TERUAKI NAKADE C100 1972 - HERNANDEZ y AGUADO CLASS CLASSICAL CONCERT GUITAR - SPRUCE/BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD

YOU ARE LOOKING AT A WORLD CLASS INSTRUMENT PRICED AT THE BARGAIN LEVEL. CURRENTLY BRAND NEW GUITARS OF VERY SIMILAR CLASS MADE BY JAPANESE LUTHIERS USING OLD GROWTH BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD ARE PRICED MINIMUM $15000USD. DISCONTINUED IN 2025 YAMAHA GC70 WAS PRICED $18000.

Teruaki Nakade C100 1972

Guitar you are looking at was made in 1972 by Teruaki Nakade, an eldest son of Sakazo Nakade (by many experts considered The Father of Modern Japanese Lutherie).

Born in 1931 Teruaki started working for his father in 1946 (at the age of 15).  Besides being trained by his father, Teruaki went to Spain in 1964 and spent 2 years working for famous Hernandez Y Aguado shop in Madrid, and after his return to Japan he opened his own independent workshop in 1966. His guitars are made based on Hernandez Y Aguado blueprints yet have his own personal touch. He kept making them until his retirement in 2011. 

Although never as famous as his father, Teruaki was a very accomplished luthier himself and could price his guitars at the same level as his younger brother Toshihiko, although not at Masaru Kohno level. Briefly saying, he had to deliver “more for less”.

There is a video on Youtube entitled "Masakazu Okano plays premium guitars, Herman Hauser, Paulino Bernabe, Paul Fischer, Teruaki Nakade" in which the Japanese professional classical guitarist Masakaru Okano compares a T. Nakade with a Hauser, Paulino Bernabe, and Paul Fisher.

The guitar you are looking at was priced 100 00 yen in 1972. Yet it easily challenges (priced 50% higher) Masaru Kohno No15.

As of today, there is no way to get in Japan a brand new French Polished classical guitar made with solid BR b/s for less than $15000.   

This guitar absolutely deserves to be called a “Grand Concert Guitar”. It offers great volume, super response combined with sweet and somewhat dark tonality, high level of note clarity and separation, all greatly enhanced by great deal of overtones and great sustain. Even though it is made with Spruce top, this guitar offers some warmth and is not as bright as most other guitars from that group. It truly is a beautiful instrument.

Despite its age this guitar remains in “excellent for its age” condition. While its body bears several light scratches and tine dents (most of which are located on the soundboard) it is structurally sound, its neck is straight, fingerboard and leveled frets remain in excellent condition. The damaged original tuners were replaced with new Gotoh set.

Specification:

Top: Solid Spruce/Shellac

Back& Sides: Solid Brazilian Rosewood/ Shellac

Neck: Mahogany

Fingerboard: Ebony

Nut width: 52mm

Scale: 658 mm

The action is set to 3.70 mm under E6 and 3.2 mm under E1, with practically no extra room on the saddle. This action however is already lower than standard for classical guitars, especially for vintage ones.

This guitar will be shipped in the original used hard shell case in still good condition (although some deterioration on outside).

THE ONLY PURPOSE OF THIS CASE IS TO PROTECT THE GUITAR DURING SHIPMENT. I WILL NOT PROVIDE ITS DETAILED DESCRIPTION OR MAKE ADDITIONAL PICTURES, NOR I WILL ACCEPT ANY COMPLAINTS. IF YOU DON’T LIKE THIS CASE YOU WILL NEED TO BUY A DIFFERENT ONE.     

WHEN YOU BUY ANY GUITAR, YOU MUST ANTICIPATE TAKING IT TO YOUR LOCAL GUITAR SHOP FOR FINAL ADJUSTMENTS CALLED “SETUP”. DEPENIDNG ON YOUR PLAYING TECHNIQUE, THIS SETUP ON USED GUITARS MAY INCLUDE NEW CUSTOM-MADE NUT AND SADDLE. IF YOU HEAR STRING BUZZ IT DOESN’T MEAN THAT GUITAR IS DEFECTIVE. IF YOU PLAY HARD ENOUGH ALL BASS STRINGS WILL BUZZ OVER THE FRETS, UNLESS THEY ARE SUSPENDED VERY FAR FROM THE FINGERBOARD. UNLESS YOU PLAY QUITE GENTLY, YOU CAN’T HAVE LOW ACTION AND NO BUZZES. KEEP IN MIND THAT CELLO-LIKE BASSES ON HIGH GRADE CLASSICAL GUITARS HAVE THEIR NATURAL “BUZZ”. 

Nakade Family Luthiers

Sakazo Nakade together with his older brother Rokutaro apprenticed under Japanese Master Violin Luthier Mr. Kinpachi Miyamoto in 1930’s.

Miyamoto had a chance to examine and measure Andres Segovia's performance guitar while he performed in Tokyo in 1929. Their master never ventured into guitar making, but the apprentices Nakade brothers did. They also went to Spain to study guitar making from the Spanish masters. Nakade guitars are high quality instruments and have a big following in Japan. They were famous in the early 60's before Masaru Kohno got famous in the late 60's.

During 1960s both brothers were famous, and their guitars equally highly regarded in Japan. Both brothers were selling their guitars at the same price level as Masaru Kohno. I believe that Rokutaro passed away in early 1970’s. Sakazo continued his work until his death in 1993 (at the age of 87). In the late 1960’s/early 1970’s he was joined by his 2 sons Teruaki, Toshihiko and later on by his youngest son Yukio. Rokutaro's son Osamu Nakade, also travelled to Spain in early 1960's and started his own workshop after his return to Japan in 1970. Sometime in 1990s Osamu Nakade designed a guitar model with top, back and sides made from bamboo, sold at very high prices.

Besides being trained by their father, Toshihiko and Teruaki went to Spain in mid 1960s, and studied at famous Hernandez y Aguado workshop for few years before opening their own workshops. Toshihiko started his independent career in 1968. 

All Nakade luthiers were making very high grade guitars and successfully competed with Masaru Kohno on Japanese market. Their workshops were never as huge undertakings as Kohno’s workshop hence their guitars were sold outside Japan in quite limited numbers. In fact their guitars in many cases were of much higher grade than Kohno models sold for the same price.

 Real Value of Japanese Vintage Guitars

The key to understand value of vintage Japanese guitars is to acknowledge galloping price inflation throughout the late 1960s and 1970s with its peak of 25% in 1974.

During 1960s and most of 1970s model numbers of Japanese guitars were strictly connected with their prices in Japanese yen.

The same class guitar sold in 1970 for 100 000 yen (labelled as model 10), would be sold for 150 000 yen in 1972 (labelled as model 15), 200 000 yen in 1974 (labelled as model 20) and 300 000 yen in 1978 (labelled as model 30). Therefore, you shouldn’t be surprised that two Yamaha GC10 guitars made 10 years apart are two instruments of totally different class. The same rule applies to all guitar models made by all other Japanese makers.

Japanese inflation slowed down in the 1980s. By the early 1980s and during following decades model numbers were no longer strictly associated with their prices. Some Japanese guitar makers introduced model names instead of model numbers. For several economic reasons, since 1980s Japanese made guitars were becoming more and more expensive, while their exports slowing down. Today (2025) Japanese high end classical guitar models are priced at $20000USD level.