If you’ve never heard of the Yamaha SA-17 Hollowbody Bass, you’re not alone. I doubt many people have. After ten years of guitar collecting and drooling over guitar books, magazines, websites and eBay auctions, I’d never seen one myself until this past month. It came up for auction and I was willing to pay anything to have it.
Anyway, I won the auction, got the bass, but couldn’t find any information on it. I knew it was a cousin of the SA-15 guitar, but that was about it. So I emailed Yamaha’s ‘Guitar Guru’ (the email address can be found on Yamaha’s website) asking if they knew anything about this instrument. Within 24 hours, they had responded with the model number and a link to Yamaha Japan’s Guitar Database.
Guitar Guru, you are my new hero. Talk about customer service!!
Don said,
April 7, 2007 @ 9:25 am
Hi There,
I acquired an burgundy SA-17 from it’s original owner who brought it from Japan in the early 70s. Mine doesn’t have a thumb rest and the volume & tone pots don’t have any black on them - they’re like a traditonal Tele knob. The original owner figures it was made in the late sixties and said it came with a companion amp but he didn’t remember the model number of it.
Anyways, the bridge cover is missing on mine. Do you have any close up pics of the bridge cover? Any thoughts on where I might locate one?