Members travisty Posted November 16, 2014 Members Share Posted November 16, 2014 This arrived in the post yesterday. Happy me. A Yamaha AE-18 hollow body from the mid-70s (still need to check on date but a serial number 200-odd later is dated to 1976). Carved spruce top, maple neck, ebony fretboard. Twin HBs with coil taps. Very low action, and easy as can be to play. I like Yammies. As a relative newbie I don't yet know how to make it sing quite as well as I hope to, but it sounds really nice anyway. And I hope will be easy to practice at night, unplugged - without waking the neighbors and kidlets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted November 16, 2014 Members Share Posted November 16, 2014 Great looking guitar in fact considering the age it's incredible. I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Virgman Posted November 16, 2014 Members Share Posted November 16, 2014 Drool... [video=youtube;UwEKO0ab0e4] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jtr654 Posted November 16, 2014 Members Share Posted November 16, 2014 It looks like a Great guitar. How much$$ was it? I really know very little about Yamaha Jazz Guitars other then most are well made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted November 16, 2014 Members Share Posted November 16, 2014 That's very nice, and I'd guess that would be from the more "golden era" of Yamaha guitars. I would have found that hard to resist myself. Hollow body guitars are indeed a bit of a different animal tone-wise. Try different genres with it, including the Beatles Revolution with some over drive turned up. I've had similar issues trying to figure out where my Epi Elitist Casino shines. Now on my Gretsch 6120, it's a bit more obvious that it loves Rockabilly or Chet Atkins style tones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mistersully Posted November 16, 2014 Members Share Posted November 16, 2014 love it... congrats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted November 16, 2014 Members Share Posted November 16, 2014 Very cool. Congratulations and Happy New Guitar Day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mnewb1 Posted November 16, 2014 Members Share Posted November 16, 2014 Very Nice! HNGD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members speakerjones Posted November 17, 2014 Members Share Posted November 17, 2014 Sweet axe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wankdeplank Posted November 17, 2014 Members Share Posted November 17, 2014 That's lovely and obviously high quality. Lucky you, big congrats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members travisty Posted November 17, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 17, 2014 Thanks all. I like it. Should be a decent guitar as they charged an arm and a leg for it at the time - about a third the price of a new Toyota Corolla - which translated to 1974-1976 USD would have been about US$1k (back when the USD was relatively strong). I am surprised by how nice it feels. I will have to play around with the action a bit. I may also have to have a crack at the pots - no scratchiness but not as much range on tone as I might have imagined. jt654, these tend to go for $1200-1400 in my recent limited experience looking around for one (and digging through the intrawebs). I could imagine a perfect one might see someone asking a bit more, but it might sit there for a while. Looking at what else is out there for a similar price, it is tough to get a well-made carved spruce top archtop for less than that, but there are some nice guitars out there at twice that, so it is probably not too far off 'right.' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted November 17, 2014 Moderators Share Posted November 17, 2014 She's real lovely, time to join the Yamaha thread I think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members travisty Posted November 17, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 17, 2014 Already there RC. And I have a few more Yammies waiting in the wings (i.e. without pics currently) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Preacher Posted November 17, 2014 Members Share Posted November 17, 2014 Wow, I've never seen one; looks incredible and in great shape. HNGD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jkater Posted November 17, 2014 Members Share Posted November 17, 2014 Gorgeous instrument! Wow. That price is a bargain! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Surrealistic Posted November 17, 2014 Members Share Posted November 17, 2014 Never met a Yammy I didn't like and that one looks especially nice. Congrats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted November 17, 2014 Members Share Posted November 17, 2014 . . . I am surprised by how nice it feels. I will have to play around with the action a bit. I may also have to have a crack at the pots - no scratchiness but not as much range on tone as I might have imagined. . . . If you specifically want more range from the tone controls, replace the capacitors with something with a higher value. No need to replace the pots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted November 17, 2014 Members Share Posted November 17, 2014 Those are fabulous guitars. I always felt that guitar manufacturers only made guitars as good as they had to back then. Gibson and Fender were selling them as fast as they could build them based solely on reputation. The Japanese makers had something to prove if they wanted to be taken seriously so they really stepped up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Floyd Rosenbomb Posted November 17, 2014 Members Share Posted November 17, 2014 Very Nice. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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