Yamaha AES1500

Made in Japan..22 frets..Laminated archtop..2 volumes and 2 tones that push/push to split the humbuckers..3 way toggle switch.. two passive custom Dimarzio Humbucker soapbar style pick-ups with adjustable pole pieces..neck is maple and mahogany and the body is archtoped with sycamore and maple..the finish is in a Gretch style orange and is HIGHLY flamed..an updated tune-o-matic bridge with Japanese made tuners that are very smooth and precise with no slack problems..scale lenght is 25.1/2 at the high E and 25.3/4 at the low E..cases was extra at around $200 Canadian taxes included.

I played a bluzy mixture of jazz and latin with a need to rock and roll a bit. I play through a Studio 3watt Bluesmaker Designed and built by John McIntyre. It's an all tube class A tone dripping intrument. The amp is capable of glassy clean to liquid lead and a virtually invisible threshold where purring overdrive exists. The amp is very rich in harmonic complexity and leans toward the bright side. With the AES1500 I am able to utilize all the flavours from every turn of the amp tone control without a bad sound to be heard. The guitars humbuckers are bright and very defined and stringy sounding.There is a huge difference in dark verses bright between the neck and the bridge pickup without loosing the initial sound dialed in. The humbuckers are fat but not as fat a say a Gibson "57. In single coil mode it can produce a very airy jangly sound that prints to tape wonderfully. It can produce sounds similar to the neck position on a strat which is nice, and get a good country bite for chicken picken. I find some of the great rhythm sounds come from using the front humbucker in conjunction with the single coil in the bridge. This guitar doesn't really sound like any trademark guitar which I find to be an asset. It's tones are quality and will cover all basis without being pigeon-holed. The work Yamaha did in controlling feedback is exceptional. No squealing from the pickups and the musical feedback appears at reasonable volumes but is never out of control. I have not encounter a 100 watt Marshall at full tilt with this guitar but am not interested either. At regular stage volume the AES1500 is a live instrument that react with enthusium. I have no dislikes, that is the reason I bought it. I have owned at least 50 guitars from all body styles and this one embraces the best of the bunch and rolled it into one ax.

The guitar was set-up beautifully with 9's. I am a constant tinkerer and I found nothing to adjust on this one. The pick-ups split to the inside coils and I am curious as to how they would sound splitting to the outside. The workmanship is practically flawless. The nut... the finish...the fretwork.. and the binding is all first class. One niggle. I would of liked to see the frets polished. Hardly worth mentioning but I had to find something. This guitar is lighter than all my other archtops which are light in the first place. I believe this to be one of the factors contributing to the liveliness of the instrument.

With the first rate craftmanship and my experience with other Yamaha high end intruments I feel confident that I will have this for years of trouble free playing. I would use this one gigs without backup eccept for cruise ship gigs. I can't always avoid an over zealous fan falling on me and breaking the headstock off. As far as the instrument goes...it's solid. Weight does not translate into durability.

I have never had to deal with customer support for any Yamaha stuff. I have owned many motorcycles, electronics and guitars without problems so far. One year warranty on the guitar.

I have been playing for 18 years and on the road for half that as a singles act. I research my gear extensively before I buy, the only question I had to ask was how to pay for it. OH...and does it come with a case ( which it didn't). I would buy it again. Love....liveliness/tonal colors/light weight/real quality craftmanship Hate....should come with a case,the idea that this beautiful instrument was shipped in a cardboard box really bites. favorite feature....versitility It was compared to ES335..175....L5....Guild Manhattens...STarfires....Ibanez's...Parkers ..Brian Moore....and just about any guitar I could get my hands on. There are alot of lovely guitars out there but this one felt good sitting or standing and didn't sound cliche. I am trying to be objective about this as I don't like reading overblown hype about anything. This guitar has been in the hands of many friends who play a miriad of differnt styles and all came away with that kind of smile you get when you have been touched in a pleasing way. I have not had much experience with Dimarzio pickups before so this is kind of a acid test. So far so good. Very dynamic and musical. Yamaha I feel is a misunderstood company as far as the musical intrument end of it is concerned. They have some entry level stuff that most people base their opinions on but their high end stuff is smokin'. Sure they copy other popular formats of building but everyone know that Fender doesn't make the best Strats or Teles. Too many player buy with their eyes and not their ears and too many are caught up in the hero worship thing and don't use common sense when buying quality instruments. Sales people in general are of little help so LISTEN TO THE MUSIC. I will add one more thing. If you are tired of being assualted with volume when trying to get a great sound out of your amp....check out the John McIntyre Bluesmaker II Stereo 3 watt. John has also hooked up with Lexicon to create a studio version that is voiced a little different to work with the Lexicon multi effects that are built in. Tube technology with its foot deeply rooted in the past with a sense of the future. Thanks John and thanks to Yamaha.