New Yamaha SG Day! Oh Yeah!

K

Kinight Templar

New member
I was looking for a guitar with dual humbucker to get that warm neck pickup tone. Then, out of nowhere, I accenditally pass by a shop I naver been to, and saw this beautiful Yamaha. She's an SBG200, made in 1985. The pearl white look and being vintage is very attractive and it is in extremely good shape for such an old guitar(more on that later). Also, the neck is thin enough so I can switch to this one from my Yammy Ty Tabor no probem. Now, the pics:

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As you can see, there's no Yamaha name written on the headstock, just the usual floral emblem typically on the SGs
I don;t know why, but I am sure this is genuine Yamaha because the tuning peg says Yamaha JApan, and the serial No.'s nomenclature is the same as all the MIT Yamaha's I've seen, including my Ty Tabor. I paid fpr USD150.
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FAmily pic:

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So you can see the tuning pegs clearly marks Yamaha Japan and the serial number. According to Yamaha serian No wizard, the years could be 1975, 1985, 1995, 2005. I am sure it is from 1985.
OK now, it is not SG2000, but it plays terrific and what a tone machine it is!
Look wise, it may be a Plain Jane, but such a beautiful and sweet Jane!
I am officially a Yamaholic!
 
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Re: New Yamaha SG Day! Oh Yeah!

Yes, it's an authentic Yamaha SBG200. I had the pearl white model as well. I had to sell mine to pay bills. :-( I'm getting ready to buy it back, though! AMAZING guitar. Congratulations!
 
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Re: New Yamaha SG Day! Oh Yeah!

I hate gibson style guitars 90% of the time, I particuarly dislike sg's but I jad to borrow a friends yamaha sg for band practice the other week & I loved the weight & feel of it.
 
Re: New Yamaha SG Day! Oh Yeah!

Nice budget guitar. In fact, nice guitar PERIOD.

The original headstock logo would have been a decal rather than an inlay. The absence of the decal plus the masking tape "lip" around the serial number suggest some amount of respraying. Sink lines in the finish on the back of the neck beneath the nut area would imply a cracked headstock repair.
 
Re: New Yamaha SG Day! Oh Yeah!

Funkfingers said:
Nice budget guitar. In fact, nice guitar PERIOD.

The original headstock logo would have been a decal rather than an inlay. The absence of the decal plus the masking tape "lip" around the serial number suggest some amount of respraying. Sink lines in the finish on the back of the neck beneath the nut area would imply a cracked headstock repair.
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Hmmm, interesting. But I don't see the sink lines you suggest. But as you can see in the following pic, the truss rod cover can't be original:

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And you can see that the Yamaha brand was NEVER there, unless the headstock was resprayed.
 
Re: New Yamaha SG Day! Oh Yeah!

DazH said:
I hate gibson style guitars 90% of the time, I particuarly dislike sg's but I jad to borrow a friends yamaha sg for band practice the other week & I loved the weight & feel of it.
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I deslike the SG as well, particularly when playing seated......the neck seems longer and I do not feel comfortable that way. But the Yamaha SGs feel just right.
 
Re: New Yamaha SG Day! Oh Yeah!

cool I got one with lace Hemi Humbuckers .....SBG-200 ......I almost snagged a white one from 79 or 80 from e-bay ...it ended at 100 ducets ....great simple guitar ......first time I saw thin lizzy live they were using them and the higher model .....80's their SBG's ....70's SG's
 
Re: New Yamaha SG Day! Oh Yeah!

RavenMadd said:
first time I saw thin lizzy live they were using them and the higher model .....80's their SBG's ....70's SG's
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That would have been Midge Ure using his SG1000 and 2000 models. I do not know whether Scott Gorham ever tried the Yamahas instead of his trusty Gibson LP Deluxe?

Kinight Templar said:
But as you can see in the following pic, the truss rod cover can't be original:

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How so? The cover plate looks original. I see no other screw holes. I see no evidence that a larger plate had ever been fitted.

Kinight Templar said:
And you can see that the Yamaha brand was NEVER there, unless the headstock was resprayed.
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You could be right. I cannot remember whether the floral headstock decoration was a decal or not? If it is a decal then the missing Yamaha logo must be a simple production oversight.
 
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Re: New Yamaha SG Day! Oh Yeah!

Excellent score. These are perhaps some of the best sleeper guitars, and also viable alternatives to LPs.

I played a 1981 tobacco sunburst 2000 that a fellow who went to school with me had. He bought it from someone who seemingly kept it under their bed for years - no wear and still had the plastic film over the rear control plates. Quite heavy but a nice guitar - tummy cut, neck through, push-push pots for splitting the buckers, ebony board, what's not to like?

If I was looking for a LP style guitar, I'd get one of these.
 
Re: New Yamaha SG Day! Oh Yeah!

I had an SG2000 back in the early 80's and loved it other than the weight. It must've weighed 20 pounds but was well built and sounded great. Sold it in the early 90's for some dumb reason but that's the nature of things. Yamaha makes some good instruments…I still have a Yamaha classical guitar that my parents brought back from Japan in 1968…looks pretty worn but it plays and sounds good if only I could play like Segovia.
 
Re: New Yamaha SG Day! Oh Yeah!

Funkfingers said:
How so? The cover plate looks original. I see no other screw holes. I see no evidence that a larger plate had ever been fitted.



You could be right. I cannot remember whether the floral headstock decoration was a decal or not? If it is a decal then the missing Yamaha logo must be a simple production oversight.
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The truss rod cover must have the SG200 or SBG200 mark. But no evidence of the marking.
The floral logo is decal I think. Anyway it is hard to imagine that a company such as Yamaha, the compamny with the best QC in the business, can miss the logo on the headstock/
 
Re: New Yamaha SG Day! Oh Yeah!

My buddy has sg 3000 I believe, wicked guitar, love the push pulls, wicked neck, competes well against my LP with way better fret access, I'm quite jealous
 
Re: New Yamaha SG Day! Oh Yeah!

Nice! those 80's model Yammies are supposed to be awesome! I LOVE the Ty Tabor !! would love to play one!
 
Re: New Yamaha SG Day! Oh Yeah!

BloodRose said:
Nice! those 80's model Yammies are supposed to be awesome! I LOVE the Ty Tabor !! would love to play one!
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Thanx! My Ty Tabor is loaded with Vintage Rails and JB. When JB is on the sound is so beefy and tight! Simply put, the Ty Tabor is simply a riff machine.

The more I play my SG the more I like it. Both Yammies have huge unplugged tone. But while the Ty sounds thick and tight, the SG has a spread out, almost booming tone. When plugged in, the SG has quite a vintage mojo. I can nail Zep and ACDC easily.
Now, maybe i will experiment with different Duncans someday. I read on Vintage Guitars site that this model has a nato body, so what DUNCANS work best? I am thinking on a set ofALnico 2 Pro or the Slash.
Any thought?
 
Re: New Yamaha SG Day! Oh Yeah!

Kinight Templar said:
When plugged in, the SG has quite a vintage mojo. I can nail Zep and ACDC easily.
Now, maybe i will experiment with different Duncans someday. I read on Vintage Guitars site that this model has a nato body, so what DUNCANS work best? I am thinking on a set ofALnico 2 Pro or the Slash.
Any thought?
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Nato is an Asian Pacific relative of Mahogany.

IMO, the obvious way to nail the Angus sound on an all-mahogany guitar such as yours would be with the Angus signature pickup. If that is disproportionately expensive relative to the value of the guitar, try a Pearly Gates bridge PU and one of the AlNiCo 2 neck PUs.
 
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