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Selling this gorgeous guitar as I'm moving soon (unfortunately needing to downsize/been swamped with work and haven't been spending a ton of time playing; she deserves better this this :)
Made in the mid-late 1970's under Master Luthier Ikuo Momose, this rare guitar is made of +40 year old tone woods and remains in excellent playing (and viewing) condition.
She's got a beautiful solid top spruce, Indian rosewood back and side, mahogany neck, and rosewood fingerboard.
The vintage Waverly gold and ivoroid tuners sell for around $150-$250 alone.
The Gator hard case, which is ~$150 new, is included for free.
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This guitar was made by Hayashi Gakki under the supervision of Master Luthier Ikuo Momose.
Hayashi Gakki’s luthiers were also making steel string acoustic guitars under Rider and Canyon brand names, all supervised by Mr. Momose. Momose later started his own (soon to become famous) Headway guitars workshop. Headway guitars are made until today and are very highly regarded (and priced) wherever they are distributed. Mr. Momose in Japan has the same high status as Terry Nakamoto (long time head master luthier at Yamaha’s Custom Shop). You can read short chapter about Mr. Momose presented below the posting.
The guitar you are looking at, although inspired by Martin blueprints, is more of Momose’s own creation. Soon after you start playing this guitar, you’ll know why Ikuo Momose and his Headway guitars are so highly regarded in Japan, Europe, Australia and Asia.
(If you wanted to purchase hand made in Japan brand new guitar with the same construction and looks you would likely be paying ~$2,000. However, if you wanted this guitar to be made from 40+ years old tone woods and sound like vintage one, you would need to spend even more than that.)
SPECS
Additional info regarding Ikuo Momose and Headway guitars:
Before starting his own workshop, Mr. Momose was already famous for making very fine acoustic guitars at Hayashi Gakki. Being helped by his business partner Mr. Yatsuka (current CEO of Deviser company = distributor of Headway guitars) Momose started making Headway guitars in 1977. His guitars rather quickly won great popularity not only in Japan, but also many other countries. Although their construction was based on Martin blueprints, these guitars had their own unique characteristics and soon became sensation. It seemed that Headway guitars were on the straight path to be highly regarded all over the world. Sadly, in 1983 their workshop and warehouse, were destroyed by 2 fires. Mr. Momose lost most of his own design tools, forms, jigs and machinery, as well as lots of materials that were waiting for production. After this huge loss, company was unable to restart production of acoustic guitars. Instead they concentrated on making electric guitars, in 1980s branded as Riverhead and 1990s as Bacchus. They were also making many OEM electric guitars for other leading Japanese brands. However, during all these years guitar players kept asking about Headway acoustics. Thanks to contacts with guitar enthusiasts running acoustic guitar forums, Mr. Momose knew that because of their greatness and limited numbers, his Headway guitars became highly sought by players and collectors, even gaining in value. Knowing that and having recovered financially, in 1999 company was able to re-start production of their steel string acoustics. As of today, Headway acoustics are distributed all over Asia, in Australia and Europe. You can easily find their website, see their models and prices.
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