In 1976, Yamaha changed the reputation of Japanese-made guitars with the SG2000.

Most players familiar with the original models, made from 1976-88, consider the workmanship as well as the performance of the guitar to be superior to anything Gibson offered at that time.

The body design looks Gibson-esque, and the shape did come from a somewhat obscure double-cutaway version of the Gibson Melody Maker, made from 1963-64. The top cap was three-piece maple, like that of Gibson’s Les Paul in the 1970s, but under the top was a fundamental difference. Where the Gibson had a slab of mahogany, the Yamaha had a neck-thru-body design. The extra rigidity of the three-piece mahogany and maple neck gave the SG2000 more sustain than any other popular guitar on the market, a factor that won over Carlos Santana for a brief period (before he endorsed Gibson’s L-6S).

Yamaha moved production of most of it’s models to Taiwan in 1984 but kept the SG2000 in Japan until it was discontinued in 1988.

It was reissued as the SBG2000 in 2007.