I am Yoshida, president of Yamada Shusei Ltd., a professional apparel garment repair group in Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture.
The other day, when I visited “Omamori,” a picture book store in Sanjo, I became friends with a regular who happened to be there.
As we talked about where he was from, his hobbies, and various other things, he told me that he enjoyed playing the guitar and even inspected and adjusted it himself. As I listened to him talk happily, I began to think, “I want to try guitar again”.
I have a folk guitar that I bought when I was in elementary school, but I don't even remember the name of the maker, even though it was my own guitar, and since I stumbled on the valley chords, I only played simple chords when I felt like it. I had never had it inspected or repaired, and I had no idea what to do with it. He told me that it would be easier to play with some adjustments, so I decided to have it serviced and repaired for the first time in 45 years.
I left it with him and he immediately contacted me. He told me that my guitar was a copy of a Martin D45 made by Hayashi Gakki, and that the material and workmanship were good, as Mr. Momose, one of the leading guitar builders in Japan, was working at Hayashi Gakki at that time. I was somewhat pleased.
I was first relieved to hear that there was no major damage. He suggested two points of repair. (1) the nut and saddle should be replaced with an artificial ivory one called Tusk, and (2) the frets should be re-hammered since they do not match the width of the fingerboard.
I decided to ask him to do the repair. I am grateful for this unexpected encounter.
