YAMAHA SG800 vintage 1981 MADE IN JAPAN electric guitar

YAMAHA SG800

Electric Guitar

MADE IN JAPAN

• 5 cm thick Mahogany body with solid Maple cap (think "Les Paul") 

• Mahogany set neck with Rosewood fret-board

• Split wing fret inlays

• Twin humbuckers with push-push coil taps

• Weighs just over 4.2kgs

• Comes complete with battle scars and original gig-battered hard case

I worked out from the serial number this guitar is probably a 1981 vintage but the Yamaha Guitar Database website at http://www.yamaha.co.jp/product/guitar/eg/database/ indicates this early version of the SG800 was only made for three years from 1979 to 1981so even if I'm wrong I'm not far out and the guitar can only be even more vintage. (There was another version of the SG800 which I think was made a bit later in the 80s but is distinguishable in having dot fret inlays).  

As you'll see from the pictures below, this guitar has been well used and gigged extensively over the years and it now has umpteen knocks, chips, bumps, scratches and various what-have-yous. The worst of the battle scars is a crack in the headstock joint but I fixed this myself about 3 years ago with some of that wood glue that is guaranteed to set “stronger than the wood itself” and it’s been rock solid ever since so, apart from not looking 100%, it's not going to cause you any problems. One of the pickup rings is slightly broken and one of the catches is also missing from the hard case. But enough of the negatives as the guitar sounds great and is a joy to play with a low action and pretty good machine heads that manage to keep it in tune most of the time even with fairly extensive string bending.

Genunine reason for sale! (I need the money and I currently have 5 other Yamaha SGs)

I prefer to sell my guitars by Buy It Now auctions on eBay now simply because the selling fees are a lot less. But while I’d expect a vintage Yamaha SG800 in good condition to be worth up to around four or five hundred quid these days (there’s a very nice sunburst one listed on eBay as a write this with a BIN price of around £375 but you’ll also have to pay shipping costs and taxes on top of that to import it from Thailand) I’ve really no idea what to expect for this somewhat battered example so I’ll leave it to you to decide and hope for the best with a 99p start and no reserve!

Check out http://www.historicguitar.com/id23.html for some excellent pictures of one of these in mint condition and a number of other rather desirable Yamaha SG guitars. I’d concur with their description of the SG800 as a more affordable SG1000 (although they forgot to mention the fret-board on an SG1000 is ebony not rosewood).

The winning bidder is welcome to collect from Welling (or Croydon where I work) by arrangement, or the guitar and accessories will be well packaged to ensure they get to you safely.

Insured P+P will be as follows:

• UK (Standard Parcels) £20.00 
• Europe (Airmail): Between £65.00 and £75.00 (I'm charging £75 but will provide a refund if it's cheaper)
• USA (Airmail): £115.00

Please email me for any other destination.

I am very happy to accept payment in readies on collection or a personal cheque (provided it clears before I hand over or post the guitar) or if you prefer you can of course make an on line payment via Paypal.

Please contact me if you have any questions (I’ll do my best to get back to you with a sensible answer as soon as I can) and be sure to check out my other auctions now and over the next few weeks for some great guitar bargains that are likely to include a somewhat unique (i.e. not entirely original) 1970s vintage Yamaha SG2000 in white!