Yamaha FG-150

I bought my FG150 used when I was about 13 years old. It was made in 1969, and is a red label with Nippon Gakki. I think I sold my trumpet for it, which made my dad made as he**. Mahogany back and sides, solid spuce top. I am 52 now, and I still have it. It got dragged to summer camp and everywhere I moved. Great sound for its size. Played everything from James Taylor to Stones on it. It was my only acoustic till about 4 years ago. It has aged to a beautiful color. This thing has taken a beating and is still in pretty good shape overall. It needs new frets and the bridge is cracked and I'm going to go ahead and get it all repaired, because it has more sentimental meaning than any of my other guitars. I can't wait to see it shine again! The tuners are a strange mix of 5 gibson deluxe, and one Kluson - you got me on that one, would like to know what it's supposed to have though. The original case is long gone, but my ex-wife bought me a chipboard replacement a few years back.

Love the tone out of it - strumming or picking, always a very full sound for the size. It's like a 000 size and fits nicely as you sit down and play. No dislikes here :-)

I haven't even humidified it up here in New England in almost 40 years, and besides the bridge crack, the rest of it is in great shape. No problems with the solid spruce top. Nothing is loose on it except the pickguard is a lifting up a little.

Holy cow. I can only hope all my other guitars last as long as this one. This guitar will most likely outlive me. I don't think it will look like Willy Nelson's either (with the hole in the top?). Again I can't wait to get a fret job done on it and see it shine again.

I actually asked Yamaha for some info on it, and they got back to me. I couldn't figure out the year of the guitar since the serial number (702697) didn't match anything I could find on the web or in magazines/books. They got back to me pretty quickly via email and told me it looks like a '69. Pretty good Customer Support on a product almost 40 years old, no?

I have been playing for almmost 40 years. I have 13 guitars, about 4 or 5 amps, a bass, and an electronic drum set (Yamaha as well). If this guitar were stolen or lost, I'd be pretty upset but I would look for another one asap. I love the simplicity of this guitar, and it's great tone. It's a solid, solid guitar that has been with me most of my life.

I bought my FG 150 new in 1970 when I was 14 years old. I paid $100.00 for it and it took my all summer to save the money. I bought it at the only music store within 40 miles of the small midwest town of where I grew up. I never really learned to play that well, so the guitar didn't get that much use and still looks great. The top is a light color while the rest of the guitar (neck, sides and back are very dark in color) I'm not sure what the wood is. It's the only guitar I have ever owned, so I have nothing to compare it to for sound quality and ease of play. With all this reminiscing, I started to feel a bit sentimental, so I got off my duff and dug the FG 150 out of the closet and fired it up - still sounds great - even after all these years. I was amazed that I could still play a few chords, but my fingers sure hurt now!

My FG 150 has a Red Label inside that says: Yamaha Guitars / FG 150 / Nippon Gakki.

It's the only guitar I've ever owned so I have nothing to compare it to.

Natural finished solid spruce top with mahogany back and sides. Its a small body, comparable to a Martin 00 or 000. Standard peg sylstem with single plastic saddle, as well as standard unsealed tuners. I don't know if it came with a case of any kind originally (I doubt it), I bought it used with no case or bag.

The sound is great, it is extremely loud for such a small body, and the tone is full throughout treble, middle, and bass. Well suited for any acoustic playing style. I've played everything from blues to fingerstyle on this guitar.

Can't say anything ab out the factory set-up, finish, or construction. I bought it used in pretty bad shape.

I'm not sure what the previous owners did to this guitar, but they definitely tortured it. When I got it, it needed a little work and a little love, but now it sounds great. Its been durable for me, but it obviously wasn't up to somebody's abuse.

Bought it about twenty-five years after it was made, so I couldn't say.

I got this guitar in a somewhat interesting way. When I was younger I would spend my Saturdays in the back of my dad's guitar store disassembling and reassembling a couple of old stratocaster-copies, and occasionally stringing and setting up customer's guitars. One day someone came in with this terrible looking Yamaha, wanting to have it repaired. It had only four tuners (two of which were broken), no saddle, no pegs, no pickgaurd. It was filthy to the point that you couldn't see the woodgrain anymore. The neck was bowed, and the body looked like it would belly-up if any tension was put on the bridge. After looking it over with my dad we told her that it would cost more to fix it than the guitar was worth. She ended up buying a $150 new acoustic (which cost less than the work that the Yamaha needed done), and she decided to give the Yamaha to my dad because she had no use for it. I spent the rest of the day with it in the back cleaning and polishing it, it ended up having small holes in the top below the bridge, as if someone had taken a small drill bit to it. None the less I bought a twenty dollar set of tuners (at dealer cost), a seven dollar set of strings (also at cost), my dad gave me pegs and a saddle, cranked on the truss rod a few times and came out with one of the best sounding acoustic guitars I've ever heard. And it doesn't play too bad either. Great value for anyone.

I bought the guitar new in Japan in 1972 when I was in the navy. It cost me 52.oo with the case. I was on an aircraft carrier off of Vietnam and learned to play on this guitar.I had never played before. I bought a d-28 Martin in 1974 and lent the Yamaha out to friends for years! Now in 2006 I find that I play that little guitar more than the Martin. I cherish that little box. I have pictures of me with it on the ship. The ship was the USS Oriskany. They sank the ship but like love the little Yamaha floats. It is still completly original and the neck has never been tuned. What a wonderfull little guitar.

This jewel of an acoustic guitar looks pretty much as it did when I bought it new in the spring of 1970 from Columbus Folk Music Center for $80 - list was $100 but they were running a 20% off sale! I was playing a "Jay" guitar at the time - a goofy little locally made guitar (Columbus, Ohio) - any my guitar teacher said that I needed a better box so that I could start playing up the neck. She played a big Gibson but anything like that was way out my price range - Folk Music had these Yamahas that were priced right and I went home with one and 36 years later it's still my main box. It's an FG-150 Nippon Gakki Red Label - solid spruce top and solid mahogany back and sides. Rosewood fretboard and bridge. Neck appears to be mahogany as well. The finish is still really nice - a few very small dents here and there but no real "through the finish" scrapes or scratches - it's glossy btw. The pick guard is a little loose - the glue has no doubt dried out and let loose...I haven't glued it back down. The machines are the open back originals - at one time I was tempted to change them out for a set of Grovers but decided to keep it all original. I used to see pickers on the old Hee Haw TV show play Martins that were deal ringers for my Yamaha.

The solid wood construction of these guitars is what I belive give them such incredible sound. Inexpensive guitars these days are all made out of lam materials and they sound as if they are. I've read where the size is compared to the Martin 000 series guitars - I refer to it as a "concert standard" size in relation to the popular dreadnaughts and the jumbos made by Gibson. I've never used an across the hole pick-up but back in the day bought a "Texas Transducer" contact pickup which I still have (and it still works like a champ). The sound is crisp and clean and has great projection - it sounds better every year. The only guitar that I've played that even comes close to the sound was a very pricey Taylor (concert standard). Right now I've got Martin 80/20 bronze round-wound 10s although my faves were Dean Markley but I can't find them anywhere.

I knew nothing about guitars when I bought it new but over the years the rod had been adjusted as needed a time or two, I've of course changed the strings, and that's it. The neck is true, the action is great, the touch is light. The finish has withstood the test of time - no cracking or crazing - a little polish and it almost looks new.

This guitar has lasted me 36 years...I would say that it's both reliable and durable. I've played it on stage and around a campfire. It's my opinion that these Japanese FG-150s are far superior to anything being sold for less than $1,500 retail today. Any comparable new box has to have all solid wood - no lams - to be even in the same ballpark as these guitars. I remember at some point in the late 1970s Yamaha shifted production to Taiwan and I recall playing one at a shop and there was a marked difference...the shop clerk even comment as to how that was so. Yamaha makes killer grand pianos and they at one time when desirous of some U.S. market penetration made a killer acoustic guitar as well.

I suppose it was under warranty - I still have some of the original documentation in the case but it's not with me.

I've been playing for close to 40 years and have aquired a small but interesting collection of gear. In addition to the two guitars already noted (Jay and Yamaha), I have one other acoustic guitar - my grandfather's archtop that he purchased from Sears circa 1933, a 1965 Rickenbacker 360/12, a 1968 Hofner 500/1, a 1970 Univox Effie 12-string (electric - modeled after the Epiphone Casino), an old Harmony open back 5-string banjo, a Stewart-McDonald banjo (from a kit), a Gemienhardt flute, one of my grandfather's old fiddles, and my Magical Musical Thing by Mattel that I still like to goof around with. My amplification is through a vintage Kustom 100 (blue sparkle), and I have a TEAC A-3340-S that I used to record on all the time. I'd give this guitar a 10 overall - it cannot be replaced unless I'd be willing to spend way over $1,000. It is my guitar.

I don't know what year it is. It's got the red label, but it doesn't say Nippon Gakki. It just says YAMAHA GUITAR FG-150 with the two flowers on the red label. It only says YAMAHA up top. I always assumed it was made in Kaohsiung, Taiwan because I also have a Yamaha FG-410-12A that has a more detailed label that says it's made there (also I used to live in Kaohsiung, so I romanticised a bit!). But now, looking at the web, it appears that these red label FG-150's are from 1969/70. Wow!

For such a small and light guitar, the sound is very full, at also both warm and bright. In a "blind" sound test, my wife chose the FG-150 over newer and more expensive guitars. In the 80's I played it with two pickups clipped over the sound hole, and plugged it into anything i could find, like a portable boombox! Come on! I was a teenager :-)

I've been playing it for over 20 years, but the original tuning pegs were terrible. I had them replaced very soon after I bought it (by a guy at a small music shop in Taiwan, with a hand-turned wood drill), along with the bridge. After 20 years, I also had the first 7 frets replaced by a professional guitar repairman, in Cape Town, South Africa.

The wood has a lot of dings (my ex through it out a 3rd floor balcony!) but it's very solid, and the wood has retained its character. It still sounds just as good after 20 years! Incredible.

I've had the modifications mentioned above. Never dealt with Yamaha directly.

This was my main axe for over 20 years. I recently bought a Guild JF-48 jumbo and now that's my favourite. I needed a change, and wanted a "bigger" sound. I still travel with the FG-150, because it's so light, and so bomber. And I'll even bring it to the beach. But when I write songs and perform these days, I break out the Guild.

FG 150 red label made in japan 1968
20 frets
Solid top
yamaha original tuners

Is a nice guitar I like to ply beatles, credence, john denver, kansas
has a beautyful and deep sound, also you can get differents sounds, it depends on your technique to play.
the sound can be bright and loud or sweet.

I have been playing guitar 40 years
I've ownned a lots of guitars
Yes, if were stolen or lost I'll try to find the same model
I would like to say to other owners: The sound is much better with a stainless steel or alluminum, than the original bone bridge.
Try it!

Yamaha Red Label FG-150 1969-70 bought for $50 in pawn shop in NYC in 1970.
This is my first and only steel string acoustic. Been playing since '69 and this guitar only feels better as you play it. I have had it re-fretted with a pro setup and it now plays as well as any Martin. I shaved the finish off the guitar with a razor blade many years ago and took off the pick guard, and I did it again several years ago. The finish on the guitar makes it look like it's 50+ years old, I think I used Minwax or something like that. The idea was to make the guitar louder and warmer sounding and yeah that worked out well. Using phosphor bronze medium-light. Have gigged and recorded with this guitar with pleasure.

This guitar is very responsive. With the new frets I get great sustain. Since sanding off the finish of the spruce top, I get a very warm round sound. You can play hard and it just gets louder, no buzz.

This guitar to me has the perfect steel string action, makes you want to play all day. My electrics are 70's Les Paul, Gibson SG Delux, and 60' Fender Jazzmaster. I have used a clamp on sound hole pick-up for gigging and ran it through my 70's Roland Cube 40, it took a while to get the sound right but it worked well.

Have had this guitar for 30+ years and hope to play it for 30 more.
I am shopping for sealed Grovers or Schallers to change the tuners at this time.

This is not an issue with a 35-year guitar. There are only a couple of technicians I know that I would trust to work on it.

I would definitely try my hardest to get another one if my FG-150 became lost. This plays and sounds as good as any comparable Martin. New Grover or Schaller tuning machines are sort of recommended.

I finally found the Red Label NipponGakki FG150 that everyone talks about - its a 69/70 I think but its old and battered ,all original and just loooks and sound "right" if you know what I mean.Has that old guitar patina and if the posts already made are correct its got "real" wood in its soul.Such a dainty snug little thing - as near to a Martin 000 as most normal people will get. Paid #135 on ebay.

I'm not an acoustic player really - I just love Strats and Teles so I'm lazy and this just fits the bill ...I can't seem to put it down.

For her age she's great - didn't want a looker anyway I've had top end Martins that I was scared to take out of the case !!!. Tweaked the truss rod and sanded a bit of the bridge and she plays great

I know the machineheads are cheap and I have replaced them just now with small Schallers but I will keep them safe for originality. Play for pleasure only so she doesn't go out.

Does it matter after 35 years .....

I've too many guitars really ..mostly Strats and Teles from 70's to date. I just love old guitars - Hofners/Watkins/Burns - reliving my Merseybeat lifestyle now I'm retiring. If you can get hold of one of these you won't want to part with it - as the saying goes " they don't make them like they used to "

Yamaha FG-150. Made in 1969, Japan. A 20 fret guitar with solid spruce top, mahogany sides and back. She's a red label Nippon Gakki with that classic chunky neck and cheap -- but functional-- open tuners. A small body Martin style OOO model. Cheap cardboard case which will be replaced pronto!

Amazing sounding guitar! Superd intonation! Loud! Well balanced a bit bright for my taste, but has amazing rich deep bass for such a small guitar! In the near future, I plan to put some Markley Dean Phos. Bronze strings on her and replace the plastic endpins with ebony ones. I play Acoustic Jazz, Classic Soul, R&B, and some Classic Rock. String spacing is a bit cramp, but I can make adjustments for that ..... being a women, having small hands. No buzzing and no dead spots. Stays in tune, plays well up and down on the fretboard. I'm a fingerpicker, but she doesn't break up when strummed! I'm sure a string change will help on the "bright" sound.

She was returned to me two weeks ago after my Guitar Tech had her for two years. That's right 2 years! She had super high action, well worn frets, cracks in her heel, and kinda oxidized tuners. The neck reset was a b#@%!; he had to take the neck off 1/2 dozen times before he was able to achieve the proper fit. Seamless neck reset, shiney new frets, a bone nut & saddle, low action some buffing of the tuners, and a little guitar polish......Walla !! She does have a 1/2 inch pick mark above the sound hole, but other than that she looks great. Nice golden brown top. This finish has taken a licking and has keep on shinen!

After thirty plus years, this guitar can withstand anything. She will be played live. I can't wait to play her for the first time, open mic. The finish has held up nicely (still shiney) after all these years! I may change the cheap turners. I can't decide, I would like to keep the guitar "original".

Yamaha use to have site on there website which would allow you to date and get some history on your particular guitar. Sadly, they no longer have that option. I've emailed them in the past, and they have always been prompt, helpful and friendly. Needless to say there is no warranty. She's had a neck rest, complete fret job, nut and saddle replacement.

I've been playing for 6 years. This guitar is a keeper. She plays/sounds amazing, and she's small enough to sit around on the couch and play. A Martin rip-off for sure but who better to copy? I would like to thank my Guitar Tech Guy, he gave me back my guitar and didn't charge me a dime! He never gave up on "Woody". THANKS SO MUCH. If it was lost are stolen, I'd have to go on Ebay and fork over $250 plus and get another one ..... their running about that much these days. The tuners are crap and the string spacing is tight, but I can live with that.

How does she compare with current guitars? This guitar can compete with many of the small body guitars being made today. The Yamaha FG-150 can hold it's own with the $300 to $800 range guitars. Heck, she maybe able to compete with the $1100. Ok, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here. Boy, you smile to yourself because you know, you have found a diamond in the ruff. The fact that I was willing to invest some bucks into getting her back into playing shape is a testament to the quality of the guitar. If you ever find a Yamaha FG-150 for sale, buy it! If she needs some work, have it done, it's a worth while investment.