NGD - 1978 Yamaha SA-700

[Axolotl]

So, this came to me a few weeks ago but I barely had time to play it, until these last days.
I was jonesing a 335 style guitar for a while and this Yamaha SA-700 ticked many boxes: Vintage, affordable (700 bucks shipped) great build and man, it's hard to go wrong with a Yamaha.
Looks beautiful, great craftmanship all around. Neck is great, round and chunky but really comfortable. It's a bit heavier than I expected, as it seems to be these have a bigger block than usual. The pickups sound great and the guitar resonates and sustains like crazy. Definitely (and obviously) a different beast than my teles and offsets. The neck plays itself, it's really fast.
It came with with original case, it looked like it wasn't played for ages. A little clean up, setup and new strings and boom. It plays and sounds great.
It's a really great copy of a classic. Couldn't be happier for the amount of guitar I got for the money.

[stevejamsecono]

Oh hell yeah. Always looking greedily at listings for these but never pulling the trigger. Glad to hear you like it so much!

Vintage, affordable (700 bucks shipped) great build and man, it's hard to go wrong with a Yamaha.

This is correct. They've come up a fair bit over the past few years, but IMO Yamaha is still one of the better deals in vintage MIJ stuff.

[wproffitt]

Congratulations!
I love old Yamahas. They’re so well made and play really nice. Enjoy it in good health!

[Fiddy]

Nice. What is the actual weight?

[Snake Hips]

I was just starting to stalk these. Were you able to find it locally or did you order from Japan?

[Axolotl]

Nice. What is the actual weight?

I don't have a scale at the moment, but its weight is similar to my 66 jazzmaster which has an average JM weight. Will get back to you with a more precise answer once I find my scale. But its weight is on the solid body realm.

I was just starting to stalk these. Were you able to find it locally or did you order from Japan?

I ordered it from Japan via ebay. Sent a lowball offer of 500 bucks and it was accepted. Shipping to NY was 200 dollars and it took about 4 days to get there, door to door. The few similar guitars I found in the US were about twice as that (although some were they were the fancier SA-800 and 900)

[stevejamsecono]

I ordered it from Japan via ebay. Sent a lowball offer of 500 bucks and it was accepted. Shipping to NY was 200 dollars and it took about 4 days to get there, door to door. The few similar guitars I found in the US were about twice as that (although some were they were the fancier SA-800 and 900)

That's the way to do it. I've gotten good deals on Yamaha SGs similarly and the shipping is usually lighting fast. Might be overdue for another one soon.

And NY! Are you in a band around here? Would love to see this one in action.

[Axolotl]

And NY! Are you in a band around here? Would love to see this one in action.

I left NY almost ten years ago, but kept a good bunch of good friends that receive and bring/send gear to me all the way down to Argentina. This guitar took only 4 days to reach NY, but I had to wait about 4 months for it to get to Buenos Aires. It was worth the wait though!