This is certainly one of Japans' best kept secrets!

Yasuma's original and best version of the Martin D-28, these are hard to find.

Yasuma has a cult following in Japan, and is something of a hero in our book (as restorers) too, this guitar is a particular favourite of mine and would not be for sale if I hadn't got a spare one in the stash for a rainy day!

His wares are top notch.

This piece has the vintage pre-war Martin designs of light bracing and small bridge plate for enhanced tone, plus the stylish through-saddle. It looks, handles and sounds very authentic.

This is one of the guitars that brought about the so called 'lawsuit' era, and is also one of the best copy guitars ever made in 70's Japan. Yasuma allegedly folded his company after being persued by the USA heavies for making better guitars than them with their own designs!

Not boomy or to aggressive sounding yet has plenty of everything you could ever want in terms of tone and harmonics, and records just lovely.

The build quality is excellent, very lightly built like a pre-war Martin D-28 on which the design is firmly based.

The Aria machine heads are factory originals, these were only fitted to the very highest quality guitars of the day such as the top end Arias and those made by Ryoji Matsuoka.

So, condition wise......

Majority of the guitar in excellent cosmetic condition for its 50+ years, top board has a fair amount of play wear as expected and an interesting well-earned patina.

The bridge and saddle have been lowered to ensure that the action is nice, there is a small amount of room on the saddle to lower the action in the future.

Tonewoods used are instrument grade double plate laminates, made in Japan, sounding like a solid board yet without the humidity issues or cracks, which is why the Japanese used these materials.

Action currently set low, not too low so as to lose tone.

Neck is very good, with a soft V profile and so suitable to those with narrow handspan.

Frets are in good order and have been dressed and crowned a few times.

Fretboard displays minor wear nothing worthy of note

Truss rod is present and functions correctly with some room for adjustment

Neck angle is good

Some slight rising of the soundboard as also seen on lightly built pre-war Martins themselves, we can install a bridge doctor free of charge if asked.

Guitar has been professionally maintained as our shop guitar some years ago, more recently a full professional setup will be included in the asking price and actioned prior to shipping.

This is a real treat courtesy of ol' Yasuma, bless him.

Professionally packaged for safe international travel

Enjoy!