So my fathers old Yamaha Red label FG-180 Nippon Gakki re-surfaced today from an old friend he had given it to years back.  I snapped it up as it was bought in the 60's.  The serial # on headblock is 998503 so I am trying to find out the date of manufacture and what the top and sides are made of. (I am assuming laminate)

Is there a Yamaha registry that is available to shed light on it's origin?

Thanks,

Ray

Hey Jim,

Couldn't get that link to work?

I have gone all over this bloody guitar and I can only find #998503 stamped on the headblock...The finder on Yamaha's website can't identify this number and I noticed when I google FG-180s most have an eight didgit serial #

Since this is a builder's site,  I'll tell you why I'm bringing this guitar to the forum.  It has a very large hole in the treble rib from a not so careful owner dropping a very large object on it and I want to repair it.  I'll be bringing it over to Mike Levesque at Studio 46 Guitars in the near future to get some advice and have already contacted Frank Ford and he graciously offered me some his advice.

I loved building first from a kit from John Hall and I'm enjoying my current scratch build, however, I do agree with a lot of the established guys here that you should learn to do repairs as well put together new builds.  This is going to be a very long project that I will take very slowly but hopefully will learn alot along the way. (With help from the OLF)