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Yamaholics - Check Out The Super Flighter!


billy budapest

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I picked this up off Craigslist. It's a very uncommon Yamaha Super Flighter SF500, and what a great guitar it is! I believe that this model was only made for a year or two in 1978-9.

 

It has a one-piece Mahogany back and a 3 piece Maple top, a wide, flat 24-fret medium scale Rosewood fretboard and a gorgeous chunk of Mahogany neck. Two alnico humbuckers.

 

It's a sort of long-tenon bolt-on neck with the tightest neck joint I've ever seen. The entire guitar quivers like mad! It's also amongst the loudest ones in my collection. Although it's fairly rare, I've seen it referred to (perhaps hyperbolically) as "the best solid body Yamaha ever produced."

 

More pics available on request:

 

Full_Door.jpg

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That is super-cool!

 

Its SG inspired body remains me a little of the DeArmond S-65 I recently got off of craigslist:

 

DeArmondS65.jpg

 

I really like playing this DeArmond (yes, I know it's a Fender owned moniker). I have a Tele type guitar, but this is the first Tune-o-matic, 24 and 3/4" scale guitar I've owned in decades and I'm having a lot of fun with it (it was $75--with gigbag).

 

The only problem with it it that I can't keep it---I actually found for a friend's daughter.

 

Maybe she'd take my Tele instead...

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SF500_Neck_Cavity_Pickup_Back.jpg
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Is that fretboard coated with something, or is it just a trick of the light?

 

That is an interesting bolt-neck scheme to get a 24 fret mounted up close to the neck pickup, with an high-access cutaway body.

 

Gotta love those Yamaha guitar makers.

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Is that fretboard coated with something, or is it just a trick of the light?


That is an interesting bolt-neck scheme to get a 24 fret mounted up close to the neck pickup, with an high-access cutaway body.


Gotta love those Yamaha guitar makers.

 

 

That's the mojo shining through.

 

Congrats on the cool, rare, new guitar!

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Is that fretboard coated with something, or is it just a trick of the light?

 

 

I actually had to ask my guitar tech about that. There is indeed some kind of laminate coating on the board that caused some "ripples" on the surface here and there - mostly towards the top of the neck. It has no effect on the playing or the sound, but it is certainly not something that you see on a fretboard every day.

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nice. those show up regularly on Yahoo Japan, there were higher end models in that series as well...in fact I think the bolt-on 500 was the low end model...the higher ups are set necks.

The date on the p`up places it to 1978 I believe, if what my wife tells me is correct. Theres an SG-1000 locally that has the same pancake body as yours but they want about $600.oo for it and I won`t pay more than half that for a pancake body, but thats just me, I`m located in a place where nice Yamahas show up all the time so I`m holding out. I saw a SF-7000 neck through in a local used gear shop but they want almost $1000.oo for it...far too much, so I`m hoping nobody buys it and they drop the price.

Nice guitar but the best solid body Yamaha ever produced is debateable, Yamaha made many very fine solid bodies, and I`m not dissing your guitar, in fact I am the proud owner of many Yamahas, but the SGs are just one example of Yamahas excellence, among many others. Still, nice find and I hope you like it.

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I would never make that claim about it being the best solid body in Yamaha history, but I have seen it said in at least a couple of places on the web (and not always in connection with an attempt to sell one).

 

Pancake or not, the resonant quality of the body and neck is truly notable. A player wouldn't even have to know much about guitars to tell that something really special is going on here.

 

Thanks everybody for the nice comments! Much appreciated!

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