MADE IN JAPAN 1976 - RIDER R500D - AMAZING - MARTIN D45 STYLE - ACOUSTIC GUITAR

Rider R500D 1976 s.n. 04839

This terrific guitar was made around 1976 by Hayashi Gakki under personal supervision of Master Luthier Yasuo Momose.

Hayashi Gakki’s luthiers were also making a few lines of steel string acoustic guitars ordered by various importers or domestic distributors. One of these lines were C.F Mountain guitars distributed by WESTON Music company. All these lines were supervised by Mr. Momose.

Rider guitars were launched in 1975 and were made only for 3 years, until Mr. Momose left Hayashi Gakki in late 1977 to establish 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 headmaster luthier at Yamaha’s Custom Shop). Soon after you start playing this guitar, you’ll know why Yasuo Momose, and his Headway guitars are so highly regarded in Japan, Europe, Australia and Asia.

The guitar you are looking at, although inspired by Martin blueprints, is more of Momose’s own creation. Mr. Momose was a great innovator, and his guitars sounded far better that those offered by other Japanese makers of that era.

One of Momose’s innovations were high performance 3 layered “laminates” with maple core. Another innovation was the use of maple inserts in the neck at the neck/body joint. All these innovations greatly enhance transfer of vibrations along the body and neck of the guitar.

Even though R500D was not “the top of the line” model it is a superb instrument that can easily challenge all $5000 guitars sold today in USA. I am sure that all experienced players will agree.   

Although it was priced at the same level, it sounds decisively better than (made for export) C.F. Mountain W500D 1977:

https://reverb.com/item/85422725-made-in-japan-1977-c-f-mountain-w500d-superb-martin-d45-style-acoustic-guitar

As of today, Japanese factory made solid top guitars of similar construction and looks are priced at $3000 level. However, in terms of volume and tonality they stand no chance against a 45 year old vintage guitar. Only guitars made with 45 years old woods could do that (after being frequently played for at least a couple of years). This will be rather difficult to order such a guitar, because woods seasoned for so long are very hard to find. Guitars made in Japan with (only) 20 years old tops are priced at $4500 level. A similar class solid top guitar made by a well-established individual American luthier, can easily cost you 50% more. If you'd like to add solid back and sides made with 20 years old Indian Rosewood the price may very well double. If, however, you wanted to go "all the way" and have old growth Brazilian Rosewood b/s you need to be prepared for the price at $25000 level. 

NONE OF THESE GUITARS WILL SOUND MUCH BETTER (IF BETTER AT ALL) THAN THE ONE YOU ARE LOOKING AT RIGHT NOW!       

This guitar surely deserves “Grand Concert” title. It is so responsive that you can control its volume and to some extent modulate its tonality. It will sound loud and very rich when you play harder but will sound very lyrical and gentle when you play lighter. All its notes are sparkly and sweetly colorful, and all with their own overtones. Its sustain is so immense that you don’t need to play much to keep it alive. If you decide to strike harder a full chord you almost hear a symphony orchestra. This is one of those “very hard to put down” guitars. It will charm even most demanding listener.        

This guitar comes with few imperfections. There are a few very minor marks on the top, back and sides. There are brownish discolorations along small sections of originally creamy white bindings. Original tuning keys have lost some of their original luster.

The only “serious” imperfection is that one can feel the sections of the very edge of the plastic center wedge joining side plates (where the endpin is mounted). This is quite a common occurrence on vintage guitars, caused by different response to temperature and moisture fluctuations between wood and plastic. As result finish between the two materials cracks exposing the edge of either one, while all the parts are still firmly bound together. Therefore, such an occurrence can be considered an imperfection but certainly not a defect.

Despite all its imperfections, the overall condition of this guitar can be described as “excellent for its age”.

Very importantly its neck is straight, fingerboard and levelled frets in excellent shape. With its quite low action it plays super easy.

Specifications:

Top: Solid Spruce/ Martin style bracing with non-scalloped braces/ thin coat of lacquer

Back & Sides: Brazilian Rosewood with Maple core “laminates”/ urethane

Fingerboard: Ebonized Rosewood

Neck: Mahogany

Scale 645 mm

Width at Nut: 43 mm

Its action is set to 2.30 mm under E6 and 1.80 mm under E1 with still some extra room on the saddle.

This guitar will be shipped in used original hard-shell case.

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.      

IF YOU BUY A GUITAR, YOU MUST ANTICIPATE TAKING IT TO YOUR LOCAL GUITAR SHOP FOR FINAL ADJUSTMENTS CALLED “SETUP”. STRING BUZZ DOESN’T MEAN THAT GUITAR IS DEFECTIVE.

My posted for sale guitars are stored in climate-controlled vault already packed into shipping boxes, with loosen strings. Because the strings are loosened, they don’t pull the neck or soundboard, and the neck may relax (straighten more) and the soundboard flatten a bit, which may result with the string action being lower than my it was with my original settings and lead to buzzes and/or dead notes after guitar arrives to you. Such a change in neck curvature can also happen just because of vibrations during the shipment and/or temperature fluctuations. Therefore, you must be ready to make final action adjustment yourself and or have it done by professional. All that really needs to be done is the simple neck adjustment by using the truss rod (turning the truss rod counterclockwise will relief the neck and strings will move away from the frets).

THAT IS WHY TRUSS RODS ARE INSTALLED IN THE NECKS OF ACOUSTIC GUITARS!!!     

Yasuo Momose and Headway Guitars Story

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, a 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 a 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, the 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 the 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.

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.