I just got a Yamaha SA2200. Anybody else have one? Thoughts?

[tonefiend]

Does anyone have one? If so, what do you think about the Yamaha SA2200?

IMHO, it sounds killer! It's super gritty, which is what I was looking for. It's has a great feel and vintage vibe. The ebony board is flawless and smooth.

I first thought about Gibson, but I played a bunch of them and just wasn't blown away by the poor craftsmanship. There was a nice Gibby on TGP that I seriously considered (HFC member was selling), but I couldn't get over my dislike of Gibson's non-attention to detail. Hamer's level of badassness has ruined me!

So, then I looked into getting a Colling i35LC. It's fairly new and very popular. They go for around $3600 used to $3900 new. I sold a bunch of stuff to help fund one. I went to Gryphon Music and tested it out. The craftsmanship is Hamer level if not better; however, I did not like the feel of the guitar. It just didn't feel right to me. The neck seemed huge (baseball bat) and too wide. I tried to like it, but after about an hour, I put it down and left without it.

So, then I looked around online for a while and heard a lot of good things about the Yamaha SA2200. I found one on Craigslist and had it shipped to me. Overall shape, 9.5 out of 10. It has a few minor dings and a little wear of the gold plating, but otherwise, it's in excellent condition. I spent the past few hours pulling it apart and giving it a deep cleaning. The seller said it was a Violin Sunburst, but it looks more brown to me than most of the photos online.

Tonefiend

Here's a few photos:

[Studio Custom]

I had a red one for many years, great guitar for the money.

[hardheartedbill]

Cool. Never tried one but looks amazing

[pirateflynn]

That is such a cool guitar! Congrats. What year is it .. and do you mind sharing how much one runs?

[tonefiend]

I think it is a 2008, but I'm not too sure. It doesn't say on the inside f-hole tag. It has the serial number, but no date.

I got this for $1,200 shipped. Of all the 335-style guitars I've played, this is my favorite. It's too bad they discontinued them.

Tonfiend

[G Man]

Sweet semi! Congrats and enjoy.

[Bennyboy-UK]

Oooh, that's lovely!

[JohnnyB]

I know just how you feel. I have an Ibanez AS-180, which was from their MIJ pro line. Mine is a level of trim down from yours--plain maple, rosewood board, dots, and chrome. But it is flawless and plays and sounds wonderful. In fact, if I ever get around to paring my herd down to one, it would be this or the Newport. This Yamaha reminds me a lot of the Ibanez Scofield model, formerly the AS-200, also made in Ibanez's Japan skunkworks, but like yours, with flame maple, gold hardware, ebony board, and rectangles.

The sunbursts of these Yamaha and Ibanezes must be seen to be believed. They make the burst finish on ES-335s look amateurish by comparison.

[tonefiend]

So far so good. I've been doing some testing with this and my Newports to see what similarities and differences there are. I know the guitars are built different, so I'm comparing apples to oranges.

Newport:

To me, the Newport is cleaner, more acoustic sounding. Sometimes my Newport with Phat Cats reminds me of a Strat with woody thick sound. It sounds killer through my Goldfinger 45 on any setting or channel. The spruce top comes alive at stage volume. I get a lot of complements on the Newport/Goldfinger 45 tone. It's very versatile.

Yamaha SA2200:

So far, it's more gritty and unrefined. It has a killer blues vibe going for it. It also sounded nice for Jazz too. It sounds really good through my Goldfinger 45 with a hint of OD and also the clean channel with some reverb. So far, I like it a lot; we'll see how I feel in a few months. When time permits, I'll have to do a full review with sound clips between the Newport and SA2200.

Tonefiend

[tonefiend]

JohnnyB,

Ya, it does look awesome. My wife came in earlier and said, "I like that guitar better than all the other ones (my 4 Hamers) you have." I quickly said, "Blasphemy!" I really like this one as it's not too over-the-top flamed, and it's also more brown in color vs. red. It's very subtle and vintage looking.

I read your posts about your Ibanez AS-180 last month and found one online a few weeks back on FleaBay for like $600, but I was already working on getting the Yamaha SA2200 sent my way.

I've only had this guitar for one day, but if I could only keep one guitar, it would be my Aztec Gold Newport. Don't get my wrong, I love my Talladega and Talladega Pro too, but there's something about Newports where all things come together perfectly and just work for me. Thanks to SirDan for turning me onto Newports and giving me some solid HFC advice when I was looking at purchasing mine.

Tonefiend

[crunchee]

Congrats, you've made a wise choice! I had a MIJ SA-800 in blonde/bound dotneck once...really good guitar! The neck was a little too slim for my liking, but other than that there wasn't anything not to like!

[JohnnyB]

The Newport and the Yamaha SA2200 are two different things. The Newport is like a scapel, the Yamaha is like a mallet. And sometimes you want one and other times you want the other. The ES-335 has a nice bright "pop" when playing clean, but it has this magic midrange smack when you overdrive it a bit. The Newport sounds more complex and sounds wonderful always, but sometimes it's nice to have a mallet, especially one as pretty as this.

[carfish7]

Very nice looking guitar! I can't believe they are no longer making them though......

Had a SA-800 also. It was a GREAT guitar that I foolishly traded here and have bugged the new owner more than once about getting it back. Saw one pop up at GC a few weeks back for low-dough, and it got snapped up before the store opened the day it arrived!

It is always great to have a wide assortment of colors for the tonal palette, no?

[Monacosis]

congrats on your SA2200! i just bought an 80s SA2100 this week. very nice guitar and crazy cheap!! i just put 11s on it so it's adjusting right now - can't decide whether to use it for a gig today...

mike

[Disturber]

I love Yamaha guitars, and basses. I'll take them over an Ibanez any day. They are the Hamer of Japanese guitars. Well made, no frill, just very well built instruments. You get a lot for your money.

[Ted]

Great Acquisition!!! Beautiful too!

[tonefiend]

Thanks Ted!

Two days in and I really like it. It's very different feel, tone and vibe from my other guitars, so it's nice to mix things up.

I like the craftsmanship on this. Even the insides (looking into the F holes) is super clean and looks well constructed. Per Yamaha's serial number system, this was made in Oct. 2008.

Tonefiend

[SouthpawGuy]

Congrats that looke like a great one. Don't have a Yamaha SA, I did fid a lefty SBG2000 last year. Wanted one for a long time, great guitar, top notch, up there with the best of them.

[a.bandini]

That's a beauty, for sure. The sunburst reminds me a lot of the refinish that Kim Keller completed recently, and is lovely. Congratulations!

[tonefiend]

Thanks a.bandini. What did Kim Keller complete? Pics?

How the T-51?

Tonefiend

[RobB]

What did Kim Keller complete? Pics?

Before:

After:

The thread.

[tonefiend]

Wow, that transformation is a work of art. It does look very similar.

Tone

[penny link]

@tonefiend, that is in fact a 'Violin Burst' finish you have and a beautiful one at that

I have a 'Brown Sunburst' SA2200. The outer burst color is very dark, almost black. It's a magical guitar. Made to perfection and plays like a dream. The stock Yamaha pickups in these are very good IMO. The neck pickup can handle jazz and blues with aplomb, the middle position is airy and perfect for rhythm with that vintage 'Motown' vibe, and when you throw some OD at the bridge it can hang with the best Les Paul. Very versatile and a joy to play. Makes me sound better than I am!

Here she is:

[tonefiend]

Penny Link,

Wow, your guitar is awesome. I like the vibe of yours as well. I did some recording on mine last night and was really happy with the tone.

Tonefiend