'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2 (FINISHED)

Bringing your older offset back to life.
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windmill
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Re: 'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2

Post by windmill » Fri Dec 17, 2021 3:08 am

looks good

Well done

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Re: 'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2

Post by ludobag1 » Fri Dec 17, 2021 7:41 am

Looks pretty ,i love the dark rosewood

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Re: 'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2

Post by ThePearDream » Fri Dec 17, 2021 8:25 am

The neck looks so much better now!
Does it still need a new high e tuner?
Doug
@dpcannafax

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Re: 'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2

Post by SuperAxe » Fri Dec 17, 2021 8:18 pm

ThePearDream wrote:
Fri Dec 17, 2021 8:25 am
The neck looks so much better now!
Does it still need a new high e tuner?
Thank you.
I carefully wedged the tuner bits open with a screwdriver; You can just see it on the photo :)

Both the high and low E tuners were a little loose so clamped them back a little bit. They are in pretty good condition for 55 years of age.
The guitar's birthday was December 5th !

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Re: 'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2

Post by SuperAxe » Fri Dec 17, 2021 9:20 pm

As previous photos show, I decided to stick with the original chromed brass nut. I took the crappy pins of it though and used a drop of superglue to hold it in place.

Couple of nut shots:


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Re: 'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2

Post by SuperAxe » Tue Mar 08, 2022 9:53 pm

Been working on an amplifier which is now finished so back to the SG-2.

Sourced some soft steel bar and have drilled the 2.5 holes for the pole pieces. The six holes on the right have been tapped to 3mm x 0.5 pitch. The only 'suitable' pole pieces I can source in NZ are like the one shown. It has the same head size as the originals. Once all is tapped I will saw the bars to size.

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Also been thinking about the vibrato handle for the SG-2 and the SA_50. They are the same so I am hoping to find a replacement solution for both of them.

I think my current approach will work but I am waiting for materials and tools to make them.

Anyways, I bent the handle by hand (3 bends) so I have something that approaches the original and I can use it for testing. The original handle has compound bending (radiused) which I probably wont be able to replicate.

I have the collet for the SA-50 but not for the SG-2 so my solution will not need a collet. I am also hoping to address an issue with the original construction re the handle being too lose in its fitting.
More to come on this...

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Re: 'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2

Post by ludobag1 » Wed Mar 09, 2022 4:10 pm

For the radius maybe with heat on a form on wood ? Or if you find someone with a tube plier (a plomber for example)
What you miss is thé nut for the collet ,or the collet itself? On pics i see 2 collet and one nut

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Re: 'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2

Post by SuperAxe » Wed Mar 09, 2022 6:19 pm

ludobag1 wrote:
Wed Mar 09, 2022 4:10 pm
For the radius maybe with heat on a form on wood ? Or if you find someone with a tube plier (a plomber for example)
What you miss is thé nut for the collet ,or the collet itself? On pics i see 2 collet and one nut
Yes, you are right. I miss one of those special nuts which taper on the inside....

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Re: 'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2

Post by SuperAxe » Thu Oct 20, 2022 9:46 pm

After 7 months of doing other things, I am back on this now...

I disassembled the pickguard, cleaned it and then straightened the pickguard as it was very wonky. I also wound a new bridge pickup which hopefully will sound good. Probably being too optimistic for the first attempt ;)


Dirty pickguard:

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Ready to be cleaned:

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Cleaned:

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Straightening the pickguard with heat. Could not find the iron so used the next best thing ::)

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Now that the pickguard is nice and flat again, it can be traced to make a template...

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And fully re-assembled

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Potentiometer date detail - The potentiometer dates shown are both 41.11 from the Showa Emperor period (Hirohito). This corresponds to a Western date of November 1966.

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Re: 'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2

Post by SuperAxe » Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:33 pm

I noticed I started this thread November 5th 2021... So it took me almost a year to restore it :)

Accomplished most items I listed in the OP which is a good thing. The two most demanding items were the making of the whammy bar & collet and the making of the bridge pickup from scratch.

I can proudly say that the whammy bar/collet works wonders and the bridge pickup sounds fantastic. No idea how the bridge pickup compares to an original though...

Here some photos showing how it looks now.


First up -
1) hand made bridge pickup to look sort of similar. This is a prototype but I am going to leave it in as it sounds so good.
2) new slotted grub screws on the G & D string saddles to replace the 4 black ones (managed to buy a whole lot from AliExpress)
3) new whammy bar and collet. I have made a video of it and will post that after I have done the editing.

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Here closeup of the collet assembly - note the teflon sleeve the bar sits in

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windmill
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Re: 'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2 (FINISHED)

Post by windmill » Tue Nov 01, 2022 3:55 am

Excellent work

well done

:)

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Re: 'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2 (FINISHED)

Post by BoringPostcards » Tue Nov 01, 2022 4:23 am

Great job! Looks amazing.
Det er mig der holder traeerne sammen.

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Re: 'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2 (FINISHED)

Post by antisymmetric » Tue Nov 01, 2022 12:50 pm

Beautiful work, looking forward to seeing this one up close. 8)
Watching the corners turn corners

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Re: 'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2 (FINISHED)

Post by Amon 7.L » Sat Nov 05, 2022 10:40 am

Spectacular restoration, I love it!

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Re: 'Restoring' a Yamaha SG-2 (FINISHED)

Post by shoegaze_head » Fri Nov 11, 2022 8:08 am

Awesome job! The refret especially made such a difference in the guitar.

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