I am thrilled to introduce this little monster, the first generation of Japanese hollow body, Yamaha SA30. The birth of this guitar dates back to 1967 where the dawn of successful Japanese 335 copies had just begun. Greco, Ibanez and those small but ambitious Japanese guitar makers had finished analyzing the prototype of Gibson 335 series and were just about to export their carbon-copy lawsuit guitars whereas Yamaha, maybe due to its brand already well-known around the globe, I believe was not able to join the much temping 335 copy business. Instead Yamaha's genuine design was applied to the hockey stick-like headstock and a balancer introduced on behalf of 2 x 2 volumn and tone knobs. Their hollow body debut was with SA5 in 1966, then followed by SA30(T), SA50, SA15, SA20 and evolved to SA700, SA1000, SA2000, SA2500 etc.

The serial number (20280) of this guitar indicates it's manufactured either in 1967 or 1968. About 45 years of age has left minor dents and lacquer wear, as shown in the photos below, but its incredibly-well-maintained body and neck wowed me. Hooked up to the amp, it plays a warm and clean sound, making me feel like becoming a jazz musician.

To brief the specification - symmetrical double cutaway semi-hollow body, ivoroid body binding, two ivoroid-bound f-holes with baffles (to avoid howling), set neck, 22-fret fingerboard with dot inlays, wood-based bridge, trapeze tailpiece, three knobs (volume, tone, mike balancer), three-way pickup switch, chrome hardware, Sunburst finish, 24.75 inch scale. A soft case comes along with the guitar.