Bill Alston

The SuperR'nroller



An SR700 the top of the range


These guitars are early copies of Fender Stratocasters some have large 70s style necks others 60s style necks. All however have 4 bolt necks not 3 bolt. They all have typical strat specs 21 frets, 25.5" scale, body mounted jack, 1 volume and 2 tone controls. However they have the typical Yamaha radius of 13.75" rather than the much rounder Fenders. They first appear in 1976 and last through to 1982, all made in Japan for the domestic market only. This seems to be a common theme among early Fender copies, maybe they thought why would the west buy Fender copies when they can buy Fenders. You don't see many of these for sale in the UK but to give an idea of price an SR550s in good condition sold on Ebay last year for £378. You do see a few from Japan on various Ebays recently there has been a 500 for $289 and a 700 for $471, add in costs to get it from Japan and still not expensive guitars.


Main Specifications

Model

400

400s

450s

500

500s

550s

700

Release Year

Nov 76

81

Mar 82

Nov 76

81

Mar 82

April 78

Year Discontinued

79

82

83

79

82

83

81

Price when Released yen

40,000

40,000

45,000

50,000

50,000

55,000

70,000

Body

2 ply sen

sen

sen

sen

alder

?

ash

Neck

Maple

Maple

Maple

Maple

Maple

Maple

Maple

Fretboard *

Maple or Rosewood

Rosewood

Maple

Maple

Maple

Maple

Maple

Pickups

3 R-11 single coils white covered on white pickguard

3 R-11 single coils white covered on white pickguard

3 Alnico V single coils white covered on white pickguard

3 R-11 single coils white covered on white pickguard

3 R-11 single coils white covered on white pickguard

3 Alnico V single coils white covered on white pickguard

3 Alnico V single coils white covered on white pickguard

Hardware

Chrome

Chrome

Chrome

Chrome

Chrome

Chrome

Chrome

Headstock

70s 2 square string trees

60s 1 round string tree

60s 1 round string tree

70s 2 square string trees

60s 1 round string tree

60s 1 round string tree

60s 2 square string trees

Tuners

Yamaha trap style

Yamaha trap style

Vintage Kluson Type

Yamaha Gotoh Style

Vintage Kluson Type

Vintage Kluson Type

Yamaha Gotoh Style

Weight

3.7kgs

3.7kgs

3.8kgs

3.4kgs

3.8kgs

Colours

Natural or Sunburst

Natural or Sunburst

Natural, Black or Sunburst

Natural or Sunburst

Natural or Sunburst

Metallic Red, BrownSunburst or Yellow Sunburst

Natural or Tobacco Sunburst









* Some sources suggest that all models were available with Maple or Rosewood Boards, the catalogues all show maple boards only, except for the 400s which shows Rosewood only, I have seen a picture of a 400 with a Rosewood board but can't find any other models with Rosewood.

The Different Tuners


   
The left hand image is the Trap style tuners used on the 400 and the 400s generally awful tuners, why did Yamaha ever use these. Middle is the Gotoh Style Tuners used on the 500 and 700 and the right the Kluson Type used on the rest.

The headstocks

   
Left the 70s style headstock used on the 400 and 500, middle is the 60s style with 2 square string trees used on the 700 right the 60s style with 1 round string tree used on the rest.

More Pictures

 
Above a 400 with a Rosewood board and a 400 with Maple


Here's a 400s in a colour it doesn't come in?

 
A 550s in Metallic Red and a 500 in Black

A 700 body in great condition.