1968 Yamaha SA-30T "Alga Green" — Vintage Japanese Domestic-Market Hollow Body
A genuinely rare opportunity to own one of Yamaha's most distinctive
vintage hollow bodies, finished in the highly sought-after Alga Green
— the scarcest of the three factory colors offered (alongside Cherry
Red and Sunburst). Built at Yamaha's Nippon Gakki factory in Hamamatsu,
the SA-30T was developed exclusively for the Japanese domestic market
as a high-end instrument, never intended as a budget export.
The SA-series was Yamaha's original semi-hollow design — not a copy of
the ES-335 or any American template. The body is a thin, fully hollow
construction with no center block, with internal baffles beneath the
f-holes to control feedback. The result is a uniquely open, breathy,
acoustic-leaning voice that sits somewhere between a Casino and an
ES-330, but with character entirely its own.
The "T" designation denotes the factory tremolo version, featuring
Yamaha's beautifully engineered roller bridge paired with the
Yamaha-branded "feather touch" vibrato — an in-house design rather
than a Bigsby clone. The dual low-output humbuckers, balancer control,
and zero fret round out a thoughtful mid-1960s design.
== SPECIFICATIONS ==
- Model: SA-30T (Tremolo version)
- Year: c. 1968-1969 [serial 10346]
- Country of Origin: Japan (Nippon Gakki, Hamamatsu)
- Color: Alga Green (Nitrocellulose Lacquer)
- Body: Symmetrical double-cutaway, fully hollow maple body
with internal baffles, ivoroid binding
- Neck: Set-in maple
- Fingerboard: Rosewood with dot inlays, zero fret
- Frets: 22 frets
- Scale: 24.75"
- Pickups: Two Yamaha low-noise humbuckers
- Controls: Volume, Tone, Balancer, 3-way pickup selector
- Bridge: Yamaha adjustable wood-base roller bridge
- Tailpiece: Yamaha "feather touch" vibrato unit
- Tuners: Yamaha vintage open-gear tuners
- Weight: 3.15 kg
== CONDITION ==
Overall: Very Good
- Body: Age-related scratches and playwear; pickguard is missing
- Neck: Straight
- Frets: Approximately 60-70% remaining
- Hardware: Light tarnish on metal parts (vintage patina)
A true player-grade vintage instrument with honest wear consistent
with nearly 60 years of life. Please review all photos carefully for
the exact cosmetic condition.
== INCLUDED ==
- Soft case
== WHY THIS GUITAR ==
Genuine 1960s SA-30T examples in Alga Green are increasingly difficult
to find — most surviving examples are Sunburst, with Cherry Red and
Green commanding meaningful premiums. As a Japanese-domestic-only
high-end model from Yamaha's earliest electric guitar era, this is
exactly the kind of instrument the vintage Japanese collector market
has been quietly bidding up for the last several years. Light,
resonant, and full of mid-1960s design personality.
Please feel free to message with any questions before purchasing.
