Yamaha AE-11 Arch Top Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1969)
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Yamaha AE-11 Model Arch Top Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1969), made in Japan, serial # 11535, sunburst finish, laminated maple body, laminated spruce top, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, original black hard shell case.
OK the Elephant in the room first: Yes this guitar does indeed have a substantial microphone holder sticking out of the top side. It belonged to an entertainer/one man band in the 1970s and he apparently preferred this Les Paul-like attachment to a floor stand, for whatever reason! The entire fitting could be removed easily; there is no massive hole in the guitar's side, just three decent-sized screw holes on the rim that could be filled and patched into obscurity if not invisibility. We found this oddity so colorful it seemed appropriate to let it stay in place for now at least!
Anyway, beyond that this is a fairly cool and interesting hollowbody guitar from the late 1960s, when Japanese-made instruments first moved beyond the perceived stigma of cheap amateur grade into the professional realm. Yamaha was always at the forefront of this trend, and the AE-11 is one of their prestige pieces from the era. This guitar was primarily intended for the home market; some made it over to the US but generally Yamaha's early success here was driven by flat top acoustics. By the late '70s their electrics had begun to gain more attention, but even in 1969 they were building arguably the best guitars in Japan, at least from the standpoint of materials and construction.
The AE-11 first appeared in 1967 and its descendants remained in production in various versions into the mid 1990s. It was one of the Japanese company's top-line pieces; while sometimes compared to Gibson's ES-175 this is actually a larger and fancier guitar. It is built on a just under 17" wide fully hollow maple body with laminated spruce top, multi-bound top and back with bound F-holes. The set maple neck has a multi-bound rosewood fingerboard with split block inlays, featuring 22 frets and a zero fret. The headstock is triple bound with a pearloid Yamaha logo, repeated on the small truss rod cover with the company's tuning fork trademark. The enclosed tuners are specific to Yamaha in this period with a "safti-slot" barrel but no center hole, indicating someone rather missed the point of the design!
The pickups in this early model have black covers in silver surrounds, with adjustable poles. The control rig is conventional, twin volume and tone pots under black plastic knobs with silver tops, with a 3 way switch on the cutaway. The bridge is fully adjustable with plastic saddles on a rosewood base while the trapeze tailpiece has a Rosewood insert. All hardware is chrome plated. This model was available finished in natural or sunburst priced in Japan around 70,000 yen which was fairly expensive for its day. It is certainly one of the finest Japanese guitars of the period and if not yet the equal of a period Gibson at least an indicator of how much the guitar builders of that country had gained ground in a fairly short time. This is a fine playing instrument and a cool piece of Japanese guitar history. This model was a favorite of jazz firebrand Sonny Sharrock, used extensively early in his career as seen in many photos.
Overall length is 42 3/4 in. (108.6 cm.), 16 7/8 in. (42.9 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 5/16 in. (8.4 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
Apart from the obvious large addition on the upper quarter this guitar is unaltered and in generally excellent condition. The finish has some small scuffs, dings and a few feelable dinks to the back of the neck, the largest a gouge behind the first fret. The upper volume knob is mismatched but all other hardware is original. The original frets show some wear but still play fine. This is a cool and very playable guitar; we kind of love the vintage mic attachment but can remove it if requested. The guitar resides in the original Yamaha-branded trapezoidal HSC with a couple of original 1960-70s Yamaha string packets and other period bric-a-brac. Overall Excellent - Condition.
OK the Elephant in the room first: Yes this guitar does indeed have a substantial microphone holder sticking out of the top side. It belonged to an entertainer/one man band in the 1970s and he apparently preferred this Les Paul-like attachment to a floor stand, for whatever reason! The entire fitting could be removed easily; there is no massive hole in the guitar's side, just three decent-sized screw holes on the rim that could be filled and patched into obscurity if not invisibility. We found this oddity so colorful it seemed appropriate to let it stay in place for now at least!
Anyway, beyond that this is a fairly cool and interesting hollowbody guitar from the late 1960s, when Japanese-made instruments first moved beyond the perceived stigma of cheap amateur grade into the professional realm. Yamaha was always at the forefront of this trend, and the AE-11 is one of their prestige pieces from the era. This guitar was primarily intended for the home market; some made it over to the US but generally Yamaha's early success here was driven by flat top acoustics. By the late '70s their electrics had begun to gain more attention, but even in 1969 they were building arguably the best guitars in Japan, at least from the standpoint of materials and construction.
The AE-11 first appeared in 1967 and its descendants remained in production in various versions into the mid 1990s. It was one of the Japanese company's top-line pieces; while sometimes compared to Gibson's ES-175 this is actually a larger and fancier guitar. It is built on a just under 17" wide fully hollow maple body with laminated spruce top, multi-bound top and back with bound F-holes. The set maple neck has a multi-bound rosewood fingerboard with split block inlays, featuring 22 frets and a zero fret. The headstock is triple bound with a pearloid Yamaha logo, repeated on the small truss rod cover with the company's tuning fork trademark. The enclosed tuners are specific to Yamaha in this period with a "safti-slot" barrel but no center hole, indicating someone rather missed the point of the design!
The pickups in this early model have black covers in silver surrounds, with adjustable poles. The control rig is conventional, twin volume and tone pots under black plastic knobs with silver tops, with a 3 way switch on the cutaway. The bridge is fully adjustable with plastic saddles on a rosewood base while the trapeze tailpiece has a Rosewood insert. All hardware is chrome plated. This model was available finished in natural or sunburst priced in Japan around 70,000 yen which was fairly expensive for its day. It is certainly one of the finest Japanese guitars of the period and if not yet the equal of a period Gibson at least an indicator of how much the guitar builders of that country had gained ground in a fairly short time. This is a fine playing instrument and a cool piece of Japanese guitar history. This model was a favorite of jazz firebrand Sonny Sharrock, used extensively early in his career as seen in many photos.
Overall length is 42 3/4 in. (108.6 cm.), 16 7/8 in. (42.9 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 5/16 in. (8.4 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
Apart from the obvious large addition on the upper quarter this guitar is unaltered and in generally excellent condition. The finish has some small scuffs, dings and a few feelable dinks to the back of the neck, the largest a gouge behind the first fret. The upper volume knob is mismatched but all other hardware is original. The original frets show some wear but still play fine. This is a cool and very playable guitar; we kind of love the vintage mic attachment but can remove it if requested. The guitar resides in the original Yamaha-branded trapezoidal HSC with a couple of original 1960-70s Yamaha string packets and other period bric-a-brac. Overall Excellent - Condition.