It was December 1978 that Yamaha proudly launched its 3rd generation full hollow body guitars after witnessing the hit of AE-11 in 1967, followed by AE-12 and its sister AE-18 in 1972. Here is the story behind Yamaha's launch on the less popular full hollow body jazz guitars - the domination by foreign models, specially Gibson L-5 and 175, on Japan jazz scene ignited Yamaha craftsmanship to counter with in-house equivalent. But the market was relatively small compared to main stream rock guitars featuring thin body with tremolo, and apart from Yamaha, Ibanez GB-10 was the only prominent Japan brand who stood up for Gibson's invasion. That implies the rarity of AE models showing up on the second hand vintage market these days...

The guitar features remarkable specs of carved solid spruce top, set maple neck, African Blackwood bridge and 20-fret bound ebony fingerboard with diagonally split block inlays. This beauty was loved and played by the prominent jazz players like Joe Beck, Bireli Lagrene and Martin Taylor. What is more, serial number 001113 of this guitar dates exactly back to December 1978. The previous owner must have been very keen to own the 1st batch of productions.

The conditions of the guitar are photographed in detail below. Nicks around lower bout and rubber fixture on the jack are noticeable but they don't mark down the historic value of this guitar. Lastly, the original hardshell case flies along to the new owner.