Epic Axes is a musician-driven showroom in Los Angeles. Each guitar is personally selected, inspected, and tested to ensure top performance - only instruments we would play ourselves become part of our collection. Text us to book a visit.

This 1981 Yamaha SG-800 was made in Japan during what many consider one of Yamaha’s finest eras of guitar production. It remains in good overall condition for its age, showing natural signs of use throughout, including various scratches, small dings, and other cosmetic wear consistent with a guitar that has been played over the past four decades (please see photos for details). Despite the wear, it still presents quite cleanly in person and has a great vintage look.

The frets are in good condition for their age, with no significant deep grooves or problematic wear. There are no dead spots, and the guitar plays cleanly without excessive fret buzz. It has been inspected and is playing comfortably across the entire fretboard.

The guitar retains its original Yamaha humbuckers and electronics, including the factory Bi-Sound system, which allows the pickups to be switched to a brighter single-coil-style sound for additional tonal versatility.

Tonally, this guitar is everything you would expect from a great vintage Japanese Yamaha SG: big, powerful, and extremely resonant. The humbuckers deliver a thick and punchy sound with plenty of output, strong mids, and excellent sustain, while the Bi-Sound settings open up brighter and more articulate tones. These early Yamaha SGs have earned something of a reputation as a “Les Paul killer,” and it is easy to understand why once you plug one in. It has the weight and authority you want from a great set-neck, dual-humbucker guitar while retaining its own distinctive Yamaha character.

Overall, this is a great player-grade example of an increasingly desirable early-’80s Japanese Yamaha SG - well built, versatile, and seriously powerful sounding.

Comes with a vintage soft gig bag.

The following work has been done: full fretboard conditioning with lemon oil, fret polish, pickup height adjustment for balance and clarity, and a fresh set of D’Addario 10–46s installed. String height at the 12th fret on the low E is right at 2.3 mm - set for comfortable playability.

Body
• Construction: Solid body, set-neck
• Wood: Nato (Eastern Mahogany) back with Maple top
• Finish: Oil Satin
• Binding: Cream body binding
• Pickguard: Small cream single-ply pickguard
• Contours: Yamaha SG symmetrical double-cutaway body

Neck
• Material: Mahogany
• Joint: Set-neck
• Fingerboard: Rosewood
• Frets: 22
• Scale Length: 628 mm / 24.72"
• Nut Width: 43 mm / 1.69"
• Neck Binding: Cream

Hardware
• Bridge: Tune-O-Matic style
• Tailpiece: Stopbar
• Tuners: Yamaha sealed die-cast tuners
• Knobs: Amber / gold speed knobs
• Pickup Rings: Cream
• Hardware Finish: Chrome

Electronics
• Pickups: 2x original Yamaha G-II humbuckers
• Controls:
  • Volume (neck)
  • Volume (bridge)
  • Tone / Bi-Sound (neck)
  • Tone / Bi-Sound (bridge)
• Bi-Sound System: Independent push-push coil split for each pickup
• Switching: 3-way pickup selector
• Output Jack: 1/4" mono
• Configuration: HH

Other
• Model: SG-800
• Year: 1981
• Made in: Japan
• Serial: 028034
• Condition: Good vintage condition with natural signs of use consistent with age
• Frets: Good condition for their age with no deep grooves or dead spots
• Electronics: Original pickups and electronics with factory Bi-Sound system
• Case: Vintage soft gig bag included
• Extras: Fully inspected and ready to play