❌SOLD❌ Yamaha GC-20D Classical Brazilian Rosewood, 1972

Here we have a lovely 1972 vintage Yamaha GC-20D classical guitar with a spectacular Brazilian Rosewood set for the sides and back. The ‘GC’ stands for ‘Grand Concert’ and these models were the top of the line for Yamaha classical guitars, and are seriously good instruments.   As the GC-20D, this model was built from 1971 to 1973.

This Yamaha GC-20D was built during 1972 at the Yamaha home facility (Nippon Gakki) in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture and is signed by master luthier Mr. Toshio Kato. It pairs a Hokkaido Spruce top with Brazilian Rosewood (Jacaranda) for the back, sides, bridge and head plate. The body blocks and neck are Mahogany, and the fingerboard is Ebony. The finish is lacquer, with a Ramirez-style orange tint to the top.   Construction quality is very high – the builders took these very seriously.

This GC-20D example has a couple of small dents to the top, and a small crack on the back, relatively common with the characteristic swirling grain of the Brazilian Rosewood. It is presently strung with Savarez low tension strings, plays well and has a well-developed voice.

The GC line was conceived during the mid 1960s, when Yamaha arranged for three luthiers – Hiroshi Harada, Hideyuki Ezaki and Toshio Kato, to learn from Spanish master Eduardo Ferrer. Between 1964 and 1967 Ferrer repeatedly visited Japan.

This effort enabled Yamaha to dramatically improve the quality of their classical guitars and the first GC models 3, 5, 7 and 10 appeared in 1967, in both Classical and Flamenco versions. These were very good but also very expensive – the GC3 cost considerably more than the average yearly salary of a Japanese university graduate.

In 1970, a number of factors caused Yamaha to expand the line into more affordable versions, ultimately including the GC-20D and GC30A. The GC-20D was renamed in 1974 to ‘GC-20M’ and ‘GC-20S’, and in 1980 became the GC-60 and GC-60S.

Yamaha presented Andres Segovia with a GC30A, who liked it enough to use for daily practice at his cottage.

This guitar is sold with its original, Yamaha-plated hard shell case.