, made in Taiwan.
Ser# 50528193
I want to know if this guitar is laminate or not?
How can I tell?
It is in superb condition. Does age affect the quality
of sound on this guitar?

Ken

ANSWER

Hi, Ken--

Here is the Blue Book description of the guitar:

FG420A
- dreadnought-style body, spruce top, nato back and sides, round soundhole with a multi-ring abalone rosette, multi-ply body binding, nato neck, 14/20-fret bound bubinga fingerboard with pearl dot inlays, nato headstock overlay with logo and leaf design inlay, three-per-side chrome tuners, rosewood bridge, black pickguard, available in Natural finish, mfg. 1989-1994.

From this description, we can assume that it is NOT laminate.

As for your question about the sound, most players will say that a guitar's sound improves with age as the wood ages.

Lynne

Give us five minutes of your time and we'll have you playing killer guitar! Guitar Superstars

Comments for
Yamaha FG-420 Acoustic 6 string guitar-

Average Rating

Click here to add your own comments

Dec 19, 2010
Rating

dont fear the laminate.
by: Will

It's laminate. Most Yamaha's were. The cool thing about it is that they made laminates that sound amazing.

Also the description would say solid spruce top or solid back and sides. Also, NATO wood is used as laminate, not solid.

May 19, 2010
Rating

not solid
by: Anonymous

It is a laminate. It has to say solid spruce not just spruce for it to be solid. Also yamaha at that time annotates solid guitars with an 'S'.

Nov 06, 2009
Rating

Yamaha FG-420 6 string-guitar ser# 50528193
by: Ken

Hi Lynne:
There is a multi ring formation around the
sound hole of the guitar I asked you to settle
a dispute about. There also is pearl inlay on the
fingerboard.For some reason, I didn't think the
rings were there. I dug out the guitar to double check and sure enough the rings are there.
Once again thank you for your help.
This guitar is in excellent condition and I will
sell it for a reasonable price.

Ken

***

Ken--

Glad I could help!

Lynne

Nov 06, 2009
Rating

Additional query re:Yamaha FG420- 6 string guitar
by: Anonymous

Hi Lynne:
I want to thank you for your valuable response. It is valuable to me.
My only concern is that you mentioned FG420A.
The label on my guitar simply says model FG420, made in Taiwan.And of course, I included the serial number just in case it is helpful.
Can you please comment.

ANSWER

It is the same guitar. The 420 and all of Yamaha's FG series gained the "A" suffix in 1989. The fact that yours has no "A" just means that it was made between 1985 and 1989.

That is probably why your has no multi-ring abalone rosette also. It was most likely added during the massive 1989 overhaul of the entire FG series. The Blue Book lists only those made from 1989 to 1994. Information on the FG 420 before 1989 is sparse.

From the Blue Book:

"Yamaha has also changed the series several times since the original red label guitars were introduced. We were unable to compile any information on the FG Series between approximately the mid-1970s and the late 1980s because there are no catalogs available for that time period."

Lynne

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Ask Guitar Questions

Subscribe to "Absolutely Free Music Lessons!" and receive
FREE

"Harmonizing the Minor Scales"!

A 12 page E-Course

Try Our Drum Tabs
The Best on the Web!

How Much is Your Guitar Worth?

Frustrated?
Get Free Songwriting Lessons

Yamaha FG-420 Acoustic 6 string guitar-

Comments for Yamaha FG-420 Acoustic 6 string guitar-

Comments for
Yamaha FG-420 Acoustic 6 string guitar-