Yamaha DW-15

2003, U.K. EDITION DREADNOUGHT, LUTHIER GRADE, HAND CRAFTED IN TAIWAN, SOLID ENGLEMANN SPRUCE TOP, SOLID ROSEWOOD BACK/SIDES, EBONY FRETBOARD/BRIDGE, NATO NECK, HIGH GLOSS FINISH, CHROME TUNERS. I UPGRADED WITH DOUBLE COMPENSATED BONE SADDLE AND BLACK TUSQ WIDEHEAD PINS

FULL RICH SPRUCE/ROSEWOOD NON-SCALLOPED SOUND, MY FRIENDS STATE IT SOUNDS BETTER THAN MY MARTIN AND GIBSON. I TEND TO AGREE, THOUGH THE MARTIN(MAHOGANY) AND GIBSON(SPRUCE/MAPLE) ARE DIFFERENT TONEWOODS. SOMEDAY I'LL PLAY A MARTIN D28 IN ORDER TO COMPARE IT PROPERLY. BUT THIS GUITAR IS DEFINITELY IN THE MARTIN/GIBSON CATEGORY WHEN IT COMES TO HIGH QUALITY SOUND.

THIS GUITAR PLAYS LIKE BUTTER. I HAVE NEVER HAD TO MAKE ANY ADJUSTMENTS TO IT, AND LOWERED THE UPGRADED SADDLE TO THE PREVIOUS SADDLE'S HEIGHT. NO FLAWS AT ALL, AND THE FINISH IS DURABLE.

THIS GUITAR IS VERY RELIABLE/TRUSTWORTHY AND WILL OUTLIVE ME. NO BACKUP REQUIRED WHEN I JAM, THOUGH I ALWAYS BRING A SPARE GUITAR TO JAM WITH BECAUSE MY BUDDIES ALWAYS WANT TO PLAY IT!

I CALLED YAMAHA TWICE TO DATE 2 OF MY ACOUSTICS THAT THEIR WEBSITE COULDN'T DATE, AND THEY WERE HELPFUL.

I'VE BEEN PLAYING FOR 20 YEARS, AND I COLLECT GUITARS. CURRENTLY I OWN:
1971 YAMAHA FG230 (12 STRING)(TUSQ SADDLE/HORN PINS UPGRADE)
1981 FENDER F-3 (TUSQ SADDLE/PINS UPGRADE)
1991 TAKAMINE JASMINE S-46 (WHITE)(TUSQ SADDLE/PINS UPGRADE)
1999 FENDER SQUIRE STAGEMASTER HSH STANDARD (USA PICKUPS UPGRADE)
2000 MARTIN D15 (BONE SADDLE/PINS UPGRADE)
2003 YAMAHA DW15 (UK EDITION)(BONE SADDLE/TUSQ PINS UPGRADE)
2006 GIBSON EC SPECIAL (J180) (TUSQ PINS UPGRADE)
2006 GIBSON EPIPHONE LES PAUL ULTRA (USA PICKUPS UPGRADE)
2006 MICHAEL KELLY STAGE ROSE E (TUSQ SADDLE/PINS UPGRADE)

I WOULD DEFINITELY REPLACE THIS GUITAR IF STOLEN, IT ROCKS!!!! FOR THE MONEY, NOTHING COMES CLOSE TO IT. FOR SOUND, IF I WAS TO UPGRADE I WOULD GO FOR THE JAPAN YAMAHA L SERIES(26 AND UP) AND OBVIOUSLY A MARTIN D28/D35. BUT IN MY OPINION THAT COST IS NOT WARRANTED SINCE THIS GUITAR IS UTTERLY AMAZING.

dreadnought, top of the line yamaha, made in taiwan. Thin neck. Replaced the strings to Alchemy medium lights..they sound great!

I like to play chords, and this guitar sounds great for chords and singing. I bought a Behringer FX mixer and a Cardinal mic, plus an AKG C1000s Mic for recording, mixing and adding effects to the sound of the guitar.

Its hard not to make it ring, it has a bright sound to it.

I didn't have to make any adjustments yet just changing the strings, and so far the alchemy coated strings have lasted me almost a year!

It seems very reliable, it took some falls, scrapes, and hits whith only minor chips and cracks in the paint so far, a few scratches but the finish is protecting the wood pretty well :)

The guitar is pretty heavy so i do think its pretty reliable.

Limited lifetime warranty from yamaha. So far I didn't have to deal with support.

I played for a year now, used Ibanez, Yamaha, Taylor, Takamine, Godin and I think this guitar is on par with the best acoustics.

Well, bought this for $700 at Lentine Music, what rip off ...I way overpaid for this guitar. Typicall street price is $549 and lowest I seen is now after the purchase for 489 at music 123. Lentine refuses to adjust the price or even take the guitar back. This is more buyer beware as Lenitne Music does not stand by the product it sells !!
Guitar plays fine but for that money I could have bought a decent Marin.

Little bit tinny

Little bit high

not sure, as the finish is starting to bubble up

have not tried them yet as I am trying ot get my money back from Lentine Mucis. I nottified the credit comapny and if that does not work i am going to try Better Business Buerau and then follow up with Yamaha as they are mudding their name.

My DW-15 was built in 2004. It is a slightly thinner depth than many other dreadnoughts, made with a very tight,light-colored solid Engelmann spruce top and nice-looking solid rosewood backs and sides. The fingerboard and bridge are ebony. The body is high gloss with a satin finish on the V-shaped neck. The neck is normal length and a comfortable width, and has snowflake position markers. The tuning machines are Yamaha?s (Grover-like) gold-toned; they seem to be working quite well. The body and sound hole bindings are a tortoise-shell plastic and the pickguard is a dark, almost black tortoise-shell.

After years away from guitars, I am relearning - and this time I'm studying acoustic: mostly Travis-style and flat-picking; 6 to 8 hours each day. I play for my personal satisfaction and have no plans to ever do a paid/public performance. At this stage, the solid top/plywood body 'starter' I picked-up 18 months ago became a limitation, and frankly, I felt like a fool for even considering a $75 adjustment and set up for a $130 cardboard guitar. This is not a Martin or a Gibson, and it doesn't sound like them or play like them; but it sounds extremely good and it feels extremely good. I like the V-neck; it helps me maintain my grip position and allows me to use familiar hand positions from my Stratocaster days. I really like the vibration I feel through the back and from the neck. It has remarkably good sustain, very good separation from bass through treble, excellent consistency throughout the fretboard, and it is capable of sounding very complex and rich. Too many guitars in this price range seem to try to emulate a Martin-like sound but instead come off sounding muddy in the middle and tin-like in the treble. This DW-15 produces a loud but 'complete' sound; infinitely better than my 'starter', close enough to the high-end '10' production instruments to rate a '9', and much better than any comparable guitars.

I'm not really in a position to rate the DW-15 in this category, so I will leave the score blank. My friends have custom-built or rare vintage acoustics that have been professionally adjusted and meticulously cared-for and my basis for comparison is skewed. The DW-15's looked very good when compared to other display instruments in the store; everything is where it's supposed to be; the woods are tight-grained, and the finish is flawless. It came out of the box with a medium-low action and I'm no longer carving deep grooves in my fingertips, but there is no extraneous noise or buzz even when I snag a pick and overstroke a bass note. It works better with Martin's light strings (.012 - .054) than with the original light guage strings (.011 - .052). The braces are smooth, but if I look close with a mirror I can see very small amounts of glue near parts of the bracing -- but I am told that that this good, not bad, when it is this slight. The only issue I had with mine was the tuning machine for the G was not fully tightened on the neck (it 'wobbled' more than the others when the string was being changed), but that only took a quick twist on its nut to fix.

It's survived me for the past 90 days. It's a bit on the heavy side, not uncomfortably heavy, but noticeable; so I presume it is durable enough. The finish is a Yamaha specialty and I expect it to last.

The DW-15 has a limited lifetime warranty that you can check out on their website. I contacted them by email about the loose tuning machine and got a reply about 4-hours later, so that's a big plus for speediness. It was tightened properly at the shop where I bought it in about 5 minutes, and the tech took a few extra minutes to look it over very carefully. Took about 8-hours from the time I noticed the tuner. I only wish I got that level of support for all these (far more expensive) computers.

I started playing guitar when I was 12 and played for 12 years until I got a family and a more steady job. I've found the time to go back and start playing again, and have been at it again for 18 months -- finding out that fingers with decades of muscle training for separate hits on computer keyboards are difficult to teach to move simltaneously on guitar strings. This is the only guitar I own; I don't count my start-up plywood box as a guitar.

If I had to go back to shopping, the only question I wish I had asked is about the nato neck of the DW-15 because "nato" seems to be an ambiguous catch-all name and I'd like to better understand what it means to the lifetime strength and stability of the DW-15's neck.

I like the slight extra weight of the DW-15, it balances perfectly on my knee and for now, I only play sitting down. I like the appearance; the Englemann spruce is a bit pale, but the front, sides and back are extremely well-matched, the wood binding on the back is very nicely done, and it has no flash or rhinestones, just a bit of flair in the bindings and the position markers. This is what I like in a guitar -- I want to pay for tone and quality, not for flashiness that adds nothing to the sound -- and I definitely don't want a guitar that's prettier than me.

I'd like it to have come with a bone saddle, and I'll probably get around to that someday; and I would prefer a laminated neck for stability - this guitar lives in Arizona, and 10% humidity around here is a severe thunderstorm.

I hate the cost of guitars these days. My old Stratocaster cost less than $350 brand new (and would have been worth more than $3,000 today as a vintage Strat... if I had only known). This is not targeted at the DW-15 but at all production guitars. Seriously, if you can walk into any street corner shop and walk out with a D-28, are they really worth more than 4 times what this Yamaha cost? The DW-15 sounds at least 85% as good as the fine production guitars, plays at least 80% as well, and I don't care that it's never going to be an heirloom.

I compared the DW-15 to a lot of display guitars of comparable price and quality, and to a couple of Collings, Martins, and Gibsons (as the 'gold standards'), and honestly, the only way to tell how any of them sound is to have someone else play them while you sit in front and listen. The DW-15 sounded a significant step closer to the Collings and Martins than did any of the other guitars in this 'non-heirloom' market niche. It sounds as close to an off-the-rack D-28 as that same off-the-rack D-28 sounds compared to a vintage D-28.

I like this guitar a lot. I get to play friends' heirloom guitars (under close supervision) and no matter how much I like the DW-15, if it were stolen or if it burned-up, I would replace it with a V-necked Martin D-28. This is not disparaging the DW-15 in any way! If it never burns or gets stolen, I will have the Martin some day AND I'll keep this DW-15. It's a very good guitar. It's well-made, adjustable (and worth taking to a luthier), sounds good, and is on the sturdy side; it's a guitar I feel completely comfortable about taking to neighborhood parties without sweating bullets whenever a 4-year old gets close to it.

Purchased Novemer 2004. Specifications as per other reviews.

I play folk, blues, country, classic rock. This guitar is fine for all genres. Sounds nice played fingerstyle. Bright and powerful sound with a pick. Beautiful in dadgad tuning.

The construction of this guitar is faultless and the factory set-up was just about right.

I only play at home for my own pleasure but this is a solid, well constructed guitar and would be ideal for gigging.

Yamaha (Kemble)UK are efficient and courteous.

I have been playing acoustic guitar for about twenty years and this is my favourite. It is excellent value for money, as are all Yamaha musical instruments. I would like a Martin D28 but i can't justify spending #1400 quid on one and i would be worried about damaging it. The Yamaha DW15 is definitely the next best thing for the money.

I bought the Yamaha DW-15 dreadnought in september 2005 second handed. It has solid stika spruce top, solid rosewood back and sides, ebony fingerboard and bridge. For more informations, check out the site of Yamaha (www.yamaha.com). I got interrested in the DW-15 after having read a review of it in a french guitar magazine which gave it a very good note. My dream is to have a Martin D-28 but as I'm still student I can't afford one now. So I looked for a guitar that would have similar features to the D-28 for an affordable price and naturally came to the DW-15. I played twice a D-28 in a guitar store and when I took the DW-15, I was confirmed at my choice. Dispite that the guitar, the guitar store told me that the previous owner ownly played few on it and sold it because he realized that guitar wasn't his sing. So my DW-15 is as new, with a perfect finish and craftmanship as Yamaha is know for. There was only a very small single mark on the top but that doesn't cath the eye and doesn't affect sound at all. So regarding to the very affordable price, may it be new or seconded handed in my case, the DW-15 deserve a 9.

Before talking about the sound, the playability of the DW-15 : the neck is very comfortable and a little thinner than the one of the D-28. You do not feel the frets and the fingers naturally move up and down the neck in every position. The guitar fits perfectly when seated, just like a dreadnought should.
Now the sound. I was surprised to hear that the DW-15 was also here close to a D-28. Of course, it doesn't have that typical Martin sound that I'm purchasing, but its sound is what a good dreadnought made with solid stika spruce and rosewood back/sides should be : well defined high, mids and bass. All three are in perfect harmony : the bass are not too strong like often for a dreadnought, the mids are present has they should be and the highs can get very crispy. Again, the sound is very good compared to the price range of that guitar. It might not have the complexity the D-28, but in the price range of the DW-15, it is hard to find better. I give it a 9.

When I played the DW-15 in store, the action was good but the strings were used. I changed the strings at home for Martin Bronze Light strings. I'm pleased with the sound despite the action is now a little high for me. The action can be affected by changing the gauge of the strings. I don't now what strings and gauge the DW-15 was equiped with when I bought it, but I will it have set perfectly by a luthier for optimal playability and sound. For the rest, there aren't any flows, may it be on the neck, the fingerboard or the back/sides.

Everything seems solid and well-done so that the guitar will be able to mature proprely. I'm going to keep this guitar even if I might by a D-28 in some years. Until then, I'm very happy having bought the DW-15. Again, this guitar only honors the craftmanship and knowledge of Yamaha.

I didn't have to use the customer support for now, so I'm not ratting it.

I've been playing classic acoustic guitar since my childhood. I turned to electric guitar when I was a teenager and now I'm very interrested in acoustic. I bought about 6 years ago an acoustic Epiphone for about 200 euros. The neck is so unconfortable that I only play slide on it in open G, layed down on my legs like Ben Harper does. For the rest, it can't be compared to the DW-15. I love the sound of the DW-15, the neck, the touch of the ebony fingerboard and overall the smile I get when I pick it and play. Every evening I'm looking forward to meet her. Compared to the price I payed, this guitar is excellent. I strongly recommand it for people searching a very good solid spruce/rosewood dreadnought at an affordable price.

The DW 15 is built in the bestknown Dreadnaught-Type.It has a nice Engelmann-spruce-Top, Rosewood-Back/sides. The finish is transparent-
high gloss, the neck is in a traditional, not too thin manner. It has
nice "snowflake"-inlays on the fingerboard.
Tuners are Yamaha's own types, gold types, they work well.
The guitar is all massive woods, they might not have choosed the
highest grade of woods, but the guitar looks very proper and is
well built overall.

This category is really the best to write a review for this guitar:
It has a very balanced, rich, sweet sound - no boomboom bass as often with D-Type acoustics. The projection, the volume and the definition
between every single string might not be the same as with some Hi-End-
Guitars - but within this pricerange it's unbelieveable good!
Good for fat chord-strumming, also nice for (country-)bluespluckin;
even good for fingerstyle (while not the domain for this guitartype)

I bought the guitar sec.hand with too thin strings - changed it to
12 - John Pearse Phosphor Bronze strings and now it's perfect for me.
Very easy to play, right across the whole fingerboard, with good intonation until the 14 th fret! I had nothing to change with the
neck or saddle - they have a real good quality control there in the
Yamaha /Taiwan Factory.
I've seen many guitars in much higher price ranges, that were not
built so proper and exact like the DW 15

I will make no prognose for the next twenty years - but this instrument is built in the same high production standard, that I'm
used with my other Yamahas (SA 2200 Semicacoustic and AEX 1500 Jazzbox). I would not hesitate to take it on every gig/ session where
I have to produce a fullbodied acoustic sound. I really bought it as
a not so expensive "axe for all purposes", where I don't want to take my more expensive acoustics - but it's really far more than a "compromise" !

I had no contact until yet with the Yamaha Service - so I do no rating here!

I'm playin'guitar for about 30 years now and had really a lot of different instruments in these years. The Yamaha DW 15 is a real good
workhorse for any type of acoustic guitar job, you have to do.My other
acoustics include a Lakewood A 32, a Albert & Muller S4 (Cutaway) and
a Larrivee D 05, all of them with the factor 3 -5 more expensive as the DW 15 and real good instruments. Once more I can only say, that for this amount of money you will hardly find a better built and sounding guitar (I compared it with the Taylors and Martins in the low
price range, with Seagulls, Takamines, Corts, Stanfords etc.)and none
of them even came close to the DW 15 ! It's a real bargain for the players among us, who listen to the sound and do not primarly look at
the prestige of the label at the headstock of a guitar!

Made in 2002 or 2003. Solid Engleman spruce top. solid rosewood sides and back. Has a wood inlay down the middle of the back. Rosewood fingerboard with snowflake and some other nice designs for markers. Not too fancy but not plain dots (understated elegance?). Toroiseshell pickguard and around the opening. Gold tuners - Grover style that work very well. Standard dreadnought style with a somewhat V shaped neck. High gloss on the body (not nitrocellulose though) with a satin finish on the neck. Nice TKL hardshell case came with the guitar.

Very nice sound. Projects well. Has a "brighter" sound than my mahogany Gibson J-45 Deluxe. Is good for rhythm or for fingerpicking although true fingerpickers might prefer a cutaway. Can be loud and project with a strong attack or can play delicate pieces equally well. Acoustic Guitar magazine had a review in Nov. 2003 issue that said its sound was somewhat "dark." Whatever it is I like it. I played another one in the same store and it did sound not quite as good as the one I bought. Guitars are very individualistic I've found.

Guitar was set up very well but after a while I took it to a local luthier who makes guitars that cost $4,000 and up. They were amazed at the quality of the guitar. Thought it was worth many times what I paid for it. There were no flaws to this guitar until I dropped it about 3 feet onto a terrazo floor (very hard!). It shattered the finish somehat near the impact point. A minor crack also on the back. Luthier fixed it up and said the guitar was still structurally sound. So now it is my beater but it still looks perfect from the front and side, just a little imperfection on the back. I was amazed so little damage happened.

The guitar is very reliable. Took it on a week long trip to Nashville where it was used for a variety of performances in various places. Held up very well

Don't know anything about support. I do know this guitar is not listed on their website. I was told by the store that the DW line were a special production using Engleman spruce and rosewood that were from a special batch Yamaha had. All I know is it is not an easy guitar to find even though it was review in a national magazine.
think it has a lifetime warranty, but my negligence almost ended its life! My strap was the culprit!

I bought this guitar unused on eBay. It has a solid Englemann spruce top which is almost white. The back and sides are a beautiful solid Indian rosewood. It is a standard D size dreadnaught opposed to the typical Yamaha FG size. The fretboard and bridge appear to be ebony, but could possibly be a dyed rosewood. The 14-fret fretboard has snowflake position markers. The finish is high gloss. The tuners are Yamaha brand and are gold plated. The binding is imitation tortoise shell, and the same is used for inlay around the soundhole. All in all, a very beautiful guitar, but in no way gaudy.

It has a very warm, balanced sound. The guitar is still new, so it still has a "new" sound, if that makes sense. So far, the DW-15's sound does not have the character of my Martin or Larrivee, but again, it is new. That being said, I really enjoy playing it and find myself playing more softly than on my other guitars.

The action was very low when I first played it. A simple adjustment of the truss rod brought everything into line. It plays great. The top, side & back are bookmatched perfectly. I see no flaw of any kind. One thing that is unusual is the small braces on the insides of the sides of the guitar. These braces extend from top to bottom on the sides, and I have never seen these before.

The DW-15 is solid. I have complete confidence it its durability.

I have never had to deal with Yamaha, but the company has obvioulsy been around a long time, and has made a lot of nice musical instruments.

I am very please with the DW-15. I have played guitar for almost 40 years, and have owned many Martins, Guilds, Gibsons. If these guitars are 10's, the Dw-15 is certainly a 9. Buy one and enjoy!

This is a solid Englemann spruce top dreadnought size acoustic without any amplification. Normal length neck with some snowflake and other designs on the fretboard, not just dots. I believe the fretboard is ebony as is the bridge. I added a bone saddle although it sounded fine with the plastic one it came with. It has gold colored tuners that aren't name brand but appear to be like Grovers. The guitar holds tune well. The back and sides are solid rosewood. The finish is high gloss. I compared this model to some lower cost ones in the Yamaha line, DW-8 and DW-4(?)which had some laminates but the sound of the DW-15 was significantly better than the others. I was looking for a second guitar that I could keep away from my home where I practice so I wouldn't have to transport my other guitar (a 1974 Gibson J-45 Deluxe) back and forth so much. Unfortunately I like playing this guitar so much that I lug it back and forth just as much. But at least I can take this with me and not worry about it as much as I would the Gibson. Anyway, my Gibson is a very nice sounding one, not like some you hear about as not having a good Gibson sound from that era. Mine has really opened up and has a beautiful tone and great volume. But I really like the rosewood sound of this Yamaha. I can't believe it sounds this good. I took it to a local luthier for set up and adding the bone saddle and they couldn't believe I got it with case for only $600. I might have got a nice price but still it does compare very favorably with much more expensive guitars and it has that Yamaha reputation for durability. It was made in Taiwan, which is the best location for Yamaha guitars from what I understand.

I play mostly rhythm accompaniment with some heavy duty strumming. It works well for that. But it has a good tone for lead lines as well. I'm not sure how it compares to those who play fingerstyle primarily but you would definitely want to consider this for an all around guitar.

Very well set up by the factory. I played another one in the same store and this one played and sounded better. Guitars are truly individual so play a few different ones if you can. Finish was immaculate. Nice wood with decorative wood inlay stripe down the back. Tortoiseshell binding and pickguard look nicer than white plastic in my opinion. Wood binding would be nice but would add a lot to the cost so I understand the use of the tortoiseshell binding.

I have used this guitar live on many occasions and took it to Nashville for a few days. It held up well.

Haven't had to use them. Have only had the guitar for 6 months.

Have another acoustic and a 1982 Fender Telecaster Custom. Have played off and on (mostly off!) for about 30 year. This is a great back up guitar and a very good primary guitar. I think you would have to spend over $1000 to get something of comparable quality. The luthier I took it to felt the same way.