When Japan Was the Future

Intended as a Les Paul killer when it bowed in 1976, Yamaha's SG-2000 appealed to players fed up with declining U.S. quality.

- DAVE HUNTER

THE SO-CALLED LAWSUIT-era copy guitars made in Japan during the 1970s and '80s have developed a cult following in recent years, seducing today's guitarists for their ability to often surpass the quality of the American-made originals from the same period. But the most successful and acclaimed Japanese guitar of the late '70s wasn't a direct copy of anything. Instead, the Yamaha SG-2000 was a creative and original design a "Les Paul killer" that proved to be an able assassin in the hands of a long line of big-name players, starting with none other than Carlos Santana.

Flashback, if you will, to the mid '70s when American-made electric guitars weren't quite what they used to be. The Gibson Les Paul was coming off a run as the rock and blues-rock guitar to own, but everyone was chasing the relatively few versions that were made between 1958 and '60, and those were reaching insane prices for the day: "Two thousand dollars for a used guitar? Are you crazy!?"

Meanwhile, Carlos Santana had segued from Gibson SGs to Les Pauls in a tone quest that was very much still underway when Yamaha approached him to endorse its new guitar, most likely the SG-175, released in 1974 or early '75. Ostensibly a modified Les Paul, its neck was glued into a thick solid-mahogany body - albeit one with pointy dual cutaways - and sported dual humbucking pickups and other Gibson-inspired appointments. Yet, as far as Santana was concerned, it wasn't quite there.

Feeling the effort was a little lightweight and lacking in sustain, Santana told Guitar Player in 1978, "I sat down with them and said, 'Look, I can't play the guitar, man." I asked them to put a big chunk of metal right where the tailpiece is. You hit it and it's like hitting a grand piano - it really resonates."