WE-150 | Claescaster

Tag: WE-150

I’ve recently come across I pretty good source for old catalogue scans for Japan made acoustic guitars. It’s called oldguitar and has about 50 different Japanese guitar brands represented, some brands has more scans than others and most of them are in Japanese but it still pretty nice to see your guitars in old catalogues. Unfortunately I only managed to find my Morris W-40, K. Yairi TG-40 and Suzuki Three-S F-120, my Morris WL-35 and Kiso Suzuki WE-150 seems a bit harder to track down.

Morris W-40 Made in Japan by Terada 1973

Morris W-40 in the Morris catalogue for Japan 1975

K. Yairi TG-40 Made in Japan 1977

Yairi TG-40 in a Japan Catalogue from the late 1970’s

Suzuki Three-S F-120 Made in Japan 1976

Suzuki Three-S F-120 in the Suzuki Three-S catalogue for USA 1979

Kiso Suzuki WE-150 Made in Japan 1970’s

My Kiso Suzuki WE-150 seems to be a mix of the W-150 and then WH-200 in this catalogue from Japan 1976

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September 4, 2013

Kiso Suzuki WE-150, Made in Japan

Kiso Suzuki Violin Co. LTD. WE-150 Made in Japan, 1980

Last night I restored a Kiso Suzuki WE-150. There wasn’t anything really wrong with it, it was just extremely dirty and the frets seemed to have been lying around in aquarium. I cleaned it for 2 hours, polished the frets and set it up and now it plays and sounds great. I changed the nut too, from plastic to bone, which improved the tone a lot. It’s actually one of the easier guitars I have played in a while even though it’s a dreadnought. I strung it with 11’s which I normally do on all of my acoustics so I can play them like electrics but this one felt extra easy to play. I tend to find dreadnoughts a lot stiffer compared to folk- and parlour sized guitars even with light gauged strings. I would like to keep it but it has to go so if you are interested you can find it in For sale.

The frets was extremely dirty and full of something green that almost looked like moss. I cleaned, dressed and polished them and then oiled up the fretboard with lemon oil. I adjusted the neck and set it up so now it plays really well with low action without any buzzing. A great Japanese made Kiso Suzuki WE-150 from 1980 that looks almost new.