Yamaha SC800 Super Combinator Persimmon Red 1977

Yamaha SC800 Super Combinator, persimmon red, made in Japan 1977. These are so cool. Weird, especially the name, but… so dang cool. This is a ‘first year’ example of the Combinator, which was a pretty cool idea in it’s day. The unique thing here: each blade-style single coil pickup gets a three way on-off-on switch, so you can turn each one on in phase or out of phase, similar to a Mustang. That allows for some cool combos: Strat-style in between positions, Tele style neck+bridge in phase, gloriously lo-fi out of phase quacks for dub stuff… heaps of fun to be had. Being a hard tail, the Tele-ish neck+bridge tone is a big winner, that sounds great: chiming and gritty at the same time, thick and airy… just, nice. The neck is a slim rounded profile, similar to a 70s Strat and easy to get along with. The trans red finish is super classy, it hits the quirky lines of the body beautifully and lets the alder grain do the talking. This is a really fun guitar; it’ll definitely take a slightly left-of-centre character to buy it, but for the right player, it’s an absolute monster.

Model: YamahaSC800SuperCombinator
Made: Japan, 1977, (serial 001522)
Finish: persimmon red, gloss poly
Body: alder
Neck: maple, rosewood slab board, 25.5″ scale, 12″ radius, slim C profile
Weight:3.605kg
Mods: none
Pickups:YamahaC-1blade single coil x3
Case:none

Cosmetic condition notes:minor finish wear.Headstock has a few dimples and marks on the end and bottom edge. The neck has minor dimples on the back, no major marks; it’s clean and smooth in the hands. The back has some dimples near the cavity cover and in the belly carve, as well as widespread light scuffs around the body. The sides have minor dimples around the whole body, no major marks though. The front has a few scuffs and dimples near the knobs, in the elbow area and behind the bridge, but no major marks. Overall: very good condition (8/10).

Playing conditionnotes:Action is low, neck is straight, intonation is good, truss rod works. All electronics tested and working properly. The frets are pretty good, just some normal wear, 7/10 for fret life left. Wearing fresh11/49 Moonshiners strings.