Yamaha copy of Martin D-45

Yo, I mentioned in the welcome to you that I dunno? :( Yamaha/Compass usually innovate & have their own nuances. :D

Yamaha has been one of my favorite brands for decades, and I've passed them along, many actually, well-loved to others.

I've also had a couple of Eternas that they made for awhile. FWIW or who cares, but we kept our first, my sis' from 1970.

Perhaps somebody else will know. :wink:

Edit: hey I googled and found your question elsewhere, remembered the Morris and Marlin guitars I had (never forgot the Martins of course :lol:) and came across this FG365S http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5aOjwVHbW0&feature=related

So, yeah, I'm sure now that I had the one you refer to, it was a Yamaha with all the bells and whistles, including ebony fingerboard, and gold Grovers, huge amounts of binding and sparkling abalone - I have a pic and model number of it in a vintage flyer.

Mine was vintage when I got it, had been in a fire, and only a small part of the case was burned, when it was pulled out, and the rest of the house got torched. Really, it was a splendid guitar, which I sold for about $500 in a brand new, copy, period-correct brown case. I'm not at home to dig up my advertising material and description, but I bet it was a FG370S or higher. I see none on the internet with gold hardware.

When you say "copy", you won't get a clone from Yamaha, but it may refer to similar materials, and use of the materials.

Hi. I know that the red label Nippon Gakki Yamaha fg-180s were modeled after the Martin d-28, or vice versa. A friend of mine is a guitar make aficionado, and he recommended I buy a red label if I ever find one. Picked up a '69 from ebay for $550 (Canadian), and i'm blow away by the sound. I've played $2-3 thousand dollar guitars that don't hold a candle. True story. Very well made guitar. The setup on the guitar was amazing when I got it, so I didn't have to get anything done. Evan came with new strings. I'm very happy with it.

You might look around for a 'Blueridge'. I have one I picked up used about 7 years ago. Mine is a BR-0S. Its about 21 years old from what I can gather on the internet. Its pretty much a martin clone and sounds really good. Plays well also. Blueridge guitars are fairly popular with the bluegrass players, sort of a poor mans Martin. The tone just keeps getting better the older it gets. I think I paid about $200 for mine and was worth every penny.
Check out the links. This BR-OS needed a lot of work and was selling used for $160 usd. But gives you an idea what it looks like.
http://www.elderly.com/vintage/items/20U-5878.htm

And A you-tube posting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxN3lrTq3GA

Southpost, what's the verdict? Did you find the guitar? When I googled I found your question in a number of places, and a variety of answers - didn't see anything "precise". Yeah, sort of a tough question.

The key is to find a rosewood back, with triangular patch in the middle, solid spruce top, and lot's of bling, even to take it over the top like the D-41, or D-45, past the D-35. I still seem to remember having one, but not a copy, it was just a great Yammy & still had the Yamaha headstock (naturally) with those great gold Grovers - mandatory to make it D-45ish.

I saw a folk singer this weekend with a 40 year old FG-180 which resembled a D-18, and we have a Cort Earth 100 "D-18".