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

guitars4you

artiebear said:

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 

I acquired my SG1000 in 1978 - Aged 18 - Basically because at the time I couldn't find an LP I liked to play - Played the SG1000 and it was joy so more enjoyable to play - Mum/Dad brought it for my 18th - Spoilt I know - But still own it today nearly 43 years later

merlin

I used to own an SC1200. The look, feel (particularly that through neck and it's heel) and the good sounds were great. 
I have to confess that I found it a bit heavy and also I found the pickup selector system a little fiddly. It has some really great sounds, but one wrong (tiny) move and suddenly it can become really thin and weak sounding....however the strong sounds are great. I just needed to learn to be really delicate when changing pickups. 

artiebear

merlin said:

I used to own an SC1200. The look, feel (particularly that through neck and it's heel) and the good sounds were great. 
I have to confess that I found it a bit heavy and also I found the pickup selector system a little fiddly. It has some really great sounds, but one wrong (tiny) move and suddenly it can become really thin and weak sounding....however the strong sounds are great. I just needed to learn to be really delicate when changing pickups. 

I know exactly what you mean, especially managing to turn every pick up off, not great going into a big solo. 

I have wondered about using the existing switches to rewire it to some kind of series/parallel set up. At least that way non of the options would be quite so thin. 

aguirre

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 

I got my SF1000 from you Mark. My daughter now plays it live with Working Men's Club and previously The Moonlandingz. Its also one of the most used guitars at Ross Orton's McCall Sound Studio

guitars4you

aguirre said:

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 

I got my SF1000 from you Mark. My daughter now plays it live with Working Men's Club and previously The Moonlandingz. Its also one of the most used guitars at Ross Orton's McCall Sound Studio

crikey - good to still hear about such sales many years later - Glad it is still getting used - Did you buy it at the old Wishers shop in the 80's ?

aguirre

No Mark, I got it from Ashbourne, along with many others over the years 

guitars4you

aguirre said:

No Mark, I got it from Ashbourne, along with many others over the years 

I can't recall the SF1000 in recent years - I'll have a scout thru' the stock book - I can't recall every guitar I've sold, but do remember many 

kentuckyklira

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 have one of those!

In RED!

kentuckyklira

Philly_Q said:

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.

I have an SGV800 reissue in blue. Love it.

kentuckyklira

artiebear said:

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.

I have an SF700 and it doesn´t have the coil tap so yours probably was an SF1000.

Nitefly

Philly_Q said:

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.

That, I believe, would be @Paul_C with the bass version.  He had two or three.  Dozen...

Philly_Q

kentuckyklira said:

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 have one of those!

In RED!

Mine's sunburst, like the one Danny Johnson has in the picture on the left.

aroof

Lovely stuff, enjoy.

Paul_C

Nitefly said:

Philly_Q said:

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.

That, I believe, would be @Paul_C with the bass version.  He had two or three.  Dozen...

Steady on !

I only had, er*  LOOK ! A SQUIRREL ! *runs away*











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