Yamaha AES 620

One can find the specs for this guitar on the Yamaha page. The features I bought it for are the set neck, Grover tuners, Seymour Duncan JB (I can't believe it!!!) Bridge pickup, separate neck/bridge pickup volume knobs.

The only reason I didn't give it a 10 was because of the bad placement/quality of the cable jack. When gigging, one does not always want to have to bring a guitar stand especially when lugging around a half stack and a pedal board.

I like to play hard rock and metal and don't use anything but the distortion generated by the tubes in the amp. I use a wah and a pickup booster on the effects loop for solo volume boost, but thats it. I also prefer the natural, "bottom-heavy" sound of heavier guitars like Les Pauls; I've never really liked Ibanez, BC Rich, or Jacksons because of this.

For this reason, the Duncan JB on Mahogany body and neck, rosewood fingerboard and maple top, produce a very balanced tone, which can be difficult with a Duncan JB, which produces a lot of very high end.

I'm still deciding whether or not I like the tone better than my ESP Eclipse Standard with Duncan Custom 5, which sounds great, but the yamaha actually has better sustain and cuts through a bit more without losing that thick bottom end that I love. The pickup certainly makes the most difference here, but considering the price of this guitar, this goes right into its score.

I bought this guitar used, but it still has all of the original parts, as I confirmed on the yamaha web page, so I can really comment on is the non adjustable parts. The neck, being made of mahogany, is almost perfectly straight, there is very little bowing at all. Since I put very thick strings on it to tune it down to C standard, I prefer a stiff neck that won't bend easy because this tuning with the gauge of strings I get seems to actually put less tension on the neck than standard gauge and tuning. Usually this means I have to make considerable adjustments to the truss rod, tuners (some tuners won't accommodate .56 strings) bridge, nut, and of course intonation. This guitar required very little adjustment, only a bit of the bridge for action and intonation. I would have to say that Yamaha had already prepared this guitar for down tuning, because I didn't have to refile the bridge or the nut or drill the tuner. Most low cost guitars that I've seen have notches carved into the nut where the string rests. This nut actually had gradually rounded indentations which is quite nice.

This is great for any guitar, but it was absolutely wonderful for such a low cost guitar.

I haven't had it long enough to really tell, but all of the hardware looks very solid. The cable jack is in a place where it is likely to get damaged without the use of a guitar stand (directly at the butt end of the body, right where one would set any normal shaped guitar down).

I don't gig any guitars without backups because I break strings somewhat quickly (very acidic hand oils). The chrome hardware on this Yamaha also fares better against rust than black hardware. I would definitely trust this guitar right next to my ESP Eclipse Standard which cost me exactly 10 times as much as this yamaha. For every other reason, yes I would gig this with no backup.

I have actually never had to deal with any guitar company's customer support because if a guitar is crappy enough for me to have to send it back to the manufacturer, I'll just get rid of it, which I've had to do for a BC Rich and an Epiphone.

I've been a dedicated player for 8 years or so. I've had lots of other gear of all kinds. So far I haven't liked anything as much as this Yamaha and my ESP Eclipse Standard because they both have tremendous sustain (heavy wood and a set neck), low end responsiveness, the pickups I want, a beautiful finish, a shape that fits into a small case and is comfortable playing while sitting.

As a beginner, it took a long time for to figure out that good pickups make the nearly all the difference for getting the clarity and attack out of a high gain amp without using a modeler or distortion pedal. I decided years ago that guitar modelers were not for me and went on the pickup quest, and decided that any well balanced, high output, passive pickup was what I wanted. If I could have gotten a guitar that was made as well as this one with such a nice pickup for this price, I would have saved a lot of money.

This is a truly excellent guitar regardless of its cost, and for the money you can't beat its construction and hardware.

It is a beautiful guitar with quilted flamed maple top. I have got the Dark Transulent Red color with superb high gloss finish. It is a single cut away Les Paul style guitar but it is not carved top rather it is flat. It has a Tune-O-Matic bridge which excellent new design which has made it very attactive and comfortable. The old sharped edged saddles have been replaced with arched type smooth round ones which has tremendously improved the overall look and playablilty of this beautiful guitar. It is a String-thru body with again a brillant new designed Stop tailpiece. Tuners are from Grover and neck shape is medium fat with medium size highly finished frets. It is made in 2007 in Korea. It has a solid maple top not a liminated one. It has got one Seymour Duncan JB pick up at bridge and one alinco Yamaha made pickup at fret board. The neck is medium fat with C profile specification. The fret board is rosewood made with A class wood used. I am not giving it 10 marks because of the non availability of coil tap switch for pickups.

It is a bright sounding guitar with lot of crispy tones. I guess it is due to the maple top which tends to make it sound more bright. The overall sound is very well balanced with rich and full sound. This guitar suits all my musical styles requirements very nicely like hard rock, Blues, Pop and country. I use Yamaha G50 112 III and Fender FM 212R, Yamaha JX50 amps and it sounds brillant in all repects. I found this guitar handles both clean and overdrive sounds superbly. It is a very quiet guitar and does not makes hiss sound at loud volumes. I rahter did not like the medium fat neck and I wish it would have a slim tapered fast neck. I like about it is the high quality of finsh, unique guitar design, comfortable feel and overall great sound quality.

I found the action of this guitar excellent. It is a real pleasure to play this guitar so smooth and comfortable. The factory set up is just perfect. The pickups are very well adjusted at factory and I have not need to readjust them so far. The bridge is properly routed and I have not noticed any flaw in this guitar. I found the overall action, fit and finish of this guitar in the rank of A class.

Of course I always trust Yamaha products as far as reliability and durability is concerned. It is evident from this fact that I have been using Yamaha guitars and amps for the last 27 years and these never let me down.

Yamaha people are great. They are simply out class, so kind and cooperative. I have dealt with them twice and they are so helpful that you can't imagine. You see I live in Pakistan and we have no proper shop for Yamaha guitars here. So last year I contacted Yamaha On-Line support and told them that I need to purchase this guitar and within a week they told me that they have arranged a dealer who would supply the guitar. Now I am proud to own this incredible guitar because of the tremendous support from Yamaha.

I have been playing for the last 27 years. I know how a good guitar should sound. If this guitar is stolen I would definitely buy it again. I love about it is the super high gloss finish, excellent hard ware design, bright sound. My favorite feature is the two straps buttons provided at the bottom side of guitar for quick strap length changing. I choose this one because it is a Yamaha guitar and secondly due to it amazing overall beauty and sound. I wish it had a coil tap switch for pickups for more versatile tonal range.

It?s lighter than a Les Paul, it has the same sound (almost at least) Great looks, great design. Yamaha has took the classic design of a Les Paul and made it to something of their own.

Mahogany body with flamed maple top. Kind of tiger striped. Set neck.

Made in 2005.

Pickups H/H. A SD Jeff Beck in the bridge position and a stock Yamaha in the neck. They don?t impresse me. I always change PU?s. At the price of this guitar you can afford to buy a better set of PU?s.

I play old school metal. Judas Priest-ish.. My main guitar is a Gibson Les Paul and i was looking for a backup and didn?t like the quality of the Epiphone-replicas. I think this one is gonna cut it..

I use a modified Marshall 2003.

Unplugged the guitar has a very bright sound. I was afraid at first that it was gonna sound too thin when amplified. I was wrong..

It has the same acoustic edge as a Les Paul. The stock PU?s are not to my liking. A SD Jeff Beck in the bridge and a stock Yamaha in the neck position. Both are being replaced with my favorite PU?s, Gibson Classic ?57 Plus. But the acoustic sound tells me it will sound great after the PU change.

The neck is a bit "chunky" but after a while it feels so great. Effects the sound in a very positive way.

Great finish. Feels/looks lke a much more expensive guitar

Action really low, balanced. A wee bit of string buzz, but the i?ll fix that. Intonation great. Nothing to complain on.

The top is great looking. It looks a million bucks...

Everything about this guitar breathe quality. As a said i wanted a backup for my Gibson Les Paul and it seems this one is gonna be my main axe from now on..

Haven?t had any contact yet. No comments..

I?ve been playing for more than 25 years. I have the money to by any guitar, but i think the new Gibson Les Pauls are overpriced. Have always been looking for a reasonable pricy guitar. I just found it.

If you don?t have the money to buy the real thing, or even if you do, check this out.. The new Epiphone Les Paul do NOT have a Mahogany body and it does effect the sound. This guitar great value for the bucks..