Yamaha FG441S 60312608 2006 March 12th
For their large beautifully crafted bodies and superbly balanced tone. From sparkling highs to fat lows these guitars have excellent projection that delivers power even without amplification.
- Top: Solid Spruce
- Back & Sides: Ovangkol
- Neck: Nato
- Fingerboard: Indian Rosewood
- Tuning Machine: Diecast Chrome
- Finish: Natural
- Bridge: Indian Rosewood
This Yamaha guitar is in excellent condition. Aside from the belt marks on the back it has very little wear but amazingly plays rather well. Initially I thought the back and sides to be Rosewood. This was based upon looks and sound. The guitar just sound good, period. The back and sides are made out of Ovangkol. Here is how one site describes the tone wood:
"Ovangkol (also called Shedua and Amazaqoue) has been in use by several of the larger high-end factories for several years now, most notably Taylor, Lowden and Avalon, but its combination of affordability, beauty and tonality has made it a favorite with a growing number of hand makers as well.
From West Africa, the figure is similar to Indian Rosewood, with dark grey straight lines over a golden-brown or olive-brown background. It comes from the same family as Bubinga and has a similar interlocking grain pattern. It is reasonably easy to bend and plane and it finishes well.
Montreal luthier Michael Greenfield says:“Ovangkol...who knew?! What a great alternative tonewood. As there is a lot of it around, the logs are large and the sets are very on quarter and STRAIGHT. What a pleasure to build with. Bends and glues well....not too hard on edge tools. It is not quite as dense as most Rosewoods, which can be a good thing, especially on larger bodied guitars as you don’t have to combat the problem of clashing overtones -there is better separation between notes.” He went on to say that his latest Ovangkol guitar is a ”monster” and mentioned that tonally it falls nicely ”between Koa and Rosewood”."
This guitar has low action and feels very comfortable to play. This particular model has been discontinued but it's not because the guitar didn't play well. This would make a wonderful Christmas gift for young and old alike. Like I said with a little work the scratch marks can be removed from the back via buffing. Many forums online and websites can help you accomplish that or take the guitar to your local music store. The scratches are in the finish which is probably polyurethane. They can be filled and buffed. More importantly whomever gets this guitar is really going to dig it. I do say in the video the back and side is East Indian Rosewood but that was an error on my part. I can tell you this much the average person will not know the difference by appearance. Ovangkol is a good tone wood.
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