?Yairi 1966 #67

[FRANK]

anybody know anything about Yairi from japan ?

[Donald A. Fortune]

hey Paul- donno if this will help or not but I own an alverez made bk in the early 80's
its a dred and 14 fret model no cutaway-- it has a nice bluezy kind of sound, action is a lil high for my liking, but thats a personal thing, other than that its a nice flat top and I play it quite often .
best to you in your search and be safe.
Donald

[mike carne]

As well as Alvarez, K.Yairi is a Japanese maker of some repute -they used to make good Martin copies and Classicals.
They seem to have gone up-market recently,particularly in parlour guitars.

[Ned Knepp]

Paul,
I also own an Alverez Yairi, made in the mid '70. It's a decent guitar particularly when compared to the typical "Japanese" guitar of the time but I don't think this is what you're interested in. I don't know much about the Yairi family but I'm fairly sure that there were two or three Yairi's building guitars in Japan in the "60s. I know there was a father and son and I believe the third was either an uncle or a nephew, not sure which. The father's guitars were sometimes marked with "S. Yairi" on the label and the son sometimes marked his as " H. Yairi" on the label. I also understand that they sometimes built under other brand names and there appear to be some Yairi's that don't differentiate between father and son as builders.

I think the "K. Yairi" labeled guitars are the uncle/nephew's. This is the label that is still in production today. I'm not too sure that "K Yairi" was ever directly associated with "S. Yairi" or "H. Yairi" in producing guitars. It seems to me that I remember reading that father and son worked together but that K. Yairi was never part of their shop.

They appear to have had a good reputation as guitar builders before Alverez used their name for an upscale line of guitars. I known a couple of people that raved about their classical guitars from that time period. I believe that many of the Alverez Yairi's are undervalued because of the spotty quality of Alverez guitars over the last few decades. There are some very good guitars in the Alverez Yairi line but, unfortunately, there are some less than good ones too. I think this is more an issue with Alverez than Yairi but, at least in this country, almost everyone associates Yairi with Alverez and I think but can not verify, that this association also hinders the prices of old Yairi built guitars.

I tried to help a friend find some information on Yairi's some time ago but couldn't find much outside of the Alverez line. I don't know if records were not kept or what but there just doesn't seem to be a lot if information available.

I'm not a expert and it's been a few years since I really looked into these so I may be completely wrong, this is just what I remember.

Ned

[FRANK]

well if its any constellation it has a water Mark from Japan I Just don't know any Japanese it is a 250 model made in 66 sold in 67 on telegraph in Berkley CA in 67 and is #67 ?ovangkel back and sides ceder top don't know what the fret board is but or the neck but I will guess the neck is mahogany bone nut bone saddle the nitro is checking beautifully and is a wonderful thing to receive from family as a gift I just want to know who was the Builder darn this thing pumps air like nobody's business and where can I find another one .?

[Ned Knepp]

Paul,
Do you think you can get a picture of the water mark? My daughter goes to a multi ethnic school and one of her Japanese friends may be able to translate it.

I did some online searching and most of what I found is pretty much what I have seen before. I did, however find a post with some info I hadn't seen before. http://www.delcamp.net/forum/en/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=19419
I'm quoting the post here so the info doesn't disappear if the other forum archives things.

Quote:
"Sada Yairi employed a very odd model numbering system, using the word clase to indicate the model number. This was the same numbering system used by Yairi & Sons guitars -- at least initially. In later years, however, S. Yairi's model numbering system became very complicated and confusing.

During the early 1970s, classe 900 was the top model, so your clase 700 guitar was 3rd from the top. All three of the top models -- the 700, 800, and 900-- had laminated rosewood back and sides. Clase 900 and some clase 800 & 700 guitars had ebony fingerboards. I have also seen these guitars with rosewood fingerboards. I think that the guitar models ending in 50 (750, 650,550) were crafted with mahogany back and sides.

Some people believe that S. Yairi classical guitars are finer guitars than comparable Kazuo Yairi guitars of the same period. My experience with these guitars is that they each have a distinctive sound and use different construction methods.

S. Yairi guitars are closer in style to Yairi & Son guitars than K. Yairi guitars. Guitars made by Yairi & Sons have a distinctive Japanese influence, while K. Yairi classical guitars are either based upon Torres bracing and construction or Ramirez - Madrid school guitars.

Some early S. Yairi classical guitars have dovetail neck blocks and do not use a Spanish slipper heel. They also have an odd interior flying buttress neck extension that I have only seen on Japanese guitars. Some early S. Yairi's also employ a one piece mahogany neck instead of crafting the neck with a laminated heel and a separate head. I think that the one piece neck increases sustain, but was very costly to produce.

Most consider Sada and Kazuo Yairi guitars to be of a much higher quality than guitars made by Hiroshi Yairi -- sold under the Wilson label. Hiroshi Yairi guitars are similar to Yairi and Son instruments and often have Sadao Yairi Sr.'s name on the label as supervisor. "
End quote.

Maybe some of the info about construction will help you identify what you have. As I said before, my friends that owned Yairi classical guitars raved about them.

Ned

[FRANK]

here are a few shots need any more just ask

[Brent Hutto]

The inscription reads "I produced this quitar conscientiously for guitar fan. SADAO YAIRI"

My friend in Japan says that you should be very happy with that one, it's a nice Yairi.

[Ned Knepp]

You know Paul, you said the finish was crazing but that looks very good to me. I know that at least one of my friends would be green with envy to have a Yairi that looked so good.

I don't know if it is my imagination or camera angle but the bridge looks just a little bit closer to the tail block than usually to me. What's the scale length?

Ned

[FRANK]

25inch plus 20 32eds

[Brent Hutto]

That's 650mm scale. Many classical guitars of that vintage were 660mm and the preference nowadays is very strongly for the shorter scale. In terms of resale value you would find your guitar to sell much more quickly and likely bring a somewhat higher price than a 660mm one. Not that you'd want to sell such a beautiful old instrument.

[FRANK]

no I don't but money dose talk if it were 30,000 I would consider it