info on yamaha sj180 please

boxwoodsteve

Hello all
i hope this is the kind of topic this forum does well....
i have a Yamaha SJ 180 and am not getting it, i know this was not made after the end of the 1980's and should be a sweet
sounding aged guitar but it am not loving it. i find myself playing a much younger cort electro acoustic instead.

hence my question is what would be a realistic price for such a guitar with a good fitting hard case ?

thanks all
steve

Mellish

If in excellent condition, 50-60% of new  

Andy79

It really depends on the state of the neck angle, how much saddle is left showing. These were built pretty substantially so it could be ok but at the cost of decent tone as you seem to have found… 

DavidR

The Yamaha SJ-180 (Semi Jumbo) was made between 1981 and 1985. Original retail price back then was $230 in US. Spruce top, Mahogany back, sides, and neck. Indian rosewood fingerboard and bridge. Lower bout width of 15.5", depth of 4.25" and waist at 9.625", which puts it between an OM (Orchestra Model) and a 0000/M Grand Auditorium size. All-laminate construction. Closed Yamaha TM 15 chrome tuners. Made in Taiwan I think (check label). Yamaha would probably tell you they sold squillions but were never as popular as FG's. 

 Yamaha still hadn't really sorted the thin tops/bulging tops thing by the mid 1980's so, as Andy said above, you need to check for that (filed down bridge saddle, big gap between strings and fretboard at 12th fret. bulging top around bridge when you lay a straight edge across top or sight down the guitar from the head end). Its a known problem but lots and lots of old Yamahas don't have it.

Have you tried new strings/Monels/replacing bridge saddle and pins for bone/adjusting action? Simple steps can sort many old Yamaha acoustics.

£100-200? Less if sounds poor. Might be more fun to make it a project for improvement, then you'd have a good matured acoustic.

Just done a quick Google trawl of other forums and quite a few SJ180 owners love/loved theirs.   :-)

ICBM

My experience is that by the 80s, the build quality was pretty good - although as DavidR said they hadn't completely cured the top bellying issue - but they just don't sound even close to as good as the earlier 70s ones usually do. I'm not totally sure why, but as far as I can remember I've never played one which didn't sound quite thin and lacklustre.

There's one on Ebay now with a BIN price of a penny under £100, which unfortunately I think is a fair valuation. With a decent case you might get £150, but I can't see it being more than that.

boxwoodsteve

Hello All. Thanks very much for your replies. A good forum. Steve