NGD: Out for delivery... DELIVERED!

guitargeek62

Indeed! A Yamaha SA-60, apparently a ‘74 but they’re bloody hard to date with confidence, so it could be as late as ‘77.

I’ve been after one of this series for a good few years, and this one happened to turn up at the right time and price, and with all the original parts and case too - how could I resist?!

I love the shape of these, but I haven’t had my hands on one until now:

One of the things I love about this era is that each company were still doing their own thing, and not following the same recipe too closely. These earlier double-digit SAs have much more of a design identity than the later ES-like versions, and even the hardware is all pretty unique takes on what we’re (now) used to.

I’ll strip it down properly over the next day or so and give it a clean-up and fettle. These strings feel like they’re at least a few years old, and there’s a bit of sitarr-ing to deal with too but I’ll let everything settle with fresh strings and up to tension first after a proper setup before doing anything major. The pickups have a bit of poke to them - hot-PAF levels, with a decent balance between them too. They’re gritty in a good way, YMMV!

Sporky

That's a really nice shape. 

TheMarlin

I would not have guessed that, I’m not knowledgeable on older Yamahas.  Looks
very cool though, and beautiful condition for age. 

stickyfiddle

It’s simultaneously slightly odd but also rather handsome. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before! 

RocknRollDave

Never seen nor heard of those. I bet it plays lovely. Interesting guitar. Nice job!

Sarge

Phwoar 

stonevibe

Cool shape and I'm guessing the build quality of these will be great from this era. Yamaha has made some cracking guitars over the years.

guitars4you

Bit of a Barney Kessel vibe to it - looks cool - Is it fully hollow or centre block aka 335

blobb

Great! I picked up an SA90 a while back and it's very special. They were so well made, and those horns.... 

I put flats on mine and haven't put it down since. HNGD.

SlopeSoarer

Uhmmm... Yamaha SA-90. Yum yum!

blobb

Here's mine, welcome to the club. Would be interested to know what you think of it when you get settled:

guitargeek62

Thanks all, and @Blobb - I saw yours again in a thread recently and it really reinvigorated my hunt, so this is your fault basically!  

guitargeek62

stickyfiddle said:

It’s simultaneously slightly odd but also rather handsome. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before! 

It’s why I like them, we’re kindred spirits!  

guitargeek62

guitars4you said:

Bit of a Barney Kessel vibe to it - looks cool - Is it fully hollow or centre block aka 335

Centre-block - though I believe they varied the construction a little across the models and years. This one appears to have something akin to an MDF centre-block*, much to my surprise! I’ll pop the pickups later and have a proper ganders. It’s not terribly weighty though, so it could just be a misleading view through the f-holes.

My plan is to ‘borrow’ this shape and start bringing the design back to life from my new workshop, imitation being the highest and all that…


*edit* on closer inspection the centre-block is not mdf; it’s some sort of mahogany/utile-type, with a strip of mdf along the bass-edge of the block for some reason. Very weird, but I’m sure it made sense at the time.

DartmoorHedgehog

Is that the serial number on the fret board between the last two frets?  Not seen that before - is that a normal Yamaha thing?

blobb

guitargeek62 said:

Thanks all, and @Blobb - I saw yours again in a thread recently and it really reinvigorated my hunt, so this is your fault basically!  

I'm so terribly sorry. ( I'm not really )

As alluded to, roto top tape 12-52 brought it alive for me. Moved from round 11's which I though made it sound a bit weak and feeble. The heavier gauge for me gives it more substance and it really works. I like neck pickup better but you can get good tones if you are ok with balancing the controls. Don't be afraid to raise the pickup height a bit to get them closer to the strings. Then it really sings. I play it unamplified a lot, it sounds great on it's own. It's just a lovely thing to pick up and hold close.

Enjoy.

grappagreen

Like that a lot.. enjoy!

guitargeek62

DartmoorHedgehog said:

Is that the serial number on the fret board between the last two frets?  Not seen that before - is that a normal Yamaha thing?

Yup! Standard practice for this era, I quite like it!

guitargeek62

blobb said:

guitargeek62 said:

Thanks all, and @Blobb - I saw yours again in a thread recently and it really reinvigorated my hunt, so this is your fault basically!  

I'm so terribly sorry. ( I'm not really )

As alluded to, roto top tape 12-52 brought it alive for me. Moved from round 11's which I though made it sound a bit weak and feeble. The heavier gauge for me gives it more substance and it really works. I like neck pickup better but you can get good tones if you are ok with balancing the controls. Don't be afraid to raise the pickup height a bit to get them closer to the strings. Then it really sings. I play it unamplified a lot, it sounds great on it's own. It's just a lovely thing to pick up and hold close.

Enjoy.

Well that fits - the pickups are pretty close already but seem to work well for it. I generally like 11-56 sets on this type of guitar, but I’ll try those out - I’m fairly sure it’s got a weedy set of 10s on there right now that aren’t doing it many favours, it doesn’t help that they’re totally dead! 

You’re right about the unplugged thing too, this one has a really nice and tactile vibe going on.

First impressions are basically pretty positive, accepting the need for a spruce up and minor fettling to taste.

blobb

Be warned, those top tapes need strong hands!