A Martin D-45 copy made in Kani, Japan in 1973It’s been a while since I posted anything in my little DIY series, How to, like me previous post about How to. I did carve a little floating bridge for my over a year ago but now it was finally time to carve a proper ebony bridge for my.I thought about getting a pre-made ebony bridge at first but felt that it would be more fun to make one myself from scratch instead. I ordered some rosewood and ebony blanks from, it thought it could be good to have some extra at home, and got started.
First I removed the old bridge, it had two screws that was a bit tricky to get out but eventually I figured it out. I removed the bridge with a spatula that I heated on a normal clothes iron, it works like a charm every time. Start in a corner and work yourself towards the middle and be careful when it starts to loosen up so you don’t break it off and chip the top, it should come off slowly and without force. I planed the ebony blank and then used a cabinet scraper to get it even. I copied the old bridge and drilled the holes straight away. It felt easier to do this before the bridge was shaped, it would also have saved me a lot of time in case I messed up the holes and had to start all over again.
Luckily everything went fine.Once the bridge was sawed in to a good size, I made it a couple of millimetres bigger on all sides, I drew the outlines of the final shape. I mounted the bridge blank on a piece of scrap wood with two screws so I could more easily work all around with the bridge firmly secured.
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I used a chisel to carve out the shape on the sides and from the top down towards the wings. I got a good round shape with a half round rasp and then it was just a hell of a lot of sanding to remove all the lines from the rasp and to get it smooth and nice.I glued the bridge on and after 3 days I strung up both E-strings and used a drill as a saddle so I could move it around until I got the intonation right, I forgot to take a picture of that. I marked out the saddle and then sawed a 3 mm slot. Next step was to create a bone saddle to match and string it up. Easy peasy, well it was a hard days work but it was easier that I thought. Yairi YW-1000, made in Japan in 1973Since it’s my 35th birthday today I’m going to post this guitar even though it’s not 100% ready yet, it was my birthday present to myself. As I mentioned earlier I recently became the proud owner of a 1973.
It’s something I’ve dreamed of for many years and after a bit of hassle it finally arrived. The previous owner didn’t really give much of a description so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Luckily it sounds at least as good as I had hoped for, if not better and it’s structurally fine.
Kazuo Yairi
Having said that, there were a couple of things that I wasn’t overly excited about, like the bridge and the scratches on the top. I don’t mind worn guitar but there is one big scratch that is still a real eyesore for me, I’m sure I will get used to it and not even see it in a few weeks. The bridge is a chapter for itself, I really don’t know what has been going on there. It has been removed at some point and re-glued, it also has two screws that I doubt were supposed to be there and on top of that someone has added a bit of rosewood to make it higher and topped it of with a fret as the saddle instead of a normal slot and bone saddle. As soon as the wood shops open again here in Barcelona, a lot of shops are closed in August, I will get a piece of ebony and create a new bridge from scratch. Since I couldn’t wait a whole month to play the guitar I lowered the bridge and cut a saddle slot and installed a bone saddle for now, which has worked fine.
It’s a beautiful guitar, it’s smells wonder full and sounds even better. This is my third and I have to say that it’s without any doubt the best Japanese acoustics I’ve played so far. I really love my and but nothing sounds as good as this.It’s worn and has few scratches but nothing too serious, except for the bridge as mentioned before. I changed the machine heads to open gear in gold, the original ones were in gold too but most of it had worn off and on top of that they were really heavy. I love all the abalone binding and the hexagon inlays in the ebony fretboard.
I’m so gay for bling on guitars, the more the better, perhaps I’m the Liberace of guitars.As soon as I got the guitar I removed the fret, lowered the bridge by sanding it down and then I cut a proper saddle slot. Apparently the top of the bridge is rosewood on an ebony base so I had to paint the top black to match the rest. The bridge works fine but I’m not happy with how it looks so I will try my best to carve a new one in ebony and replace it.The fist video is with the old makeshift rosewood bridge that the guitar came with, the second video is with the new ebony bridge that I carved myself from scratch, you can read about it.
Yairi YW-1000 Made in Japan 1973, Taken from myI did it, finally I found myself a K. Yairi YW-1000. This has been a goal of mine for years, or at least since. You never see them for sale in Europe and to buy one from the US or Japan would set you back at least $1500-2000 plus import taxes and the risk that it gets confiscated in customs, some countries are really picky about Brazilian rosewood crossing their boarders. Yairi YW-1000 was made in the 48th year of, meaning 1973, I love the Emperor based serial numbers. I will write a lot more about this guitar when I got it all set up, I need to re-glue the bridge first.
As mentioned before, there are two guitars that I really would like to own. The first would be a, ideally from before 1970. The Second would be a mid 1970’s, the most beautiful Martin D-45 copy ever made. Having said that, I might have to add a third guitar in my list of holy grails, a. Imagine to find an original, before Ampeg took over, The Grammer Guitar RG&G, built by Billy and the boys in Nashville, Tennessee.
Here you can read, it’s a pretty interesting story, especially if you like country music as I do. In the mid 1960’s Billy Grammer, a musician himself, decided to make an affordable flat top guitar for his friends in the Country music business.
He took a Gibson J-45 and a Martin D-18 apart, studied their bracing pattern and how they were built and then made a copy with the best of both worlds, The Grammer Guitar. Maybe the reason I like them so much is because they remind me of my big headed guitars from the 1970’s.The Last Grammer Guitar made by RG&G, built in 1968 on 715 Poplar Avenue in Nashville, TennesseeI’m not much of a Joe Bonamassa fan but he plays a 1969 Grammer Johnny Cash model, I mainly respect him for taking his vintage guitars on tour and using them instead of just collection them. The part on the Joe Bonamassa’s site is well worth a visit if you like old guitars.Joe Bonamassa’s 1969 Grammer Johnny Cash model, here is a of him playing it liveHere is Billy when he was young and awesomeAnd here is Billy when he is old and blind, but still kind of awesome. I just found out that died earlier this month at the age of 81. As I mentioned, I would love to one day afford a and big reason for that is the philosophy of Mr Yairi himself:Good materials are hard to find so it’s better to make guitars through limited production by hand instead of mass production.
Trees are very important “precious” things so we should make good use of them. Guitars made with “heart” are the best use of trees. Kazuo YairiThe most beautiful Martin D-45 copies in the world, a 1976 K.Yairi YW-1000. The most beautiful Martin D-45 copies in the world, a 1976 K. Yairi YW-1000I’m extremely happy with the two I have and think that Terada is one of the better acoustic guitar builders in Japan.
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Having said that, I think everyone that is in to Japanese acoustics dream of owning a, at least I do. Unfortunately they are a bit too expensive for me, I’m sure they are worth it but you can get an old Martin, Gibson or Guild for that money. One thing that I really like with Yairi is that they use the year of the Emperor of Japan to determine the production year of their instruments, how awesome is that.
See the list below.Good materials are hard to find so it’s better to make guitars through limited production by hand instead of mass production. Trees are very important “precious” things so we should make good use of them.
Guitars made with “heart” are the best use of trees. Kazuo YairiWhen was my Yairi made?By reading the number stamped on the heel block of your Yairi, you can tell in which year it was made. The first two numbers correspond to the year of the Emperor of Japan at that time, see chart below. The second two numbers refer to the month of production. Taken fromA.D. Emperor Year1970 Shōwa 472 474 476 578 580 582 584 586 688 631989 Heisei 1 3 5 7 99 112000 12End of Emperor Date Code2001 003 032004 04etc.Emperor Shōwa and future Emperor Heisei on 10 April 1959.