Yamaha AE-11, natural finish, made in Japan 1967. Yamaha started making electric guitars in 1966, so this dates to very early in the story indeed. The AE series offered full size arch-top electrics and was made continuously until the mid 90s; the AE-11 was made from 1967 to around 1973. It's a full depth, fully hollow construction, made completely by hand from some very high grade materials. The tailpiece even features a slither of Brazilian rosewood apparently, which is an era-specific curiosity. The spruce top and maple back and sides have aged to a gorgeous golden hue and display plenty of beautiful details in the grain... Yamaha weren't lying in the original catalog when they said "only the finest figured woods have been selected". The neck is straight and stable with a functional truss rod and sturdy joins, and is carved to a comfy moderate C shape and sits nicely in the hands. My jazz chops are rudimentary at best, but it was clear straight away upon plugging this in that it delivers plenty of tonal magic. It's full and deep, with a percussive clarity through the highs and an almost vocal-like clarity in the midrange. Chords hang together in a warm glow of complex harmonics, while lead lines come through in vivid detail. There's not a lot of guitars made as well as this, as long ago as this, widely available for a player-friendly price, so I'm going ahead and saying it: this is a gorgeous guitar and a hell of a buy for the distinguished enthusiast.

Model: Yamaha AE-11
Made: Japan, 1967 (serial 6926)
Finish: natural, gloss poly
Body: laminate spruce top, laminate maple back and sides, full 85mm depth, 426mm wide
Neck: maple, one piece, rosewood fretboard, 24.75" scale, 12" radius
Weight: 3.110kg
Mods: tuners and knobs replaced
Pickups: Yamaha 'High Sensitive' humbucker x2
Case: non-original SKB lightweight semi-hard case

Overall: minor finish wear. The headstock has some minor dimples on the end and edges, scuffs on the back and front and some plugged holes on the back from the since-removed tuners. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, minor dimples and rub wear on the back and a bit of shrinkage and rub wear on the binding only. The back has some dimples in the middle of the body and the bottom corner, as well as widespread light scuffs around the whole body. The sides have light scuffs and dimples around the whole body as well as a filled strap button hole on the top horn. The front has some dimples on both horns, the elbow area and near the knobs, as well as a chip and some scuffs along the back edge and some play wear on the guard and horns. Overall: good condition (7/10)

Playing condition notes: neck is straight, intonation is good, action is low, truss rod works. All electronics tested and working properly. The frets are pretty even in height and appear to have been recently levelled and dressed, so they're playing smoothly without major buzz issues, but they're very low, 4/10 for life left. Setup with fresh 11/49 Moonshiners strings.