Yamaha FG-75 Nippon Gakki M.I.J Not Red Label!

[WVUBAMA]

Japanese craftsmanship and manufacturing is superb, but I have to say quality has suffered since their economic decline. I was fortunate to have spent a month in Kansai area in the mid 80s when Japan was at its peak and I can honestly say you could eat a meal off the factory floors.

Yairis are great, but like Larrivee, get lukewarm reception outside of devoted followers.  Thetre was a neat little K Yairi, domestic market model, on Ebay a while back that could not make reserve. Had it been 1 3/4" I might have pulled the trigger.

[sneaky]

I`ve been in Japan for some time now, I feel many of the young folks I teach just don`t have the drive that got the country to the point it reached during the bubble years, so many are quite lazy...again, referring to those I have direct contact with...on the other hand the recent downturn has left a lot of folks unemployed, some very sad stories out there about families, but the same thing is happening everywhere it`s just that Japan is not accustomed to things like this. Age-ism...if thats a word...and sexism are rampant, North American women who come here have an adjustment period to go through `cause things here are still controlled by men and they take advantage of it. The country is undergoing changes they`ve never seen before, it will be interesting to see where it goes from here. China is on the brink of taking over the role Japan has played economically and evidently many here don`t feel bothered, they believe they will be able to continue to cruise the way they have done for decades but I don`t think so...we`ll see. There are still some here who have a great deal of pride in their work and they produce quality goods, but it ain`t what it used to be.
I don`t own any K. Yairis though the Rock Inn here has lots of them, but I`m real happy with my S. Yairis, beautiful guitars...and I have other MIJs that are superb guitars too, we are spoiled for choices these days in Japan.

[JohnM2001]

I had a red label FG-75 a few years back, it was OK, but the width at the nut was VERY thin, seemed even less than 1 5/8", I could not deal with it after awhile.  It made the nut width on my D-02 (1 11/16") feel absolutely spacious!   

[sneaky]

agreed...I find that problem with many FG models...built for smaller Japanese hands?...for domestic models it makes sense to me. I felt the same thing with my LL33J, just slightly too narrow at the nut...so I sold it around Christmas on line in Japan and the buyer was very happy with the guitar. Another reason I love my Yamaha Dynamics...fat, round necks.

[Danny]

I`ve been in Japan for some time now, I feel many of the young folks I teach just don`t have the drive that got the country to the point it reached during the bubble years, so many are quite lazy...again, referring to those I have direct contact with...on the other hand the recent downturn has left a lot of folks unemployed, some very sad stories out there about families, but the same thing is happening everywhere it`s just that Japan is not accustomed to things like this. Age-ism...if thats a word...and sexism are rampant, North American women who come here have an adjustment period to go through `cause things here are still controlled by men and they take advantage of it. The country is undergoing changes they`ve never seen before, it will be interesting to see where it goes from here. China is on the brink of taking over the role Japan has played economically and evidently many here don`t feel bothered, they believe they will be able to continue to cruise the way they have done for decades but I don`t think so...we`ll see. There are still some here who have a great deal of pride in their work and they produce quality goods, but it ain`t what it used to be.
I don`t own any K. Yairis though the Rock Inn here has lots of them, but I`m real happy with my S. Yairis, beautiful guitars...and I have other MIJs that are superb guitars too, we are spoiled for choices these days in Japan.

A lot of laziness in the U.S. now a days also. It is extremely hard for me as a small business man to hire competent young men who are willing to work hard. Something has changed so drastically that I'm afraid we as a nation are losing completely and forever our status on the world stage.
               All I can foresee now is more decline in quality and competance being provided by the service industry and trades in the U.S.
               I am faced with getting back in my service truck and doing the actual hands on installs and repairs at a much larger percentage than I have been the last 7 years. I'm tired of hiring incorrigible, incompetent, drug taking, lazy young men. I may just retire early and forget it. Maybe I can make a living repairing and refinishing guitars.

               Anyway if you hung in there sneaky, could you say something about the difference in the K. Yairis and the S.Yairis. One was involved with Alvarez weren't they?   

[sneaky]

yes it`s K.Yairi who produces the Alvarez line...a local shop has some new ones that run 3 grand !...beautiful guitars though but they always have the same ones hanging around, they just don`t seem to sell any in this city. Don`t own a K.Yairi so can`t really comment on them, look nice in shops is about as much as I can give you...and they have a ship load of models, I`m happy with my steel strings so I don`t really look for others, if I saw something on sale or used at a good price I`d consider it but don`t seek them out.
I will be starting a new job at a boys junior high next week so I`ll get a look at the up and coming local generation, see if they`re any better than others I have taught in the past. Hope so for the sake of the future of Japan, hey, if hip hop were an education choice they`d all be Ph.D`s. 

[WVUBAMA]

yes it`s K.Yairi who produces the Alvarez line...a local shop has some new ones that run 3 grand

Yairi is the manufacturer, Alvarez is the importer in the US. The ones made by Yairi are marketed in the US as "Alvarez-Yairi", not be confused with the lower budget "Alvarez" line. Alvarez-Yairis have a label signed by the Yairi himself. You can get Alvarez-Yairis fairly inexpensively on Ebay as they never really took off in the US.

Japan has had its moment and the future belongs to China and India. In the 1980s, Japanese products were of uncompromising quality with defect rates approaching 1 in one million! I had a Panasonic microwave crap out after 18 mos and a Sony Bravia die within a week.  Honda quality isn't what it once was and look at Toyota's recent mess. A lot has to do with Japan's collapse after 1987, location of  manufacturing offshore, and pervasive groupthink. Question is, where does Japan go from here? Democracy in Japan was imposed by the Allies after WWII and was supported by the economic success. Most Asia has bad memories of Japanese militarism.

[sneaky]

I don`t know what gets imported into the US since I`m in Japan and am not American. There is a wall of K.Yairi made Alvarez guitars hanging at the local Rock Inn, I have the catalog somewhere but don`t feel like going through them all, I`ll just pick another one up tomorrow and post the model numbers...along with prices. Like I said, they don`t seem to be selling in this city during these hard times and they certainly are not budget models.  You can always come over and see for yourself.

[Old Red]

The gentleman who "is so sure" about the red label fg75's is a prime example of being informed but not necessarily correctly informed.
As was pointed out he apparently knows more than the 3 historical books on Yamaha and history of Japanese guitars  I own.
Opinions are always right "they are subjective" the facts however are just that Facts!!!