The Yairi line are completely handmade in Kani, Japan by Kazuo Yairi. The company began in 1935. The name Alvarez Yairi is simply because Alvarez is the US importer of Yairi guitars. In the early 1960's Kazuo sent his son abroad to search for tone woods and he was on this mission for over 3 years. The tonewoods are aged naturally and the only machine used is the saw to cut the wood. At the peak of production the factory created as many as 4000 guitars in a year with 40 employees. Quite often a single luthier would build a guitar. Here is a video of the factory and the process of building: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPRyLPouYZMAbove at the headstocks of my two DY-67s
In the mid 1990's Working with Bob Weir, of the Grateful Dead, they created a line of guitars. He still plays Yairi guitars live. The WY-1 series is available in a number of tonewoods. Cedar and Rosewood, Koa, and Spruce and Maple. A few 12 string guitars were made.
The is a cedar top, rosewood back and sides model with a System 500 pickup and preamp. 1998 WY-1-12.
One really interesting feature is that the guitars themselves are tuned to G. Not the strings, the actual guitar.
I believe that the Yairi is the best deal out there.
Every guitarist needs at least one 12 string
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