Thanks guys, I'm just a regular dad who just happened to have the opportunity to get my son something special when times were better! The party was really cool.... the main thing was his family and friends thought he was really cool.... and he was.
These guitars (and SG1000 and 2000's) are without a doubt superb and represent excellent value for money in terms of pricing against so called comparitive guitars and their prices. If you can live with the weight, they are heavier than my Les Pauls, then they are truely awesome. The build quality is second to none... attention to detail is exceptional. I read an article years ago about these guitars, and it said that Yamaha actually made a loss on these guitars... they were built to show that Yamaha could build as good, if not better, than the big names. Before I change the pick ups in mine, they sounded the same.. the Spinalux (I think?) pick ups are excellent and if the truth be known, I'm going to put them back in now I've had the chance to try them back to back against AJ's! Spinalux was a very rare and expensive material back then .... I'm not sure if Yamaha ever used that material in the re-issues. Just FYI (for those who are actually interested) my other guitars are not too bad either... a 2002 Gibson '57 R.I Black Beauty, '96 J.Page, Custom shop D.C Pro and a G&L Legacy..... BUT they really don't compare to the SG for quality and playability... it trounces them all. Would I recommend them... hell yes. There has been one on and off ebay for a while now... I think it's a re-issue (that not a negative as it will still be awesome) so if anyone wants one... keep checking ebay. Would I buy another if I had the cash... too right, I want a black one if ever I get the chance, but for now I don't really need any more. Recently I've sold half of my stuff as I wasn't using them. I hope this info helps those that want to know about Yam SG's.
Many thanks for your kind words, all thye best.