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so, looks like i'm 1 for 4 in terms of guitars that arrived intact. The backstory to this is that when my dad died from covid in january, I stopped playing guitar for almost a year and switched to bass (he was a bassist). I probably averaged 4-5 hours of bass practice over the last 11 months. Eventually, I sold most of my guitars to fund bass gear. All I had left was my barrington bgw700, a strat and a tele. However, a month ago, I started playing guitar again and decided I needed a semihollow. I have been through many semihollows as you know. I like it better than the AS200 and/or scofield models. Mainly because I feel the sco/as200 are very bright and it makes it hard to get a smooth overdrive though they do have a nice bensony tone for clean jazz. The yamaha seems to get close to the clean bensony tone but to me sounds much closer to a 335, probably because of the full mahogany neck. It's got some bite and snarl to it which I also feel is missing a bit from the ibanez guitars. Quality is great. Better than any of the 3 or 4 recent ibanez guitars I've tried. The pickups are a little hotter than I like but yamaha deliberately uses hot pickups so that they sound full in single coil mode. The single coil mode sounds great. Not like Stevie Ray or anything but definitely works well for funk rhythm.
Inevitably someone will ask me how it compares to the seventy seven exrubato. I think the seventy seven has a very sweet tone, more mellow and 335-like than the yamaha and the one I had was very light - under 7lbs - but the yamaha is more versatile and "screams" more for fusiony playing. I like the middle position better on the yamaha and I think with the slightly longer scale (the seventy seven was 24.5, the yamaha 24.75), I like the articulation of the yamaha.
Overall, I would rate this as one of the best 2 or 3 semihollows I've owned or played and quality and consistency is better than what I've seen out of gibson lately so I'd feel better about buying one of these sight-unseen (which I did).
I'll probably do a demo of it in the next few weeks though I'm still learning to play guitar again after such a long hiatus.
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12-23-2021 01:57 PM
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Sorry to hear about your dad.
I had one of those and played one a few weeks back. Easily one of the best 335 type guitars made to date.
The price to quality is outrageous.
I agree with your comparison with Ibanez. I find the Ibanez have too much tension which makes the sound somewhat one dimensional.
Look forward to your demo.
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Uff condolences..
Looking forward to see/hear you play the SA. Always liked these but never had a privilege of checking out in person.
Usually find the build quality and attention to detail of Japanese guitars impressive. (Suspect it's) The woods that can sometimes make them sound a bit "off". Wondering if the plywood body construction works in favour of Yamaha here.
Are the cutaways a bit more generous than the 335 (looks like they might be)? I tend to bump my knuckles on those..
Also curious about the lacquer thickness, these are poly if I'm not mistaken.
How is the neck profile?
Thanks
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Neck profile is thicker than a 30/60 335 neck. Not as fat as a '59 but fatter than I generally like. It's probably another reason for the girthy sound. Poly looks pretty thick. I didn't compare the cutaway access to gibson or seventy seven but definitely better than heritage!
Originally Posted by burchyk
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Jack, so sorry - belatedly - hearing about your father. We owe so much to our parents. My dad was a noted photographer, and in my debt of gratitude I've scanned thousands of his private negatives, welcomed by several museums.
Yet, I think you as a guitarist par excellence should stick to the knitting. Welcome back! I discovered the Yamaha SA2200 in 2002 in Geneva and bought one some time later. My archtop fetish led me to sell it - a move I have regretted ever since. You're right in that the PUs are quite hot, giving some "sawtooth" to clean chords. I had mine changed into a SD Jazz (neck) and SD Jeff Beck (bridge - never used). The result: a mellower tone in HB position but a useless single-coil mode. Superb build quality (from a Custom Shop in Japan); a thinner coat of whatever varnish would not hurt.
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Nice one, Jack. I hope you enjoy it.
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JAZ, very sorry about your father, that's bad.
The guy who was in the SNL band played one of those for several seasons. Haven't paid attention lately. I love the middle position on semi's, almost a funky stratty tone.
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Sorry about your dad - I know what that feels like, since I helped take care of my dad before he died of cancer 6 years ago (he suffered quite a bit, the last few days before he died) - it's no fun when a parent dies, and is emotionally very painful.
As for Yamahas - I think they're great. Ibanezes are also great guitars, but Yamahas have thicker necks, which make them more comfortable for me to play. I guess that's why I have 2, Yamaha acoustics. I wish they'd start making singlecut hollowbodies again (for some reason, I don't get into 335-style guitars anymore).
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i actually love bass more than guitar! Originally Posted by Gitterbug
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Nice guitar.
I have 2 Vester MOD 700s which are exceptionally good
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Congratulations on your fine new guitar, Jack, and condolences for the loss of your Father. Play it in good health and in His memory!
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sorry to hear about your loss. great to see you've found a way to heal while honoring your dad.
i've long been curious about these, but i always worried that it would be too similar to my trusty elitist sheraton. i thought these yamahas had ebony boards and sycamore bodies? i'd also be interested in messing with the pickups, but that defeats a lot of the point and versatility of the splitting (which i could go either way on, in general). but this gives me hope. at least i know i could feel good about one, which is a huge plus. can't wait for the sounds.
to bring this full circle, i have a current era yamaha bbp34 and it's such an awesome bass. those are a steal even at full price.
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i had an elitist sheraton but mine had mini humbuckers. I would say quality is similar but the yamaha has a fatter neck which IMO yields better tone. However, I will say that the neck joint of the yamaha flexes way more than other 335 guitars I've owned. If you like to do that neck-bend vibrato that a lot of people are doing now, the yamaha is good at it. Originally Posted by feet
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I had bought the Yamaha SA2200 during a GAS attack. I have two other very similar functioning guitars (though without the coil split) and I had the Yamaha on Craigslist to sell. This thread gave me a FOMO attack and I deleted my CL ad :-))
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Sorry to hear about your loss Jack.
I’ve had the Sa2200 and actually had an AS200 at the same time and I agree with your thoughts in comparing them. When I had both, the Ibanez got sold.
glad you’re working on getting back to guitar.
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yup, that's mine, too. with the minis. love that thing more than anything in the universe. good to know that the yamaha is of comparable quality, so that's an automatic green light if i ever feel the need to buy one. the elitist necks are on a sliding scale from "just under medium" to "just past medium" so i'm ok with a little variation. and i'm not afraid to tinker with pickups, bridges, wiring and all that, so all i'm really after is a seaworthy vessel, as it were. looks like that's what the yamahas are, so that's awesome news. i hope yours brings you lots of new music. Originally Posted by jzucker
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Here is a nice comparison video I saw today:
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Glad to see you posting again, and PLAYING!
Hoping all is well.
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Sorry to hear about your Dad Jack, losing mine was very tough. Glad you got something you're happy with.
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