Yamaha AE-18 Natural 1974
Yamaha AE-18, natural gloss finish, made in Japan 1974. This delightful bodacious creature is so classy. Yamaha started making hollow body electric guitars in the mid 60s, so this example from 1974 is a pretty early one. We've had a fair few Yamaha SA series guitars from this era through, but the fully hollow, full depth models like this are harder to come by. This has a gorgeous tightly grained spruce arched top, paired with birdseye maple back and sides, with a big wide body and a full 80mm depth. The neck is a fairly slim shape, carved from maple and topped with a gorgeous piece of ebony with those fetching mother-of-pearl chevron inlays. This one arrived with frets that weren't really playable, so our local pro luthier Paul Mineur has done a full re-fret, including the standard freshen-up of the fretboard, and ensuring the binding stays intact. It's all looking very tidy and fresh now, and it plays very smoothly indeed. It's great unplugged, with plenty of natural volume and a rich, clear voice. Plug it in, and it's even better. The neck pickup is piano-like and rounded on the bottom end, with an eloquent open midrange and a dollop of sweetness on the top. The bridge pickup is a little more assertive through the midrange with a warm, woody snap in the treble. It's gorgeous for jazz and blues stuff, or friendly and inviting for singer-songwriter type material. The gold hardware, tort guard, understated logo, leather embossed tailpiece all serve to add some suave detail to the yellowed and checked top, it really does look the part. This is a really enjoyable vintage arch top, made totally by hand in an era where quality was everything.
Model: Yamaha AE-18
Made: Japan, 1974, Nippon Gakki factory
Serial: 28100, mostly missing now following re-fret
Finish: natural, gloss poly
Body: spruce top, maple back and sides, fully hollow, full 80mm depth. 432mm across
Neck: maple, ebony fretboard, 25.25" scale, 12" radius, slim C shape
Weight: 3.595kg
Mods: frets replaced
Pickups: Yamaha 'New Powerful' humbucker x2
Accessories: basic vintage hard case
Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. The headstock has some dimples on the end, scuffs on the end and edges, discolouration and some minor cracks in the binding and a long checking line on the back. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, minor rub wear and some checking on the back and some fading on the binding only. The back has widespread light scuffs around the whole body, as well as dimples in the elbow area, a surface scratch near the neck join, checking on the bottom corner and some rub wear along the back edge. The sides have minor rub wear on the elbow area and scuffs near the jack, as well as a couple of long checking lines. The front has a bunch of checking lines along the whole body, dimples in the elbow area and around the tailpiece and knobs, scuffs in the elbow area and some play wear on the guard and horns.
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 strings.
Fret life: 10/10, frets are brand new