K Yairi W-1

Hi, I'm looking for any information out there about K Yairi W-1 model dreadnoughts.

I bought one recently, a 1982 model which appears to have a spruce top and mahogany back and sides, 'hand crafted' it says, in Kani Gifu Japan. It's a nice sounding guitar and I'm very pleased with it.

Any info would be welcome. Thanks.

by 1982 he`d been building since at least the early 70s In my Japan Vintage book vol.3 he says in an interview that he went to America to study lutherie in the early 60s...maybe he worked with his uncle/father for a while...the actual history and connection between Sadao and Kazuo is shrouded in mystery, seems there was some bad blood and Kazuo doesn`t want to talk about it and Sadao died...we do know both worked for the family member, the original Sadao...either the father to one, both or an uncle... who left the Suzuki violin company in Fukushima in the mid 30s to strike out on his own both Sadao and Kazuo worked for/with him learning the ropes than something happened and they split.
In that same book there is a lot of info on YW models but zero on W models...might have been for export, there is a pic of a WEIR acoustic though. So...you know the year...the Sadao`s I own all have the year written on the labels, making it real easy to date em...and you know the model...what are you looking for?

by 1982 he`d been building since at least the early 70s In my Japan Vintage book vol.3 he says in an interview that he went to America to study lutherie in the early 60s...maybe he worked with his uncle/father for a while...the actual history and connection between Sadao and Kazuo is shrouded in mystery, seems there was some bad blood and Kazuo doesn`t want to talk about it and Sadao died...we do know both worked for the family member, the original Sadao...either the father to one, both or an uncle... who left the Suzuki violin company in Fukushima in the mid 30s to strike out on his own both Sadao and Kazuo worked for/with him learning the ropes than something happened and they split.
In that same book there is a lot of info on YW models but zero on W models...might have been for export, there is a pic of a WEIR acoustic though. So...you know the year...the Sadao`s I own all have the year written on the labels, making it real easy to date em...and you know the model...what are you looking for?

Thankyou for that. Are you saying the W-1 could be the equivalent of the YW models?
As to what I'm looking for, well, I'm not sure whether the back and sides are solid or laminated, though it makes no difference to how I feel about its sound. I guess this guitar is a bit of a mystery which has piqued my curiosity to want to find out more about it/them (I've not been able to find anything at all on this model) and I wanted to know if anyone else had one, whether they knew anymore about them and what they thought.

what I mean is...so far I can`t see any info on any models just listed as W...in my books they all are YW...Yairi Western? maybe...maybe not...
It`s not easy even for the guys here who wrote the books I have because evidently Kazuo doesn`t want to say much about the history and what happened. He is still involved in his company as far as I know, his pic shows up in catalogs...but I don`t have any going back to the 80s. I`ll see if anything comes up with a search here.

what I mean is...so far I can`t see any info on any models just listed as W...in my books they all are YW...Yairi Western? maybe...maybe not...
It`s not easy even for the guys here who wrote the books I have because evidently Kazuo doesn`t want to say much about the history and what happened. He is still involved in his company as far as I know, his pic shows up in catalogs...but I don`t have any going back to the 80s. I`ll see if anything comes up with a search here.

Thanks again for the trouble.

I`ve been looking on Yahoo Japan but no W models so far.

I just saw an Alvarez-Yairi on Craigslist for $500 in Philly, its a 92 I think, I just bought an Alvarez or I would have gotten it
JIm