The tone of Carlos Santana's Yamaha SG guitar can be heard on a number of landmark recordings, one of the most notable being 1977's Moonflower. From that record came the studio version of "She's Not There," along with live versions of "Dance Sister Dance (Baila Mi Hermana)," "Let the Children Play / Jugando," and "Europa," all of which blew away the previously released studio versions. Some of Santana's straight-ahead rock hits, like "Open Invitation" and "All I Ever Wanted" were also recorded on the SG2000.

Carlos continued to use the Yamaha until the early '80s, both in concert and on albums including Inner Secrets, Marathon, Zebop!, and Shango. By 1982 he had migrated totally to Paul Reed Smith guitars, which he continues to play to this day. However, his years' playing the Yamaha SG guitar were pivotal in his development of the smooth, round, endlessly sustaining tone which has become his trademark.

Andy Gill is seen playing a Yamaha SBG2000 Double Cutaway Neck-Thru Electric Guitar in the video "Gang of Four - He'd Send In The Army (1980)," uploaded by cpunctn on YouTube. However, this is incorrect; the correct guitar is the Ibanez 2681 Bob Weir Artist Signature Professional, which has been updated on his Equipboard profile.

In the YouTube video titled "Camel - Live At The Hippodrome 1977 (AI Upscale)," Andy Latimer is observed playing the Yamaha SBG2000 Double Cutaway Neck-Thru Electric Guitar during the performance of "Rhayader and Rhayader Goes to Town." This guitar is prominently visible from 19:02 to 20:02. The video is provided by "A random assortment of videos" and is an AI-enhanced version of the original Moondances DVD footage.