Yamaha CJX32

This is a big old "country jumbo",non cutaway electro acoustic from Yam's "handcrafted" acoustic line.
Made in Japan, allegedley in a custom shop, certainly appears to be flawlessley put together.
Solid spruce top, maple neck, solid maple back and sides,ebony board and bridge.
Gold Yamaha tuners, similar in shape to Grovers, Abalone/pearl "lotus" inlay and Yamaha logo, white ivoroid binding on neck/headstock and body,and split triangle pearl postition markers.

Body is a lovely transparent sunburst, goes from a light reddy-brown colour to almost a blackcurrant colour on the edges...nicer than it sounds....soundhole and top purfling is flawlessly applied abalone.
The bridge is a mustachio type but much nicer than the gibson ones, less flashy but still interesting to look at.

I have a nice J-185 Gibson, the Yamaha is a similar shape and size, a little larger and deeper, and longer scale length, and the waist isnt pinched in as tight.

22 frets, biggish, all perfect crowned/levelled and polished, nice neck profile a little thinner than my Gibson but still not skinny.

Has the LR baggs ribbon, coupled to a Yamha pre amp with a gooseneck condenser mic on it, a nice touch is the mic tone control as well as mic volume, then a 3 band graphic with a mid sweep pot for the piezo...its nice to be able to alter their tones/levels seperately for a nice blend.
Has a phase switch and the battery compartment is separate to the preamp and is in the top shoulder.

Came with a strong looking hiscox flight case, very well made case.
Also a rubber "feedback eliminator" that sits in the soundhole and a truss rod tool.

Gets 10 because that's pretty damn good!

Well, this is kinda the thing.........my friend is an amazing aussie roots artist who tours the uk relentlessly, and he has the best acoustic sound I have ever heard.....no kidding...check him out on www.derrin.info ,that's his site.
Well he plays one of these and has since I've known him, he is endorsed by Yamaha too.

I have been gigging a Gibson J-185 for a couple of years, and it's done me proud,but it has this habit of getting trebley and abrasive when you dig in hard on it,almost a piezo type reaction,just even unplugged...otherwise it is lovely, but also this Gibson lacks sustain compared to some guitars.
The other thing is that the Gibsons shorter scale doesnt like open C tuning, can get buzzy even with 13-56's on it.
After playing it at a shared gig,I noticed my friends guitar (this model yamaha) had bags of sustain, and still had the note seperation and clarity of a maple jumbo, yet had more headroom and low end too.

When i looked at the specs of this Yamaha, it struck me that an all maple bodied and necked guitar (the J-185 has a mahogany neck), that has an ebony fretboard and bridge, should be bright as hell and lack bass......no chance...this DOES have a bright snappy treble, but the bass is there like no other.....masses of low end, just tight and piano like, really deep rich bass notes,especially downtuned!

It doesnt get brash with hard strums, just louder and more present!
String to string balance is amazingly even, and every note in a chord seems to work together, the intonation is really really good all over the neck, better in fact than a washburn i have that has a buzz fieten system fitted.

It has this really punchy dynamic thing going on, and it's pretty loud...louder than the J-185, but not maybe as loud as my Ovankol back and sides Washburn dread.....that said this Yam is new and the soundboard is tight as a drum still, a few months hard gigging and I expect it will loosen up alot and get louder.

Plugged in it has very useable tone with just the piezo set flat on the eq....its nothing like the unplugged tone,but its not unpleasant either.
Dial in some mic and it sounds very nice, the mic adds some nice sparkle to the top strings and you can play more gentley and still hear all the treble.
If you have loud monitoring though you can forget the mic...it will feedback at the drop of a hat....the screechy,microphic feedback..not the useful kind!

I added a rare earth soundhole pup, with its own output jack(two holes in the endblock) so I can get that nice roundness to the tone where it picks up the string over the soundhole, and a big stereo sound.
I can roll in the piezo to taste and its a lovely amped sound.

I'd give it 9 cos of the mic/feedback situation, but that's inherrant to mics, and unplugged this thing should have 20 out of ten, even brand new and not played in yet....cant wait to see how it develops!

The guitar came with 12's i think, and the action was pretty low, but I set it up for 13's and the got the action and the neck relief just right, I can coax a fret buzz out of the tenth fret on the low E, but I have to look for it!
It does have a tiny tiny hump where the neck joins the body, which may cause this, but its not even close to the hump that I see on all my other acoustics...I mean i am really picking here!

The frets are flawless and polished to perfection, so so smooth and even!
The tuners are really cool, nice ratio, smooth but wouldnt move with a breath of wind like some I know of...this guitar stays in tune so well its scary!
The finish is awesome,its not overly thick or goopy...the abalone is real inlay, not overlayed like on my Washburn Flint hills, I know cos i viewed it through a jewellers loup, and it's set in to the channel not just layed on and glossed over like the other one!
The bridge,nut and saddle are lovely, really well cut and smooth.
The top has silking aplenty eveident through the sunburst and the grain is tight and even.
the back has a maple strip down the middle and nicely bookmatched flame....although the wood on my gibson is prettier,but meh....it's still awesome!
To be honest this fiddle stands up as the best put together and finished acoustic I have ever had in my hands.....the only one close was a gallagher dread I nearly bought a year ago, and that had some filler round the inlays that I havent found on the yam!

the insides are equally faultless, all kerfing and braces are clean and no glue squeezeout is apparent.
The string ramping and slots on the bridge are perfect, the pins sit just right too.

Has to get a ten...yikes!

As I already mentioned, my friend has had his for years, he is a punishing player and he is on the road all year, his has held up remarkably well!
The finish on his has held out just fine too.
I guess mine should too.
It's not bulletproof, but for such a light guitar it seem sturdy.
It's just so well made.

No strap button on the neck, but I had one fitted.
The gold will wear off the tuners,I aint worried about that.

I will gig it, without backup, no worries.

Give it a ten because of the build quality...man all tens, never thought I'd do that!

It has limited lifetime warranty, which my addition of a second jack socket no doubt has negated..lol!

Hope I never need to find out!

I have played for Nigh on 20 years, on and off...I am semi pro..I do pub gigs, run an open mic with my friend, and teach guitar and music as a "day job".
Acoustics I own and use are,
A gibson historic series J-185,
a washburn "flint hills rarewoods" 120th anniversary dreadnought,
An Ayers DCSM cutaway dread,
A tanglewood tw15 dread,
A 70's Antoria folk size guitar all laminated mahogany,
a 1980 USA ovation balladeer.
I had a Blueridge BR163 for a while, but recently sold it.

Before I got the Gibson,I tried acoustics all over the place, played anything i could get my hands on, including some really really expensive luthier built stuff, some of those were amazing.
I settled on the Gibson, but it was mainly because I wanted a quality guitar,but one I wasnt afraid to gig in pubs with....the Gib was the ideal middle ground....but I wish I had tried one of these Yamaha CJ's then, I would have got this one for sure.

Well now I do have one, and I think it may be the last acoustic I need , and is certainly the best guitar i have ever owned.
It's build and tone are up there with the best stuff I have tried.

They do say it's handmade and I guess just cos its Yamaha it doesnt mean mass produced, although it could be, I dont care, it's an amazing piece of kit!
The price, well it was cheaper than the gibson, with its awesome Hiscox case and the electronics already installed(the Gib was purely acoustic when I got it).

I'd get another, and one day will!
If it was lost or stolen I'd be mortified!
My favourite feature is the sound!