A 41 year old Yamaha oldie. Meant to be a NGD 3 Years ago.

artiebear

A bit of Sunday night, slightly off the beaten track Yamaha guitar stuff.

Thought I would share this one, as something a bit different from 41 years ago. I have had this one for 3 years or so now, having always wanted another one since I owned one back in 1980/81. 
I must admit that when I came across this, I was not expecting a fairly pristine guitar in the original case, with no changes to electrics etc. but I struck lucky.
The Yamaha SC1200 was released about the same time as the SG2000 was started to gain traction as a serious alternative to the Les Paul. Pretty much like the SG2000 and the LP, Yamaha went after the Fender side of things with an attempt to design something with a twist that might appeal.
In the case of the SC1200, that meant a 

5 piece through neck ( Fender C shape profile)
Ebony board with pearl inlays
3 blade single coils ( hotter than typical at the time, but very responsive to height settings, can be sweet or gritty )
mini switches for each pick up ( one  2way , two 3 way)


The switching gets a bit silly having the ability to have every  pick up combination in or out of phase.

The in phase options are great allowing all the usual settings plus neck and bridge ( very mid position tele ) and all three pick ups.

One weird quirk with using two pick ups out of phase, the right amp settings and a good touch, it's not far away from a Peter Green tone ( bearing in mind these are hot single coils)

You can turn everything off unless you are very careful ( I used one of these live back in the day. I really do not remember how I managed on stage at that time 

Playability and soundwise, it's fantastic. 

For what I paid for it, it's a lot of fun. A strat type guitar with through neck construction, and ebony board etc, would probably be a pretty penny now and a custom job. Nice to be able to find stuff like this coming up on the market every now and then.

Here are a few photos to put it in context



<a href="https://imgur.com/5JbVi1K"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/5JbVi1K.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

<a href="https://imgur.com/9rcvhxX"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/9rcvhxX.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

<a href="https://imgur.com/FPaOe5x"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/FPaOe5x.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

guitars4you

At the time I sold a few new SG, SA and SF models but never an SC, for whatever reason that was - Around 12 months ago I saw one for sale, with the case, at a guitar show I was exhibiting at, and got tempted to buy it

The thru' neck, or jam sand which approach as I called it at the time, was a popular feature in the early 80's

A good looking example there @artiebear ;

artiebear

guitars4you said:

At the time I sold a few new SG, SA and SF models but never an SC, for whatever reason that was - Around 12 months ago I saw one for sale, with the case, at a guitar show I was exhibiting at, and got tempted to buy it

The thru' neck, or jam sand which approach as I called it at the time, was a popular feature in the early 80's

A good looking example there @artiebear ;;

Maybe it's an age thing, but these last few years, I find myself buying odd guitars from way back that I owned or played.  I have enough Gibsons, Fenders ,Martins etc not to care about them too much ( crazy to think about how much those names meant when they weren't whole walls of them in every store ) it does seem to be this kind of stuff that I want revisit. A recurring theme for me seems to be being impressed with build quality on these guitars. I did have a top end SF as well along  the usual SG2000's. I'm pretty sure that the SF was also a great guitar ( cant remember the model number, possible SF1500 ? ).

Edited to add that SC1200 were pretty thin on the ground having only been produced between 79-81. I have seen very few over the years.

Philly_Q

Looks great!  This is from the era when I used to send self-addressed-envelopes to guitar distributors for catalogues, I still have some of them.  Aria Pro II had some similarly ornate neck-through Strat-types.

Looking at it now, the shape is very similar to the BB basses which I think they still make. 

Kittyfrisk

Very handsome guitar(s).
Sod the market value, just enjoy them  

artiebear

Philly_Q said:

Looks great!  This is from the era when I used to send self-addressed-envelopes to guitar distributors for catalogues, I still have some of them.  Aria Pro II had some similarly ornate neck-through Strat-types.

Looking at it now, the shape is very similar to the BB basses which I think they still make. 

I think you are right, Aria did the SB1000 bass, still a classic and Yamaha the BB2000 which Nathan East used.

Regarding catalogues, wow, how much we relied on them. I recently found the Yamaha 1983 guitar catalogue amongst the guitar mags ( huge stack dating from late 70's onwards ). It was the only way to get spec on anything and lovely colour pictures to look at.

If I ever find a nice Aria PE1500, I will struggle not to succumb. I use one circa 1984/85, I  should have kept it.

artiebear

Kittyfrisk said:

Very handsome guitar(s).
Sod the market value, just enjoy them  

So right. as far as Super strats go, I have a great custom built Suhr Carved top standard. It's lovely in every way and would now cost silly money (quilted top etc), but I find myself getting the SC1200 out instead. ( probably at the back of mind, thinking . bloody hell, how much would John Suhr charge to build something with this spec ?   )

Philly_Q

artiebear said:

Regarding catalogues, wow, how much we relied on them. I recently found the Yamaha 1983 guitar catalogue amongst the guitar mags ( huge stack dating from late 70's onwards ). It was the only way to get spec on anything and lovely colour pictures to look at.

If I ever find a nice Aria PE1500, I will struggle not to succumb. I use one circa 1984/85, I  should have kept it.

I've waffled on about this many times, but I'm somewhat obsessed with early-80s Japanese guitars which were advertised in the guitar mags I started buying at that time.  Ibanez Artists, Washburn Falcons, Yamaha SGs...

The only one I actually bought is an Aria CS-400, as seen in this ad with Danny Johnson:

artiebear

Philly_Q said:

artiebear said:

Regarding catalogues, wow, how much we relied on them. I recently found the Yamaha 1983 guitar catalogue amongst the guitar mags ( huge stack dating from late 70's onwards ). It was the only way to get spec on anything and lovely colour pictures to look at.

If I ever find a nice Aria PE1500, I will struggle not to succumb. I use one circa 1984/85, I  should have kept it.

I've waffled on about this many times, but I'm somewhat obsessed with early-80s Japanese guitars which were advertised in the guitar mags I started buying at that time.  Ibanez Artists, Washburn Falcons, Yamaha SGs...

The only one I actually bought is an Aria CS-400, as seen in this ad with Danny Johnson:

I remember that one. The top end Arias were fantastic  The phase switching was a big thing back then. I had an Ibanez Artist with multiple switches and lots of bling. It used to confuse the hell out of me on stage, but when I see on now I go all weak at the knees. Weirdly enough, as I am typing this I just remembered that an old acquaintance with the same agent, Frank Dunnery  , later of It Bites, had one as well. 

I also had 2 Washburn Falcons, one of which got damaged beyond repair. I always fancied an Eagle after seeing John Goodsall playing one with Brand X

UnclePsychosis

Never seen an SC before but that guitar is really cool. Thanks for sharing! 

jeztone2

Nice score. I love 1980’s Japanese guitars. A girl at schools older brother had the last generation SF1200 from 1984 which was neck through and had a built in distortion as I recall. It was more square cut that the earlier SF guitars.

I did a gig supporting Nottingham Indie band Six.By Seven about 13 years ago and their guitarist had a original white Yamaha Superflighter SF500 along with a 60’s Gibson SG. But the only Yam SC I’ve seen was one of those weird offset ones in a pawnbrokers in Leeds about twenty years ago. It wasn’t in a great state as I recall. 

artiebear

jeztone2 said:

Nice score. I love 1980’s Japanese guitars. A girl at schools older brother had the last generation SF1200 from 1984 which was neck through and had a built in distortion as I recall. It was more square cut that the earlier SF guitars.

I did a gig supporting Nottingham Indie band Six.By Seven about 13 years ago and their guitarist had a original white Yamaha Superflighter SF500 along with a 60’s Gibson SG. But the only Yam SC I’ve seen was one of those weird offset ones in a pawnbrokers in Leeds about twenty years ago. It wasn’t in a great state as I recall. 

I think those offset SC guitars were one of Yamaha's bonkers 60's designs that they resurrected in the late 80's ( no idea why, bearing in mind it was the era of shred )

Philly_Q

artiebear said:

I remember that one. The top end Arias were fantastic  The phase switching was a big thing back then. I had an Ibanez Artist with multiple switches and lots of bling. It used to confuse the hell out of me on stage, but when I see on now I go all weak at the knees. Weirdly enough, as I am typing this I just remembered that an old acquaintance with the same agent, Frank Dunnery  , later of It Bites, had one as well. 

I also had 2 Washburn Falcons, one of which got damaged beyond repair. I always fancied an Eagle after seeing John Goodsall playing one with Brand X

When I was saving up for my first decent guitar at age 17 or 18, my shortlist was Ibanez AR-300 (I might have settled for an AR-100 on grounds of cost), Aria CS-400 or Washburn Falcon.

I actually ended up going American - a Hamer Special which I got for the princely sum of £250.  I got my Aria many years later.

jeztone2 said:

But the only Yam SC I’ve seen was one of those weird offset ones in a pawnbrokers in Leeds about twenty years ago. It wasn’t in a great state as I recall. 

These ones?  I like the shape, I remember drawing an imaginary custom guitar for myself and I used that body shape.

artiebear

Philly_Q said:

artiebear said:

I remember that one. The top end Arias were fantastic  The phase switching was a big thing back then. I had an Ibanez Artist with multiple switches and lots of bling. It used to confuse the hell out of me on stage, but when I see on now I go all weak at the knees. Weirdly enough, as I am typing this I just remembered that an old acquaintance with the same agent, Frank Dunnery  , later of It Bites, had one as well. 

I also had 2 Washburn Falcons, one of which got damaged beyond repair. I always fancied an Eagle after seeing John Goodsall playing one with Brand X

When I was saving up for my first decent guitar at age 17 or 18, my shortlist was Ibanez AR-300 (I might have settled for an AR-100 on grounds of cost), Aria CS-400 or Washburn Falcon.

I actually ended up going American - a Hamer Special which I got for the princely sum of £250.  I got my Aria many years later.

jeztone2 said:

But the only Yam SC I’ve seen was one of those weird offset ones in a pawnbrokers in Leeds about twenty years ago. It wasn’t in a great state as I recall. 

These ones?  I like the shape, I remember drawing an imaginary custom guitar for myself and I used that body shape.

Thats not as weird as I remembered, in fact on a strap it would work !

Philly_Q

It was similar to the SGV shape, but less extreme.  I think someone on the forum had a big collection of these, or perhaps only the bass versions.

jeztone2

Philly_Q said:

artiebear said:

I remember that one. The top end Arias were fantastic  The phase switching was a big thing back then. I had an Ibanez Artist with multiple switches and lots of bling. It used to confuse the hell out of me on stage, but when I see on now I go all weak at the knees. Weirdly enough, as I am typing this I just remembered that an old acquaintance with the same agent, Frank Dunnery  , later of It Bites, had one as well. 

I also had 2 Washburn Falcons, one of which got damaged beyond repair. I always fancied an Eagle after seeing John Goodsall playing one with Brand X

When I was saving up for my first decent guitar at age 17 or 18, my shortlist was Ibanez AR-300 (I might have settled for an AR-100 on grounds of cost), Aria CS-400 or Washburn Falcon.

I actually ended up going American - a Hamer Special which I got for the princely sum of £250.  I got my Aria many years later.

jeztone2 said:

But the only Yam SC I’ve seen was one of those weird offset ones in a pawnbrokers in Leeds about twenty years ago. It wasn’t in a great state as I recall. 

These ones?  I like the shape, I remember drawing an imaginary custom guitar for myself and I used that body shape.

Yes that’s the one. But the one I saw had SSS pickups and I think really nasty discoloured type covers in white. 

guitars4you

artiebear said:

guitars4you said:

At the time I sold a few new SG, SA and SF models but never an SC, for whatever reason that was - Around 12 months ago I saw one for sale, with the case, at a guitar show I was exhibiting at, and got tempted to buy it

The thru' neck, or jam sand which approach as I called it at the time, was a popular feature in the early 80's

A good looking example there @artiebear ;;

Maybe it's an age thing, but these last few years, I find myself buying odd guitars from way back that I owned or played.  I have enough Gibsons, Fenders ,Martins etc not to care about them too much ( crazy to think about how much those names meant when they weren't whole walls of them in every store ) it does seem to be this kind of stuff that I want revisit. A recurring theme for me seems to be being impressed with build quality on these guitars. I did have a top end SF as well along  the usual SG2000's. I'm pretty sure that the SF was also a great guitar ( cant remember the model number, possible SF1500 ? ).

Edited to add that SC1200 were pretty thin on the ground having only been produced between 79-81. I have seen very few over the yea

Think the SF1000 was the top model - Then 700 then 500 - Certainly can't recall anything above the SF1000 - But as usual, Yamaha might have built a small run, or a USA run etc, of a tweaked model and given it another number

The SF (Super Flighter) models were more Gibson SG spec with a thin body, with no maple top, all mahogany and coil tap option (neat little push button) on a couple of models - I'm pretty certain the same p/ups as the SG models when they ran along side each other in the late 70's and early 80's 

artiebear

guitars4you said:

artiebear said:

guitars4you said:

At the time I sold a few new SG, SA and SF models but never an SC, for whatever reason that was - Around 12 months ago I saw one for sale, with the case, at a guitar show I was exhibiting at, and got tempted to buy it

The thru' neck, or jam sand which approach as I called it at the time, was a popular feature in the early 80's

A good looking example there @artiebear ;;

Maybe it's an age thing, but these last few years, I find myself buying odd guitars from way back that I owned or played.  I have enough Gibsons, Fenders ,Martins etc not to care about them too much ( crazy to think about how much those names meant when they weren't whole walls of them in every store ) it does seem to be this kind of stuff that I want revisit. A recurring theme for me seems to be being impressed with build quality on these guitars. I did have a top end SF as well along  the usual SG2000's. I'm pretty sure that the SF was also a great guitar ( cant remember the model number, possible SF1500 ? ).

Edited to add that SC1200 were pretty thin on the ground having only been produced between 79-81. I have seen very few over the yea

Think the SF1000 was the top model - Then 700 then 500 - Certainly can't recall anything above the SF1000 - But as usual, Yamaha might have built a small run, or a USA run etc, of a tweaked model and given it another number

The SF (Super Flighter) models were more Gibson SG spec with a thin body, with no maple top, all mahogany and coil tap option (neat little push button) on a couple of models - I'm pretty certain the same p/ups as the SG models when they ran along side each other in the late 70's and early 80's 

Maybe it was an SF1000 I had. It was certainly like a smoothed out SG or even a Les Paul Special with humbuckers and coli taps. Mine was a very LP special translucent cherry red over an all mahogany body with 345 style pearl inlays if iI remember rightly. 
SF's are maybe another one of those forgotten gems from that era. It was very comfy on a strap and had some great tones.

Barquentine

A friend of mine had one. It was a great guitar. Didn't see them in the wild much but I remember seeing a Paul McCartney live vid and his guitarist was using one. Long time ago.

guitars4you

Just checked my old stock book and looks like we sold more SF500's than 700 and 1000's - SF500's appeared to be around £220 inc a decent case around 1980/81 

artiebear

guitars4you said:

Just checked my old stock book and looks like we sold more SF500's than 700 and 1000's - SF500's appeared to be around £220 inc a decent case around 1980/81 

That was a very attractive price for a quality guitar at that time.

I also remember sideways glances I got when turning up for work with lovely shiny Yamahas when other string playing members of the band at the time, only played things from before 1960 with Gibson on the headstock (even the bass player was a fan of Gibson EB basses). I guess, for some, it was still hard to accept that these Japanese guitars were any good