The Yamaha SuperR'nroller

These guitars are early copies of Fender Stratocasters some have large 70s style headstocks others 60s style but with truss rod adjustment at the headstock end. 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 in 2017 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 plastic nicely yellowing.

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Bill Alston

The SuperR'nroller

The Different Tuners

The headstocks

More Pictures