welp, how did I do? yamaha sg-3! MASSIVE PICS pg. 2

[HorseyBoy]

wow. what a sweet sounding guitar! the neck feels familiar a la my '59 Jazzmaster, they must have been aiming for that, not nearly as chunky as my 60's Greco. the pups sound great. it does sound in the realm of the JM, but the middle position gives a real useful strat kind of scoopy sound, moreso than the JM.

it's in damn good shape, there was one little mishap probably from shipping, but it looks like an easy fix. i wish i had more time to play with it, i'm rehearsing a lot with my Epiphones for a jazzier sound for the next batch of shows.

You're killing me here, man
Sounds great. Hope you get the time to enjoy it.

[unvs]

It looks almost brand new! Crazy!

Congrats on a sweet guitar

[46346]

It looks almost brand new! Crazy!

Congrats on a sweet guitar

well, you know how fotos don't really show... why is it so hard to photograph guitars? anyway, finally got some camera time with the old gal. actually, she feels like a spring chicken!





i'm kind of a big Sunburst guy, and this is my first burst with a white guard (yeah - no vintage strats just yet...) I really dig it.



i think they did a great job on the burst - reminds me of early 60's Fender and in this case the red has not faded much if at all.

that's the serial number stamped in the rosewood behind the highest fret.



the extra pickup on the SG-3... i haven't really been using it much. that third thumbwheel pot is a blend for the two bridge pups. they might be wired in phase, cuz i haven't gotten them to humbuck. and my only gripe about the guitar is there doesn't seem to be adequate shielding. i played in a lounge last night with the lights dimmed low and it was a buzzfest when i kicked the gain up. haven't pulled off the guard yet, but we may have a date with some copper tape.




i absolutely this logo! i have seen three different logos on these, which is strange, given this model was made for less than two years. this japanesey-script is my favorite and i suspect it's the earliest of the three. or it could be random for all i know for sure.

in the shipping, it seems, a chip off the black finish of the headstock... bummer, but i found it in the case, and it looks gluable. what to use... some kinda wood glue i suppose...

[46346]

Moar Fotos...



neck is on the slim side - much to my liking, and reminiscent of my '59 Jazzmaster. frets are vintage and not very tall. at first i was concerned - i have big fingers... but i've had no trouble playing anything. in fact there's something speedy about this neck that makes me surprise myself!




gotta be my all-time favorite guitar knobs!



my first zero-fret guitar. dig that chrome nut! i imagine the nut is less maintenance on a zero-fret? there is actually a slight flangey sound on the open E sometimes - kinda like a slight sitar sound. i think it may be coming from the nut/fret but i haven't tweaked the saddle yet.

[HorseyBoy]

I can't take much more of this
Looks truly beautiful, man. And the neck looks great - love that profile. Good luck tracking down a trem arm. You might want to contact John at Staytrem to see if there's anything he can do (I read somewhere that someone with an SG-7 was talking to him about an arm).

[46346]

I can't take much more of this
Looks truly beautiful, man. And the neck looks great - love that profile. Good luck tracking down a trem arm. You might want to contact John at Staytrem to see if there's anything he can do (I read somewhere that someone with an SG-7 was talking to him about an arm).

well, go ahead and save your pennies so you'll be ready when it comes along... looking back on ebay auctions and forums and such, it seems that they really aren't all that rare.... at least they come up for sale fairly often, but every now and then they fetch $$$$, i guess if they're in awesome shape.

we had a great night out last week, and then again last night - i was jamming at Los Globos with some hip-hop and dubstep cats... once they dialed the tempo back, my friends jumped in with live drums and bass, then i started busting out surf riffs and hooks like mad... so much fun... this is officially my favorite surf guitar! i was ecstatic and my bass buddy was floored at the sound. SG-3 > Malekko lo-fi delay > Princeton Reverb. and the occasional Octane 3 for sheer whack! at the end of the night, some cat approached me about a paid recording gig doing surf riffs. can do!


oh yeah - the trem arm... i almost forgot! thanks for the tip. (pun intended...) i will occasionally lean hard on the collet/sleeve for a quick bend, fair enough. but i'm so enchanted by the tone, i never think that i'm missing the whammy. in due time... i suppose i could borrow my Jag arm just to see if it's useful in the meantime. moar fotos to come

[Sinuata]

Great looking SG-3. I have a much, much dirtier pearl white one. All the pickups on mine were in phase, too. I ended up converting the middle one to RWRP by flipping the magnet upside down and reversing the leads, along with rewiring to a different switching system; the pickup blend knob just wasn't useful for me.
If you do any rewiring, be warned that the little eyelets that the pickup leads are soldered to are pretty delicate, and the plastic parts of the pickup casing start to overheat & soften pretty easily.

Edit to add: About the trem arm, original ones seem to be very rare, but mine came from the owner with what appears to be a JG/JM arm, so it seems they will do as a replacement.

[46346]

Great looking SG-3. I have a much, much dirtier pearl white one. All the pickups on mine were in phase, too. I ended up converting the middle one to RWRP by flipping the magnet upside down and reversing the leads, along with rewiring to a different switching system; the pickup blend knob just wasn't useful for me.
If you do any rewiring, be warned that the little eyelets that the pickup leads are soldered to are pretty delicate, and the plastic parts of the pickup casing start to overheat & soften pretty easily.

Edit to add: About the trem arm, original ones seem to be very rare, but mine came from the owner with what appears to be a JG/JM arm, so it seems they will do as a replacement.

interesting. did you end up with a pretty quiet humbucking arrangement? that's the only use i could imagine for the third pup so far. this guitar gets buzzier than my jazzmaster when the lounge lights are dimmed...

i've been so taken by the tone and playability that i've practically forgotten about the lack of trem arm. indeed - i've heard from others here that certain Fender arms can work, and an interesting Russian possibility see this thread: http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... 41&t=76019" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

moar fotos to come... i gotta get some sleep

[Sinuata]

Yeah, it's about as quiet as you'd expect; comparable to other single-coil guitars.
Actually, let me correct myself; it's the neck pickup that I made RWRP (reason being I felt N+B and N+M were more useful than M+B).
I also rewired it so that the toggle just works on the neck/bridge and the rhythm circuit switch is now an on/off for the middle pickup.

[Pacafeliz]

i've had one or 2 of these over the years; still have the SB-2 bass and (my brother's - for sale) "banana" SG's over here. amazing quality build, look and sound.

not too long ago there was an sg-3 for sale locally, refin'd and modded for/with stop tail... but man i should've got it. it was so cheap...

[46346]

Yeah, it's about as quiet as you'd expect; comparable to other single-coil guitars.
Actually, let me correct myself; it's the neck pickup that I made RWRP (reason being I felt N+B and N+M were more useful than M+B).
I also rewired it so that the toggle just works on the neck/bridge and the rhythm circuit switch is now an on/off for the middle pickup.

that sounds really useful. i may not be getting inside mine anytime soon, i hope to be busy recording in the new year, but i'll put that on my list!

meanwhile:




cool looking design on their own tuners. stays in tune well, though i haven't been vibrato-ing much yet. the ratio isn't too happening, it's easy to overshoot your mark while tuning.



again, nice job on the 'burst



one of the coolest offset-style bridges going!



interesting grain on the neck... or is it distortion in the finish?



i wanted to make a slight tweak in the neck relief, it was a bit flat... i was confounded for some minutes, wondering if there even was a truss rod adjustment, then i realized... those can't be neck bolts... sure enough...



not sure what's going on in that fifth hole... tilt adjustment? Leo hadn't done it yet, right? i dunno... it's recessed, then gets smaller.



interesting how the grain shifts with the belly cut. i haven't noticed that on my Fender bursts.



here's a little cross section down to bare wood, unintended...

[46346]

and finally, one of the coolest cases going. the curved corners, the detachable zipper pouch with piping (and original ? strap inside), and the futuristic plexi support sections...










more plexi under this brace



the strap is a great match and comfy. did it come with?



alas, the downfall of the plexi supports. looked cool for a while... too bad the neck support broke long ago on this one. how to fix this?? been using a cloth rag to help support, and more recently a JM sized gig bag for gigs...

[OffYourFace]

ridiculous!!! amazing, i wanna come play it. so you gonna sell me that mustang now??

[HorseyBoy]

So I'm on a train back to Tokyo from Yokohama where I just picked up a Yammy SG-2.

Good news: it has the original trem arm! Bad news: I can't figure out how to take the trem arm out to fly her home. Stumped me and four dudes at the shop. I thought I'd need to unscrew the collet but it ain't moving, and yanking on the arm isn't working either.
Anyone have any idea? Drop me a pm if you do.

Update!
Crappy hotel iPad pic added:



Seen some use but it's in great shape, all original parts, flight case, strap, nice neck, life in the frets, a scratchy switch but no other issues. And it cost $480
Can't quite believe I found it, and just in the nick of time. The gods (and my wife) were on my side.

[MattK]

SCORE!!