Yamaha SL-700S — A Late Addition to the Studio Lord Line

The early Studio Lord series never included a model designated SL-700;
the SL-700S was newly introduced as part of the later lineup.

To be frank, Yamaha’s true popularity has always centered on its original models,
most notably the SG series.
As far as I know, I might well be the only eccentric collector in Japan
who has devoted serious attention to Yamaha’s Les Paul variants.

That said, my Yamaha collection is now effectively complete.
It’s not that I set out to collect them systematically—
it’s more accurate to say that, once I started,
I simply found myself too far in to turn back.

Yamaha’s guitars, for better or worse, are remarkably consistent.
In the positive sense, there’s very little variation in quality between instruments;
in the negative sense, one almost never encounters a truly exceptional, awe-inspiring example.
For that reason, there’s little temptation to acquire multiple units of the same model.

This is not to say that Yamaha guitars are bad instruments—
on the contrary, they’re superbly built.
But they lack that indefinable quality that stirs the collector’s desire for possession.
To put it bluntly, Yamaha guitars are brilliant industrial products—
masterpieces of engineering more than of romance.

This particular model features a three-piece hard-maple top
and a solid one-piece mahogany body.
The striped ebony fingerboard shows striking grain contrast,
and the pearloid position markers differ from the mother-of-pearl used on higher models.
A maple neck, paired with open L-2 humbuckers,
suggests a design intent aimed at the hard rock player.
The inclusion of Yamaha’s Bi-Sound System,
an early form of coil-tap circuitry, completes the specification.

Weight: 4.59 kg (including strings)
(Updated August 28, 2016)