NGD: Yamaha sa2200

[Aspiring]

AGF is an expensive place.

I saw the post in the carbon forum regarding the Emerald Kestrel and then I happened across the custom builders Grimes sample of his birds of paradise archtop.

Long story short I tried some T5zs and a few other things and yesterday after my lesson I saw a bunch of archtops including a lightly used Yamaha sa hanging on the wall.

I loved the feel for playing although after playing carbon and air guitars for a while it's definitely a heavy beast.

And the tone is amazing to my ears. So many options between the push-pull humbucker arrangements. It does a beautiful clean and bluesy jazz setup that sounds great both through all of my amps and sounds great through my electric Marshall as well.

Any other owners I'd love to hear any care feeding setup or modification tips!

I haven't been able to get embedding to work here is a photo link:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CvmVTYYUQ2TUYfMo8

[Mark L]

These are fantastic guitars OP. An absolute best buy in the 335 based world. They are second to none in build quality. And yes, the range of tones is amazing.

The pickups are a little hotter than what Gibson or Collings installs in the 335 and I35 imo, so be aware you might push the amp earlier than you anticipate. This is entirely controllable.

Also, you might try using a string set with the high e at 0.11, as well as 0.10.

Congrats on your ngd!

[Livingston]

Congratulations Aspiring! Beautiful guitar. My friend has the same guitar and I've been fortunate to have played it many times. Beautiful sounding guitar that plays so nicely.

Big fan of Yamaha semi hollow and hollowbody guitars. I still regret to this day not pulling the trigger on an AEX-1500, sometimes referred to as the Martin Taylor signature model, many years ago. And, the SAS-1500 which is the little brother to the SA-2200, is definitely on my bucket list.

Congratulations on scoring a beautiful guitar and hope you will enjoy your new axe for many years!

[Aspiring]

Originally Posted by Mark L

These are fantastic guitars OP. An absolute best buy in the 335 based world. They are second to none in build quality. And yes, the range of tones is amazing.

The pickups are a little hotter than what Gibson or Collings installs in the 335 and I35 imo, so be aware you might push the amp earlier than you anticipate. This is entirely controllable.

Also, you might try using a string set with the high e at 0.11, as well as 0.10.

Congrats on your ngd!

Thanks! Loving it so far. May have been way too tired at work this morning ... String suggestions would be welcome. I tried some Dr Veritas at the suggestion of the shop. 10-46. What are your thoughts as to what I can expect from the .11?

[Mark L]

11’s are going to give you more to press back on. As a guy who plays 13’s on dreads and considers 12’s “lights”, I often find 10’s on electrics a little too easy to play, if you know what I mean.

I think if you have to work a bit to get to e, you have a wider range of tonal responses available.

A lot depends on what kind of music you’re going to play. If you’re going to bend the blues a la Buddy Guy, you’ll want 9’s. If you’re thinking jazz fingerstyle, you may want flat wounds, 12’s.. There’s a lot of choices out there!

Why not go to a string site and read through their offerings? Also you can hit youtube for a bunch of manufacturer descriptions.

Or, you can just start with some d’addario electric nickel wounds in 10 or 11, and see if that’s good right there.

[Aspiring]

Originally Posted by Mark L

11’s are going to give you more to press back on. As a guy who plays 13’s on dreads and considers 12’s “lights”, I often find 10’s on electrics a little too easy to play, if you know what I mean.

I think if you have to work a bit to get to e, you have a wider range of tonal responses available.

A lot depends on what kind of music you’re going to play. If you’re going to bend the blues a la Buddy Guy, you’ll want 9’s. If you’re thinking jazz fingerstyle, you may want flat wounds, 12’s.. There’s a lot of choices out there!

Why not go to a string site and read through their offerings? Also you can hit youtube for a bunch of manufacturer descriptions.

Or, you can just start with some d’addario electric nickel wounds in 10 or 11, and see if that’s good right there.

I have been playing a lot of acoustic and classical guitar for the last while. I have always loved the blues and jazz tones. I am running 12s on my steel string so heavier wouldn't be a problem to try. One of the things I love on this one is how easy it is to play. I'm a complete novice when it comes to getting tones from this kind of guitar and electrics in general though thus the question. I will of course experiment on my own mostly looking for ideas of places to start. Of the two if I have to choose, I would lean to the jazz side and not the bendy side. Thanks for the input!

[Livingston]

One thing I have been doing now for a while on most of my guitars (acoustic, solid body, semi-hollow and full archtop) is replacing the E and B strings on any given set, with .001 heavier string.

For example, on my semi-hollow guitars I start with a set of Thomastik Infeld Jazz BeBop Round Wound Light set of strings. The set uses .012 - .016 - .020 - .027 - .037 - .050 strings with an unwound G. I replace the E string with a .013 and the B string with a .017.

In addition, I use a 1.2mm pick.

I find that I get an improved single note balance across all strings. That is, the high E and B strings sound richer (fatter) while retaining the clarity of the lighter gauge round wound strings, particularly the A and low E strings.

I do the same thing my solid body guitars except I start with a set of Thomastik Infeld Jazz BeBop Round Wound Extra Light strings which use .011 to .047 gauge strings and then replace the high E with a .012 and the B with a .016.

It increases the cost of an already expensive brand (Thomastik Infeld) but after many years of experimentation, this is what works for me.

Flat wounds may add another dimension to your tone. They are not for everyone, but I think flat wounds sound great of full archtops and I have a few friends who use them on their semi-hollow guitars.

Good luck with your string experiments and be sure to update us on what you end up using and liking.

[Kerbie]

Beautiful! Here you go...

[Mark L]

I like what Livingston said.

[Aspiring]

Livingston thanks for the in depth suggestion. Worth trying for sure! I liked the TI ac112 on my steel string so I'm no stranger to their price point.

Kerbie thanks for the photo add. So far I'm really liking the tone I'm getting just noodling around with some blues progression major 7th progressions

[louisjames]

I had a SA2100 for many years and loved that guitar. From the beautiful blonde finish to the super silky smooth, easy playing ebony fretboard. Equal to or better than most Gibson ES-335's I've played and still a great value. Whether the MIJ or MIT versions. Hell, even the "lowly" SA-800 is a "Dot clone" I usually strung mine with DR Hi-Beam's (11 gauge) but the guitar easily took 10's or 12's depending on the gig. And yah, they do tend to be a bit on the heavier side. But the sound is to die for imho. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. You done good and the burst finish with flame top is really tasty.

I also included a pic of my 66 SG3 from Yamaha's "inspired by Fender Jaguar" days. Surprisingly good player even though it was before Japanese guitar makers learned to set the fingerboard and body at the same level.

[Aspiring]

Joshea love the blonde! Nice looking guitar. I was playing around this weekend with adjusting pickup heights.

I have a few new string options to play with showing up soon.

This is a pretty clean recording without much other than a little amp reverb


I'm playing around with some of the riff ideas in there to make up a song.

[Aspiring]

The more I dive in with this guitar the more I'm loving it.

I just dug out and revived my zoom 9000s effects box from the early 90s and tried the SA2200 with my Marshall JCM900. I really like the rock sounds I can get out of those combos as well as the blues jazz tones from the Marshall. I dug up some riffs from some classics like back in black, Aqualung, Black Dog and loved the tone. They were so easy as well after all the classical stuff I have been working on lately.

I also happened on a Collings SOCO from the AGF classified and others. Anyone know how the Yamaha would stack up against some of the Collings semi hollows? Nothing but pure GAS as I say I love the Yamaha.

[Mark L]

The Collings are definitely a cut above, but the SA2200 is no slouch, for sure.
I usually take the Yamaha out, rather than the Collings, unless I’m really sure of the environment I’ll be in.

1 (or more) of each, I say. You’ll not stop playing the Yamaha because of the Collings. And, a lot depends on the pickups in the Soco, I35 etc.

Play and enjoy, you’re in good guitar territory.

[Aspiring]

Mark out of curiosity how did you figure out the Collings was for you? I am not finding anything local that would be a likely place for me to try one and that price point is above what I would consider dropping for just a whim.