red label lover

I started learning guitar on my brother's old red label FG-180 Yamaha. Though Yamaha still makes acoustic guitars - they come short of the quality and sound of their labeled ancestors. The old red labels were made in Japan at the Nippon Gakki factory. Yamaha moved most of their guitar production to Korea in the early seventies. The Yamahas are good guitars, but just don't compare.

Brook's old FG-180 had a beautiful sound. Yamaha guitars are not upscale guitars, and they still aren't. Last time I was at a SAM'S CLUB, I could still buy a Yamaha off the shelf for just over a hundred bucks. Brook sold his FG-180 back in the late seventies to my soon to be brother in-law Dan Noojin. Dan still has the guitar. Brook took the money for the sale of his Yamaha and stepped up to a Martin guitar. I missed playing that old 180 of his.

At the time my brother in-law, Don Rakestraw, worked at Laverty Music Company on West Broad Street, downtown Gadsden. Don ruled over the sound and guitar shop. Laverty was a Martin dealer at the time. Both Brook and Dan worked at Laverty too. Dan worked there selling and repairing wooden instruments (etc) and Brook taught guitar there.

Don asked me if I'd like to have a job there too - cleaning up after them. I went down and swept, mopped, and cleaned the toilets. The worst job was keeping the coffee pot clean. They had a habit of cooking the coffee to a nice hard lump at the bottom of the pot. I remember a sign over the toilet that said, "We here at Laverty Music aim to please - you're aim would be greatly appreciated as well." I don't think customers knew how to read.

I don't remember how long I worked there. I enjoyed the job because I got to hang with all the guys. After a month or so, Don came to me and said that he had to let me go. He said Carl Adams (the big boss) said we didn't need a janitor in the string shop. Oh well - it was fun while it lasted. I had not been paid as of yet - so Don and Brooky took me to the used guitar wall. Don said that I could pick any guitar that I wanted from that wall. Wow. There were some nice guitars up there. Brook directed my eye to a Yamaha FG-180. "Hey David, that's just like the one I sold Dan."

I took it down from the heavens and saw that it was good.

Brook told me that it was the store's policy to give two free lessons to anyone that purchased a guitar from the store. Though I wasn't a paying customer, I'm glad that cleaning out their toilet and coffee pot, gave me paying customer status. Brook has always been a patient teacher. He taught me a handful of chords and pushed me out of the nest after the two complimentary lessons.

The tuning keys on the guitar were not that great. That's one thing about those Yamaha's - the cheap keys didn't hold a tune that well. I mowed enough lawns to buy me some Grover tuning keys and went back to the store. I believe they cost about $30.00 back in the day - I think that's right. Anyway, I gave the guitar to Dan and he kept it for about a week. When I returned, Dan handed me my guitar with some fine looking keys. They were not Grovers though. They had stars on them which I later found out were from an Ibanez guitar. I handed Dan the money but he refused to take it. He said that the keys were laying around and that they'd do me just as good as Grovers. He was right. I walked out the door with my guitar all fixed up and the hard earned 30 still in my back pocket. I still appreciate the kind favor.

Looking back, I guess all the guys there were in on the kindness. I was really trying to learn and didn't have a guitar in which to practice. I guess they were all in cahoots to get me that guitar. I still have it today - it still sounds great - better actually.

I bought a red label FG-140 a while back. Brook, Cindy, and I were in Atlanta, GA to see Tom Petty in concert. Before going to the concert, we ate, and went to a music store to kill some time. There on a wall of used guitars was the 140. I walked up to it and took it down from the heavens - and I saw that it too was good. No one was in the department at the time, and the guitar didn't have a price on it. As I left the area to rejoin my siblings, a clerk approached me.

clerk: "I saw you looking at that old Yamaha- are you interested?"
david: "It's a nice guitar - I didn't see a price on it."
clerk: "Those old red labels great guitars man."
david: "Yeah - I've got a FG-180 at home.
clerk: "I'll make you a deal, cause I'd like that guitar to go to someone who'll appreciate it."
david: Not quite trusting his pitch I asked, "How much?"
clerk: "I'll sell it to you for $100.00 and I'll even throw in a soft case."
david: I believed him, "Sold."

When the guy told me the price, I didn't bat an eye. That little FG-140 sounded better than my old faithful 180. It's a smaller body with a bigger sound. Dan's FG-180 (the one Brooky sold him three decades back) has an incredible sound. My 180 always had a full sound but never quite compared to Dan's 180. This little FG-140 has a sound that equals the fullness and resonance of Dan's 180. I don't envy Dan's guitar anymore - I have my own.

There are some nice guitars out there on the market, but I'd have to spend a pretty good bit to get a guitar that sounds as good as my old red labels. I've played Martins, Taylors, and others that didn't have the quality of sound. Oh - I've played many that sound much better - but for thousand dollars more than what I've got in my beat up guitars. I'm more than satisfied.