YAMAHA SA - MADE IN JAPAN - ORIGINAL CASE
I am only selling this guitar as I have just bought a Gibson Les Paul R8 and I tend to use my Heritage H535 - this guitar was bought as a back up and to give some tonal variation. It is a brilliant guitar, currently strung with 11s and nice and easy to play with a resonance when unamplified that tells you it's going to sound great. And it does, whether you want that glassy clean sound or are playing rock. The guitar has aged gracefully and the original natural/blonde cellulose finish has yellowed slightly to a glorious buttery texture - so it's aged, for real, not by applying acids, solvents, belt buckles etc to brand new guitars to achieve a year old look - this has a genuine 35 year, vintage aged look, with just the tiniest of marks on the back (you need to angle it against the light to see) to show that it has been played. The SA currently is pictured with Schaller strap buttons on it but I have changed them back to the original Yamaha items; similarly the guitar is shown in an ABS case but will be sold in its original Nippon Gakki/Yamaha case as pictured. My Heritage will beat the pants off just about any Gibson 335 - I've owned a few (including my first which dated to - bought and sold for £350; those were the days) and have owned a few Heritage before finding my main one - the Yamaha is close and as good as any 335. In fact, it's better in the versatility stakes as the humbuckers are coil-tapped as standard, using Yamaha's almost unique push/push circuitry on the tone controls. I've attempted to show the tone control positions in tapped and untapped positions. When Yamaha introduced the SA line and others in the 70's they knew they had to beat Gibson who had invented the Electric Spanish/ES concept. They did so by taking experienced instrument makers and 're-apprenticing' them in the art of luthiery in Spain. They came back and made instruments to the highest standard, from the best tone-woods and to a high specification. On top of that, and unlike Gibson, when the guitars arrived at their destination they were taken out of their boxes, acclimatised and set up properly by trained luthiers before release to the retailers - this also acted as secondary QC checking, any faults put right or the instrument scrapped - unlike Gibson you won't find seconds quality MIJ Yamahas. The neck is one piece mahogany and there is little fret-wear - see pics. The body is in very good shape with little sign of use - I look after my guitars, and so have previous owners - in fact, it really doesn't look as though its 35 years old. There is a pic of the serial number stamped above Made In Japan so you can do your own age/specification check if need be. I may be making a mistake selling, but you won't by buying it. Now re-united with its Nippon Gakki case (please note that the stencil wasn't put on by me, I've never tried to remove it; if you are the new owner then it would be up to you to decide what to do with it). Read more