NGD & questions: Yamaha Studio Lord SL800S

[jupiter]

Hi, everybody. First post:

I recently was given this guitar by my father-in-law, who bought it new about 30 years ago (he can't remember the exact date). It's extremely clean, you'd probably call it a "closet classic". No discernible fret wear, hardly any pitting of the metal parts, no dings to speak of. The pots are totally smooth and scratch-free. Very exciting!

I've been searching on this board and googling all over the place, in both English and Japanese, but it's hard to find much detailed information on this particular model. I mailed Yamaha Japan directly and found out the basic specs:

• 
  Made in 1979
  Maple top
  Mahogany back
  Maple set-neck
  Striped ebony fretboard
  Two humbuckers
  Two volume pots
  Two "push-lock" tone pots
  4.2kg

It's amazingly clean inside the P-up routs and control cavity, and it sounds very good to my ears, though I must admit I haven't played a lot of LP-style guitars, and I haven't run it through a proper tube amp yet (just my Zoom pedal and GarageBand). The neck feels really nice to me, too.

I'm wondering, though, if anybody here knows much about this model: was it definitely made in Japan? Is it possible to date it accurately from the serial number? What humbuckers are in it? What kind of resale value would it have? What exactly do the push/pull tone pots do (coil tap or split the HBs), etc.

Thanks in advance.

 

[zepping]

They made a 1200 model, however I've never seen one for sale, or heard of someone owning one.

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A//www.yamaha.co.jp/product/guitar/archive/&hl=en&langpair=ja|en&tbb=1&ie=utf-8


You've got a great guitar there, bub.

 

[jupiter]

Thanks for the link. I'd actually checked out that site before, and they have the SL800, but not the SL800S, and I didn't know if/how it was different until I e-mailed Yamaha's support. I've seen traces of these guitars on eBay, yahoo! Japan Auctions and such, but always too late to find out what they sold for.

When my father-in-law first offered the guitar, he didn't even remember the make of it, and I had visions of a vintage Lord Player or something like that. To tell the truth I was a bit disappointed when I saw "Yamaha" on the headstock (because I haven't seen much about them compared to Tokai, Orville by Gibson, etc.), until I inspected it closely and saw how clean and well-constructed it was. Then I was happy again!

I read a review of one of these on Harmony Central, I think, that had some interesting information, but I didn't have the feeling that the owner was really an expert in MIJ guitars of this era, so I'm hoping somebody here can fill in details, just for my curiosity.

UPDATE: This often happens to me--as I was typing this, I got the idea to search for a 1980 Yamaha catalog, and here it is!
http://brochures.yokochou.com/guitar-and-amp/yamaha/1980/en_p03.html

It's in Japanese, and hard to read because of the jpeg compression, but I can make out that it has "L-V" pick-ups, and that the push/pull tone pots are coil-splitters (I think), not coil-taps, as I've read elsewhere. It's called the "bi-sound system."

I'm still wondering, just out of curiosity, what it's worth, and now I want to know more about these Yamaha L-V HBs....

 

[zepping]

Looks like you're not getting a lot of help here. I'll continue to try. :lol:

Yammy's never to seem to get the recognition that the Tokai/Orville/Greco bunch gets. Too close to Norlin specs? Or maybe because Yamaha have always done it "their way?" Don't know. But they are a bargain when you consider how good they are.

I suspect yours will never be worth more than $1,000USD.

They made some great strats back then too. But everyone wants the JV Fender/Tokai/Fernandes Revivals. :roll:


I know nothing about how they came about using the p-ups they use, where/who made, construction facts, etc.

 

[jupiter]

Thanks for the thoughts about Yamaha values. It's kinda what I had suspected. From what I've read, it seems that Yamaha was more interested in making them BETTER than in making them "authentic."

I might try a couple other forums, but it's just out of curiosity. I mean, I don't intend to sell it (probably oughta give it back to my father-in-law if I ever decide I don't want it anymore), though if it happened to be worth a ridiculous amount. . . . :wink: I do wish I knew a bit more about the pick-ups, because I might want to swap 'em out some day, especially if they're nothing special.

I like the way it looks, plays and sounds, it covers the LP/HB bases for me, and though it's heavy as HELL, it's a fun guitar. I used to own a "real" Norlin-era LP, and though I didn't hate it, I didn't like it any better than this one (of course, I wish I had that Gibby now, cuz it's now worth 5 times what I paid for it).

 

[zepping]

If you do swap the p-ups, do make sure you keep the orginals. But you probably know that, huh?

You don't think you might offend the old boy if you "give it back?"

Yes, all the Yam LP's were heavy. Some owners seriously love theirs. Have you tried old Orville/Tokai/Greco? You just might find you really love the Yammy.

btw, what's the sticker say thats on the back below the neck joint?

 

[zepping]

http://forum.japanaxe.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=25

Nice forum, but doesn't get a lot of traffic. Eventually someone will try to answer your questions.

 

[jupiter]

Yeah, I'd be sure I could return it to stock condition.

I don't think he'd be offended, since it wasn't really a special gift from his POV, more like stuff cluttering up the house. He seemed a bit surprised that I was interested in it, actually. Apparently, some people are like that about guitars....

That sticker's from the store where he bought it, I think. I'll have to look at it more closely when I get back from work. Seems like a strange thing to do, but I guess it's sort of like how some car dealers will put a badge on the cars that they sell. I haven't noticed this on any guitars in Japan these days, but maybe it was not so unusual in 1979. :-? When I bought a nice acoustic guitar here in 2000, they slapped a store sticker on the hard case without asking me....

 

[jupiter]

The sticker says, "[illegible] shop SHIRAISHI Guarantee NO. 00031".