My Yamaha FG230 12-String Photo Album

Welcome to my Yamaha FG230 photo album. This was the first guitar I ever owned. I bought it new from the House of Guitars back in the mid-'70s. I was inspired by the sound from Carly Simon's "No Secrets" album. There's a luthier in town here in Rochester, NY named Bernie Leahmann (Who builds some extraordinary stringed instruments, not just guitars) who has done some service work on my guitar over the last 25 years. It turns out that this model was the first guitar he ever owned as well! He does recognize the mass-produced quality, but still has a lot of respect for the sound quality of these old "Red Label" Yamaha Guitars. They sound a whole lot better than they should. I eventually did some major work on it myself to restore it to better than new condition which I will touch on below...

My Yamaha FG230 12-String Guitar

Yamaha did write back to me regarding its history and so I will share a few of the details. I had written to them regarding availability of necks and what type ofwoods, glue joints and neck joint was used on this guitar before I started its reconstruction. They were thrilled to hear I was going to put this kind of time into it!

...And Here's The Back View...

This guitar, the model of which was Yamaha's first 12-string exported to America back around 1968-1971, was made entirely of laminates because they were shipped literally overseas and they were concerned that solid wood would not be stable enough for the journey. Sides and back are laminate mahogany and the top is laminate spruce. Despite this, the FG230 still enjoys a stellar reputation as the Red Labels were very well built and wonderfully warm and musical instruments.

Yamaha FG230 Sound Samples.

As you can see, she's a lot like me now... gettin' old and tired with her share of blemishes and nothing spectacular about her shape, but she's still got a great heart and soul... a great date that few would ask out anymore except those who knew to look past the surface! I did end up giving her a makeover with new tuning machines, a JLD Bridge Doctor, leveling the fingerboard and dressing the frets, a neck reset, building up the bridge with rosewood veneer for greater slot depth and bridge stability, removing the old pickguard, making a new nut and saddle out of fossilized mastadon bone... This view shows the back of the neck after resetting it and the new tuning machines in place.

Here are a couple of clips. Remember to consider all music presented here as copyrighted... Thanks.

Sound Samples.

Yamaha FG230 Sound Samples.

Yamaha FG230 Acoustic Sample.
In The Arms Of The Babe Sample After Neck Reset... Guitar only.