Yamaha SA-15D Wine Red 1969
Yamaha SA-15D hollow body, made in Japan 1969, wine red. I love this, it's extraordinarily cool. Yamaha began making electric guitars in 1966, so this one is certainly an early example. The SA series of hollow and semi-hollow electrics still exists today, but these original 60s ones had some very fun styling and heaps of personality. The body shape is totally original, with nods to Rickenbacker and Mosrite designs without being a copy of anything. The long bottom horn, teardrop guard, quirky sickle shaped hole, asymmetrical headstock, double binding and inlaid tailpiece are all such cool touches, the thing looks wild. The '15D' model got a couple of extra visual touches the regular '15' model didn't get: bound fretboard, cute little thumb inlays and the awesome checkerboard body binding. The hardware was all original designs, so the vibrato, spring loaded bridge and funky tuners all work nicely but are not without their quirks. The body is fully hollow, and attached to the neck via bolts, which is an unusual combo too. The pickups are technically a single coil, so you get a tone that is a long way from a Gibson style hollow. It's bright, snappy and lively with a short sustain, with heaps of breathy clarity on the high end and an assured, plonky fundamental note. It's perfect for surfy stuff, but would also translate well for clean singer/songwriter type playing or more adventurous shoegaze/psych skullduggery. We've had plenty of vintage Yam hollows through, but this is the first SA-15D example we've had, so it's a pretty cool score, especially with the case. Wildly cool.
Model: Yamaha SA-15D
Made: Japan, 1969, Nippon Gakki factory
Serial: 14854
Finish: wine red, gloss urethane
Body: laminate mahogany, fully hollow, thinline 45mm depth, 385mm across
Neck: mahogany, stained maple fretboard, 24.75" scale, 12" radius, C shape
Weight: 2.775kg
Mods: none
Pickups: Yamaha single coil 'hum-free anisotrophic ferrite magnets' pickup x2
Accessories: Yamaha vintage hard case
Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. The headstock has a decent dent and some dimples on the end, scuffs on the top edge, some scratches and scuffs on the bottom edge and some scuffs and a dent on the front. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, dimples and rub wear on the back only. The back has scuffs around the neck plate and top horn and some dimples in the middle of the body, elbow area and back edge. The sides have minor dimples and scuffs around the whole body, as well as some dents on the top horn. The front has scuffs on the horns, dimples around the F hole, tailpiece and knobs and some play wear on the guard.
Overall: very good condition (8/10)
Playing condition notes: Action is low, neck is straight, intonation is good, truss rod works. All electronics tested and working properly. Wearing fresh 11/49 Moonshiners strings.
Fret life: 8/10, minor wear only