The SG3KY the is the signature guitar of Yuzo Kayama the KY being his initials the way the Japanese write it.
He was associated with surf bands in the 60s and has been described as the Japanese Frank Sinatra and the Japanese Elvis
take your pick.
There is some conflicting information on the date of this guitar I have seen 1995, 1996, 2005 and 2006 all quoted.
However it was produced for the 45th Anniversary of Yuzo Kayama and the 40th anniversary of Yamaha electrics, as he
made is first appearance in 1961 and Yamaha built their first electric guitar in 1966 I think it is safe to say that
these were produced in 2006. Only 45 were made so very rare hence the prices. The launch price was a massive
880,000 yen.
These are sketchy as there is very little information out there. It does not appear in the archives and I have no
access to a 2006 Japanese catalogue. As you would guess it was built in Japan for the Japanese market and I doubt
many if any made it out of Japan where this artist is very popular.
What we do know is that it is an Alder body with a bolt on Maple neck. The fretboard is Rosewood with 22 frets.
It has aan SSS non active pickup configuration and has an inbuilt tuner. It has chrome hardware including an unusual
tremolo system and came only in Ocean Blue Metallic weight 4.2 kgs so pretty heavy. It has it's own unique case
I have said it on other guitars but pictures really tell the story of this guitar so here goes
