Hiroshi Tamura C50 Flamenco Acoustic 1970
Tamura C50 flamenco, made in Japan 1970. Hiroshi Tamura and his younger brother Mitsuru made classical and flamenco style acoustics from the 1950s to the 1980s. They were extremely well regarded, having trained under Spanish masters and gone on to win several international awards for their work. This gorgeous example dates to 1970, and being a C50 model, would have sold for ¥50,000 at the time. Now, ¥50k not a lot of cash these days, but in 1969, the average annual salary for university graduate in Japan was ¥35000... so this model was worth nearly eighteen months wages... wild. It's built and braced in flamenco style, so that means you get the cedar and cypress wood body with an ebony and mahogany neck, all solid, and braced lightly to allow for excellent clarity and responsiveness. I'm not much of a flamenco player myself, but a friend of the shop who's several decades deep on learning and teaching flamenco played this one for our benefit... holy guacamole, the thing sounds incredible. It's balanced, snappy and bright, with a gorgeous vocal-like low end and a sweet clear treble. It's perfect for flamenco playing, but will happily cover other styles with panache. This is an excellent example of Japanese craftsmanship and will surely make someone very pleased indeed.
Model: C50
Made: Japan, 1970
Finish: natural., gloss lacw=quer
Body: solid cedar top, solid cypress back and sides
Neck: mahogany, ebony fretboard, standard D style profile
Weight: 1.445kg
Mods: nut and saddle replaced, guard attached, previously setup as left handed but converted back to factory right handed
Pickup: none
Accessories: new DCM semi-hard lightweight case
Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. The headstock has dimples on the end and some scuffs on the back and front. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, minor rub wear and some dimples on the back only. The back has dimples on the back and bottom edges, light surface scratches on the shoulders and elbow area and widespread light scuffs around the whole body, no major marks. The sides have dimples on the top shoulder, dimples and surface scratches in the elbow area, scuffs and some tape burn along the back edge, surface scratches and scuffs on the bottom corner and some dimples on the bottom shoulder. The front has dimples on the elbow area and around the bridge, minor finish checking all over the top and some play wear on the shoulders and around the guards.
Overall: very good condition (7.5/10)
Playing Condition Notes: Action is moderately low, neck is straight, intonation is good. Wearing fresh Rotosound normal tension nylon strings.
Fret Life: 7/10, minor wear only