Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Peter Hook, Billy Corgan, John Frusciante, Yuzo Kayama: a disparate collection of well-known musicians united by one thing — at some point in their careers, whether acoustic, electric or bass, they have all strummed Yamaha guitars.

This year marks six decades since the company put out its first acoustic folk guitar. Back in 1966, the FG180 retailed for under ¥18,000 and its distinctive profile — what is known as a dreadnought-style guitar — was passed down to successor models with little change.

To mark six decades of its guitar business, Yamaha Corp. opened up two of its manufacturing plants outside Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, where the company is headquartered, to the media. The culmination of 60 years of perfecting design and manufacturing processes was shown to reporters in the form of the FG9 guitar, a high-end model full of little touches for guitar geeks.

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