I started tracking online listings for used guitars in Japan leading up to my trip there in the Fall of 2025. 

I came across this ad from Shimamura Music, a well-known music store chain found in many malls across Japan.

I tried out multiple SG-2000's and SG-3000's at the famous Ochanomizu "Guitar Street" (and someday I will get one of those for my collection) but I knew I'd probably never have the chance to find a SG3KY ever again!

The SG3KY was at a Shimamura Music at a smaller Aeon Mall in Edogawa City on the outskirts of Tokyo. 

Tucked away in the corner of the top floor of the mall, I found the SG3KY hanging up between a Firstman Liverpool '67 Special and Gibson ES-335.

The guitar was in fantastic condition with minor signs of use. The built-in tuner and light up side dots didn't work anymore, but everything else worked fine.

Product card translation:

Case: Original, Hardcase

Accessories: Strap, wrench, screwdriver, and a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist

Condition: Built-in tuner not working. This model was produced by Yamaha Music Crafts, limited to 45 units, to commemmorate the 45th anniversary of Yuzo Kayama's debut and the 40th anniversary of the release of Yamaha's first electric guitars. This item originally sold for ¥880,000! [$7,600 in USD in 2006]

Neck Condition: Good

Fret Life: 80%

Truss Rod: Plenty of room both ways

Electronics: Good

Warranty Period: 6 months

I tried out the guitar for a good half hour with the young sales guy who was a local college music student. Had a lot of fun, and I knew that I wanted to bring it home. 

The gigantic flight case gave me no concerns about checking the guitar safely. Two flights later we were back home and I let the guitar acclimate for a day before opening the case.

I was excited to inspect the guitar and fill in the spec sheet more thoroughly than what is available from the limited information Yamaha provides and what can be found online.

Serial Number 05K010. Stamped on the bridge plate instead of the back of the headstock. Based on my research, these guitars were announced and made in late 2005 and released in early 2006. 

All serial numbers I've been able to find online start with "05K" and finish with 0XX.

So my assumptions are:

• 05 = 2005

• K = Kayama Yuzo (as "K" in most Yamaha serial numerology is the month of April)

• 0XX = the unit number of the limited run.

That makes my guitar #10 out of 45. This is made obvious from the Certificate of Authenticity that was included.

Other listings I've found:

SG3KY Unit 9

SG3KY Unit 22

SG3KY Unit 36

Since the Yamaha SG3KY features a Zero Fret, the nut only acts as a string spacer. I don't know what material the nut is; I would guess brass with chrome finish, but it sounds like steel/aluminum is possible for metal nuts on guitars.

Neck Width: 44.0 / 52.3 mm (0 Fret / 12th Fret) 

Ishibashi Music's Reverb listing for Unit 9 lists the nut width at 42 mm at the nut/zero fret, but it definitely feels wider than that in my hand.

My measurements come to 44.0 mm at the zero fret and 52.3 mm at the 12th fret.

This turned out to be an interesting surprise!

In the official case candy and guitar documents, Yamaha only describes the pickups as "2 Soapbar Style" and "1 Single Coil Style".

Since this guitar is meant to be in the style of the early 60's, surfer era Yamaha SG-2 and SG-3, which in turn are Yamaha's version of Mosrite guitars, I assumed that these soapbar pickups were essentially "Mosrite style" pickups. In case you're not familiar, although they appear like P90 pickups, they are quite different - here's a summary.

I unscrewed and lifted up the pickguard and pickup covers to see what I could find.

And the two soapbar pickups had labels with unmistakable model numbers:

• Neck: SP90-2N - 11.63k (a Seymour Duncan Hot P90 Neck)

• Middle: unlabeled Single Coil

• Bridge: SP90-2B - 14.38k (a Seymour Duncan Hot P90 Bridge)

I emailed Seymour Duncan support right away to verify. Their response:

"We are not always able to confirm when guitar manufacturers use our pickups in their guitar. When manufacturers purchase our pickups, they do not typically advise us which guitars they are installing them in. 

In this case, those are our SP90-2 Hot P90 neck and bridge pickups made in November 2005 as an OEM pickup. As they are OEM there is a very good chance that they may be original to that guitar. 

The middle pickup is for sure not a SD pickup as it has a red and black only lead wire and no label on the bottom."

For me, this all but confirms that the Yamaha SG3KY comes stock with a set of Seymour Duncan Hot P90's with white covers!

The production date lines up perfectly with when these guitars were made. 

I also measured the DC resistance (through cable, not directly to pickup wires), which came to 11.63k (neck) and 14.38k (bridge), very close to Seymour Duncan's published specs of 12k (neck) and 15k (bridge).

The middle pickup's cover has moderate yellowing/aging and I do believe it was originally white, as you can see the lack of yellowing on the screw holes portion of the cover that lies under the pick guard. I have seen some other SG3KY listings where the middle pickup shows more signs of yellowing than the soapboar pickup covers, so I think it is original. 

The middle pickup is probably a Yamaha proprietary pickup in this case rather than a third-party, aftermarket brand. 

In my personal observation of the wiring and electronics, there are no obvious signs of modifications. With the built-in fuzz circuit, tuner, and light up fret side markers, it is a very complicated nest but the wiring is extremely tidy.

I believe these to be the original stock pickups for the Yamaha SG3KY!

I've never played a zero fret guitar - sounds nice.

The tremolo bar feels a lot like a Bigbsy in it's sensitivity and pitch variation.

I love adding in the middle pickup, it adds a single coil clarity "overlay" that I find very pleasing. The soapbar pickups are very hot, and because of the output imbalance it does not sound like a typical "two pickups" in parallel; you're not getting an "equal" amount of sound from each pickup. 

The built-in fuzz is insanely hot. I don't know surfer music that well, but I don't associate it with the kind of sound that comes out when the fuzz is activated. I guess if you are playing through an extremely clean, high-headroom amp, I suppose this fuzz+boost is strong enough that it will probably push your amp to actually get some good fuzz.