When I had my music store in the 1970's our best seller by far was the Yamaha FG180. They had good sound, they held together and they were affordable. Initially, they were marked Made in Japan.
Sometime in the early 1970's the markings changed to Made in China. I thought that the Chinese-made ones were just a little bit nicer than those that had come from Japan.
I never saw one with a bad neck set and never had one come back for anything serious like a lifting bridge. If you could get past the emotional issue that they were laminated and didn't say C.F. Martin on the neck, you were generally very satisfied.
A lot of people bought those as a first guitar and were very pleased with them. We also sold a few of the FG150's. Children liked those because they were a bit smaller.
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