RARITY - MIJ - CHAKI W50 1975 - GIBSON CLASS - ACOUSTIC CONCERT GUITAR

Chaki W50 1975

This terrific instrument was made in the mid 1970s.  

Chaki workshop was established in 1947, originally specializing in manufacture of double basses. In 1960, the team led by luthier Shiro Tsuji started to manufacture w hole variety of steel string acoustic guitars. In the early/mid 1970s Chaki guitars were distributed in the West by Daion co. and have earned a very high reputation among international players for the exceptional quality they offered. These instruments are relatively hard to find on second-hand markets and hold their value. Sometime in the mid1990s Mr. Tsuji established his own (S Tsuji) workshop, famous for terrific (and highly priced) archtop jazz guitars.

Daion’s 1973 catalog shows Chaki models W-2, W-3, W-4, W-5, W-6 and W-8, with prices not co-related with model numbers. Model W-5 was priced 75 000 yen, not 50 000 yen as model number might suggest. A couple of years later this lineup was changed to models W30, W40, W50 and so on. By 1975 model W50 was priced at least 80 000 yen and certainly more in later years, making it a relatively expensive guitar on Japanese market of that era.

It is rather obvious that the looks and construction of this guitar is inspired by Gibson blueprints. Calling it “a copy” wouldn’t be correct approach. Term “copy” suggests that Gibson guitars of that era were superior to Chaki guitars while such assumption doesn’t match reality.    

If you are familiar with higher end Gibson models, there is a great chance that you’ll be very happy with this amazing Chaki instrument. You may even become obsessed with its gorgeous tonality.

As of today, Japanese factory made solid top guitars of similar construction and looks are priced at $3500 level. However, in terms of volume and tonality they stand no chance against a 50 years old vintage guitar. Only guitars made with 50 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 sounds simply fantastic. It offers a very impressive volume, super response and very rich, sparkly, yet sweet and lyrical tonality, with great deal of overtones and harmonics. It certainly deserves the title of Concert instrument. With its current action it plays easy.

An overall condition of this guitar can be described as “excellent+ for its age”. The only cosmetic imperfections on its body are 2 very light scratches on its back. Very importantly its neck is straight, fingerboard and frets in excellent shape.

Specification:

Top: Solid Spruce/X bracing/dark amber tinted lacquer

3-pieces Back & Sides: Semi-solid Andean Rosewood/lacquer

“Laminated” is quite unfortunate term regarding Japanese made guitars. These plates were made from 2 layers of solid wood glued together with natural resins. They were made so well that they performed as good as solid wood while being far less expensive in guitar production and far more resistant to cracking in regular use. In recent years many guitar makers around the world adopted a new term "semi-solid" to describe these plates.

Neck: Mahogany with 2-way truss rod

Fingerboard: Striped Macassar Ebony

Nut width: 42mm

Scale: 645 mm

The action is set to 2.50 mm under E6 and 2.00 mm under E1, with very little extra room on the saddle.

 This guitar will be shipped in a used 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!!!     

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.