While preserving the basic structure of Maple Top/Mahogany Back and SG’s iconic double cutaway design, the body of SG1820 was redesigned to capture the sound and look which today’s guitarists want.
The contoured body top curves more deeply than previous models - the top arc of the curve, the center part of the body, has optimized wood-mass to maximise string-body vibration from the from the bridge and tailpiece. The deep curve maintains the guitar’s optimum weight balance and enhances the SG’s stunning shape.
The back contour featured on SG1/2/300, designed for increased comfort when the guitar was played high on the strap, has been modified to a flat back on the new SGs. The new flat back design increases the volume of Mahogany to significantly increase the low-mid response and presence while reflecting ergonomics needed for the lower stance modern players take with SGs.

With countless custom-shop artist-specced SGs being produced with Rosewood fingerboards instead of the traditional SG’s ebony board, we selected premium rosewood for the fingerboard on the new SGs. A warm, well-balanced tone and great feel match modern tones and playing styles perfectly.

The SG’s headstock has been reshaped to a slightly smaller size to improve body balance. The classic ‘flower pot’ head mark has also been down-sized to match with the new headstock size.

Every players knows a guitar needs to be ‘played in’. This process of maturing and ‘opening up’ is the stresses between the different parts of the guitar being released – between wood and finish, neck and fingerboard, body and hardware. The guitar settles down and physically adapts to being played. It just sounds better when it’s played in.
Yamaha’s exclusive Initial Response Acceleration (IRA) technology releases those stresses as part of the crafting process and gives a ‘played in’, matured guitar from day one.