plucked out blog

Squier Bullet

Here’s a perfect example of the sort of eBay listing that really burns my canolli. The seller has described this Squier as a Fender, which it isn’t, and for some reason has described the neck as a “great JV neck”. Now this is more than just being disingenuous; this is deliberate falsification to make the guitar seem more interesting than it is. A Squier is a Squier, it’s not a Fender and the only JV guitars are the Japanese Vintage Squiers that have a JV serial number.

In addition, the listing is littered with spelling mistakes, “They getting hard to find”, “and will sent via post will be shpped after Chrismas” and “keep and eye on my other actions” being my favourites. None of this would give me any confidence that this is a seller to be trusted – if you’re trying to sell something, how difficult is it to proofread and spellcheck your advert?

Yamaha SA1000

Yes, I love Yamahas. This is something a bit special though; one of the original Super Axes from the late 70s. Yamaha deliberately set out to directly challenge Gibson, which was quite an aggressive strategy at this time – bear in mind that most far eastern manufacturers were focused on copying more established guitar makers but to sell them at a cheaper price, not to directly compete. As this seller points out, their USA advertising even mentioned their intention to directly compete.

If you’re into semi solid guitars, this is a very good alternative to a ES335 – and certainly the woods on these late 70s Japanese SAs are better quality than the 335s from the same period where Norlin were cutting costs. They are certainly some of the most well made mass produced guitars to come out of Japan, or any other country for that matter. It will also appreciate in value, although due to fashion this won’t be as much as you would expect from a Gibson.

This example is certainly up for a fair price -  the lack of the original hard case is the only thing that prevented me from pressing the Buy it Now button…

[Full disclosure: I have no connection with the seller of this guitar and do not own any Yamaha SA guitars]