Yamaha’s “SA” (semi-acoustic) electric guitars were introduced in the early 1980s; they incorporate feedback-reducing, sustain-enhancing internal center blocks of the kind used by Gibson on it’s ES-335 and have proved enduringly popular.

The more current “top of the line” SA is the SA2200, a maple-bodied model with an elegantly traditional look. It has been joined by the less expensive SA500.

The SA500 has a more contemporary appearance, thanks to it’s reshaped f-holes, and the provision of an “AES”-style tailpiece system (named for Yamaha’s AES range of electrics) in place of the SA2200’s more conventional “stud” unit. It has two humbucking pickups, and a sonokrling (rosewood) fingerboard.