Originally Posted by
auchencrow
I have to agree here. Yamaha (Nippon Gakki) started making decent utility instruments starting in the 70's with the FG red-label series.
Yeah, they were just plywood, but still could sound reasonably good and play OK. I would not however compare them to the (much more expensive) Martins or Gibsons from the same era -in spite of the fact that this period was the nadir in quality for these American makers.
True. I pretty much hold that after '63, Gibson's acoustic line became horrible. The double x braced tops with a giant chunk of plywood serving as a bridge plate are just terrible.