Yamaha AES500

Lemme add some important spex I have about this sunburst finish AE500 model guitar that I'm reviewing - nut width is 1.6877", .892" thick at the first fret, the average side body depth is 2.875" and it's a semi-hollow body in that there's a bridge block that's only located at the bridge and tail tie down area (the rest of the body interior is totally hollow), total weight is 7lbs 12oz. The frets are mega jumbos - .107" x .053". It's basically a jazz box and has all the features I'd need, as already described elsewhere.

The open coil AlNiCo V mag humbuckers have good tone, both at low and high volumes, and also when the amp is opened up and the guitar volume is rolled off slightly (no volume bleeder caps to keep the treble up, which is a good thing for me). Unplugged it sounds like most any laminated jazz box - thin, and uninspiring ... you want good acoustic jazz box tone, you need to have a real solid wood archtop acoustic guitar.

First off, I really like the *concept* of this guitar - it has the spex and features I've been looking for in jazz box, and have only now found in the AE500. The materials, finish and Indonesian workmanship are quite good and I couldn't spot any glaring flaws. The supplied 9-42 string action was setup quite high and the truss nut was stiff to move and took more leverage than normal but it moved and it did drop down the high neck relief (by knocking down the abnormally high neck relief). I strung up with 11-48 roundwounds (which required recutting the nut, as the slots were cut too narrow on the bass side) and found the action still too high, so I dropped the bridge down and the action was only at its lowest when the bridge just about hit the bottom post stops. Still, even at about the end of its travel, the action was quite low and fast. However, there was buzzing on the first string due to unleveled frets from around the 5th to 12th frets. I don't like the supplied mega jumbo 107x53 frets and will eventually replace them with 92x42 frets, but for now I performed a full level and crown and the action and playability improved 101%. What all of this rap means is that there were issues with the AE500 I bought, and I accepted those issues because I have the ability do correct them and make a much better guitar than even a good AE500 - if you don't, send it back.

When properly setup, this is totally pro guitar that's ready for stage or studio.

Don't know or care.

Been playing fretted instruments since '55 and I'm a fretted instrument guitar tech/luthier. I get to mess with *LOTS* of guitars on a weekly if not daily basis and I'm a champion of cheap guitars. IMHO, the AE500 has the kinda design features I want in a jazzbox and is a great buy IF you get one without any play impeding issues. I will mod it out with new frets, a vintage bone nut, a Gibson Classic '57 neck pickup, CTS pots, Panasonic leaf spring switch, Switchcraft jack.

Strong, easy neck. You can buy a $1200 guitar or you can try this first and probably go with it.

Passive pickups give you a glorious distorted tone as well as clean.

The neck is clear coated, thus a bit sticky, but that can be sanded down if you don't mind losing the protection.

While it doesn't have as many features as some guitars, you don't need them. I prefer less features with more usability anyway.

The sound reminds me of a Gibson SG. It has that melding of strings that give it a nice clear tone and defined key. It is very sonically pleasing.

I'm using it through a Fender Frontman 15G small practice amp with the onboard distortion and it sounds outstanding.

With the 3-way pickup selector and the pickup volume knobs (plus the one tone) you can get lots of sounds, none of them bad. Very rich sounding. Any adjustment I make is immediately noticable.

It also has a coil tap which boosts your signal nicely.

Great action, besides the aforementioned neck, which is clear coated and sticky on the back. But hey, it's protection, so...

Pickups are adjustable, but no need, you probably won't be adjusting them.

The only peculiarity, besides the quirky looks, is how the neck looks like it's misaligned with the body. It's not.

I'm giving a 7 only becuase of the odd 50's diner looks of the thing.

This is solid, it won't break. I've never even had the output jack nut come loose. Thank you Yamaha, for making such an great guitar affordable.

Probably will never have to deal with them.

Awesome guitar with quirky looks. If you prefer sound over looks, find one.

Covered pretty much by everybody.

Sounds ok.. not great. Stuck a Dimarzio DP150 at the bridge and left the stock pickup at the neck. Blend well togeher and gave it more clarity of tone... Tapped or regular.

Yamaha has got necks down. After I changed out the stock bridge to a Tone-Pros AVT adjustable bridge for better intonation...this guitar plays and feels great! Another trick is to take 1000 or 1200 grit wet sanding paper and rub down the back of the neck. Gets rid of that sticky feel of the soft clear they use there.

Hanging in there great.. even the tuners have not started slipping yet. I use it as my main gigging axe and my 2nd is a custom Pacifica..
Leave the high dollar axes at home to record with. This guitar is great to fend off the drunks... wack!... and it still stays in tune!!lol...

No need.. Yamaha stuff is solid.

Under-rated axe. I play semi-pro and love the feel and vibe of this axe. After making the few changes I have it works right down the middle to perform many different styles.. clean or distorted. It will never sound excactly like a strat or paul... but as gigging axe you can throw around without fear..it gets the job done!

My gold Yamaha AES500 carries a "made in Taiwan" label but plays like a custom US jobbie. The silver mottled scratchplate blends well with the gold, more-rounded-than-a-Les-Paul style body. I don't care how many frets it's got, the bridge is tuno-matic, and the single cut away allows great access as high as I need to go. The silver- finished tuners are unbranded but have survived several drops and do a great job. The frets are quite meaty and just right for my stumpy fingers.

I changed the original Yamaha pick-ups for an old Bartolini beast on the bridge and a Seymour Duncan JB on the neck. The Yamaha pick-ups were OK, but nothing when compared to these beauties.

I play in a semi-pro melodic rock band and our other guitarist plays the EVH 5150 set-up. I therefore need to blend with his brown sound and this Yamaha does a fine job of doing that. It adds a thick lower end to give the band an overall full sound through almost every PA we've played through, whether clean or with gain. I play it through a Line 6 Flextone II mostly on the California Crunch (Mesa IIB) settings with Marshall cab settings - what a lovely sound.

This guitar sounded good in its original form, but with the custom work I've done, added to the "most comfortable guitar I've ever played" feel, it's an absolute diamond.

The full clean bridge tone with a bit of compression is superb and then it really punches with some drive behind it - a very full sound with no whispy top end at all. The middle position offered a super lead sound with the original pick-ups, but I rarely use that position with the new pick-ups. It gives excellent sustain when soloing around the 12th fret on neck pick-up and a little finger waggling just draws that on-the-edge-almost-feedback sound that I love to pull on the end of long notes.

This is exactly why I stuck with the AES500 and just upgraded the pick-ups. Its so comfortable to play and looks great. The original action is still fine, I've changed the pick-ups, it's survived a couple of drops and will last forever. "Velly tough a old boot"

The dials are all very well wired, no buzzing or unevenness. The coil tap is only linked to the neck pick-up now as my Bartolini doesn't have the circuitry for it. I still have plenty of sound options.

I've gigged all over with this AES500. I've put strap locks on to prevent dropping it again, but apart from that it stays in tune all night with .10 gauge strings, not matter what lighting rig is cooking the player onstage.

The only jaded finish is from the replacement pick-up cover I put on the JB pick-up. All the original parts are in excellent condition. I have used it as my only guitar onstage, but as our songs demand a variety of sounds, I do use my Hartnoll Custom Strat for the different tone on some songs.

Not much contact. I asked for a wriring diagram to upgrade the pick-ups and that arrived by email very quickly. I couln't ask for more.

I bought it second hand so I have no idea of the warranty

I've had this Yamaha AES500 for 3 years, it's my main guitar alongside a Hartnoll Custom.

I love it's balance and neck which is why I customised this guitar and didn't buy a Les Paul or a PRS for stupid money. I've played Gibsons, Fenders and PRS and none are as comfortable as this and now that I've changed the pick ups, it sounds better than the Gibsons that I've tried - and weighs so much less !!!

Why did Yamaha have to replace it with the slippery AES620 ?

Two retro humbuckers (chrome covers) in a thick LP style body, but more rounded. Long-scale neck but bolted not set. Kind of Fender meets Gibson I suppose. The great surf-retro look is set off by the 'artists easel' style scratch plate and trussrod covers, both in very cool grey-black pearl. Also nicely matched by the rear cover hiding the electrics.

Volume for each pick-up, with one tone control that is also a push-switch for coil-tapping the pickups.

I've always loved the blues-rock-jazz sound of a Les Paul's neck pickup, and this thing does it so well. Bags of power to drive your amp, and it just wails at you. Doesn't do the bright jangley thing but the coil tapping and bridge pickup can brighten things up a bit for rhythm and clean. Very good at the blues-rock end of things but probably not for you if you want a Fendery pop guitar.

I own a US strat that isn't nearly as well made as this thing. I also have a couple of other so-called decent guitars, and none of them are up with this Yamaha. It's just very very well built, and I've never needed to have it set up. It played great straight out of it's box. Probably something to do with the bridge being fixed (can't be adjusted other than overall height, but then you can't bugger it up either). Paintwork is absolutely A1. The neck is fantastic - the best I've ever played. The frets are a bit big (high) so you need to be precise with your chords, and this is the only thing preventing a perfect 10 in this section.

Using it as my main live guitar now, and the Strat stays at home. In fact I'm seriously considering selling the USA Strat and buying a high-spec Yamaha Pacifica, based on how good this AES 500 has been. It's just never let me down, and it's used regularly. I also use a Yamaha P80 stage piano, so you could say I'm happy with the brand. They just don't make bad instruments, ever. I wonder what their motorcycles are like.......

Never needed Yamaha UK because their stuff don't break.

Been playing guitar as a second instrument for around 15 years. I'd definitely buy another of these if it was lost, stolen, or terminally damaged. I still need a bright guitar for some projects, but this is my main rock & blues guitar.

Almost certainly made in Tiawan
Bolt on neck
648mm Scale length
22 Frets
Fingerboard made of rosewood
The body is made of Alder
Wrapover bar type bridge
3 position selector switch
2 Yamaha humbuckers
Front and rear volume
Master tone which has a Yamaha push-push coil tap.
Mine is a silver one but they are available also in Gold, Black and Cream white.

A great variety of sounds are available but if you think you can get both Strat sounds and Les Paul sounds out of the same guitar then this wont cut it even when the coils are tapped. Think of it as a very versatile Les Paul and you wont go far wrong.
Its got a big sound through a Marshall amp and is fairly twangy through a Fender amp.

Like Mary poppins practicaly perfect in every way which makes them a fantastic "used" purchase.

Its a Yamaha so durability goes without saying, as a dealer in used Yamahas they are just so good they dont go wrong. They are tough as old boots.

Yamaha UK are just excellent.

I have many Yamaha guitars and these are a fantastic buy as they look a bit retro and quirky , but as a guitar to play they are just fantastic. I think on value for money only the AES 620 pips it.

You can visit my web site for photos of this and all my Yamahas and more information on Yamaha guitars at

www.stallionmusic.com

Made in 1999 in taiwan (great guitar for such country)
22frets
3way selector strat style
h/h gibson style
yahama puck ups ( much much much better than epiphone according me)
ahorn neck or maybe maple (not sure)
A les paul copie or maybe not Its les paul style but it has is one caracter
Tuners are in profossional vieuw a bit poor but thats only for the people that allready play more then 10 years

This is allmost perfect
I play in a rock band ( whith heavy distorsion ) not the ac/dc kind but more like tool , no full metal offcourse
it sounds perfect , you can play lou reed and you can play megadeth
Maybe it hasn't the metal looks but who cares
i'm using a fender stage 100 without any efects , straight inro the amp
not noisy

I'm not a expert in this kind of things but it all look ok

I played it live for 15 times now , not even a string snapped
I dropped it while playing live , I was doing tottaly insane moves end i dropped it , I just pickt him up and restarted playing, It wasn't out of tone , just a little scratch but thats my fault
As strong as a rock ( the guitar rocks :-D)

Never dealt with them but the site is nicely worked out

Playing 9 years now
I wasn't sure of buying the guitar becouse of the looks but wath the hell my ex girlfrend was ugly to
if it were stolen i couldn't buy it anymore cause there not making them no more
perfect guitar

i'd also like to tell you that i don't easely give good rates , but the guitar is worth a 10

-excuse me for my crappy english

mine is an off-white color, rosewood fingerboard, 2 humbuckers, i like the push boost thing... it adds a nice warm sound to it.no need for me to ellaborate on my review due to the previous ones.for 180$ i guess it was pretty good.

My music style has a wide range of sounds. i play blues, rock, funk, some jazz, and alot of folk guitar, and alot of classic rock. I play alot of jimi hendrix, eric clapton, and classic rock. My sound seems to be influenced by jimi hendrix, zepplin, and because of my frequent use of wide vibrato bends, e.c. this guitar has been with me for the better part of the year and i will not let it go. the sound quality when i recieved it was perfect. i run it through a marshall 50 watt amp.there was no buzzing from the strings and it played like a dream. the neck action, however, seemed really bad. i have to constantly clean it and put string cleaner on it and it still does not meet my needs. but for the price i paid it is a good buy.

well i felt like the guitar was set up nicely and so it was.The tuning pegs tend to really let loose and the strings will go out of tune alot... but not as much as say any remake of a fender or a les paul. This is an individual guitar. and that i give credit.

my guitar has a few bumps and scratches and chipped paint. but it has been good to have it and so far it has done well with me. built like a rock. i dont smash my guitar but i dont keep it high maintenence either.the finsh is not good and i have used it on gigs without any backup mainly because i dont have a backup or another guitar for that matter. i replaced the regular strap buttons with strap locks and now i dont have much fear of it being dropped.

its not my bag, baby

well, for the price i paid, it was a good guitar. i am going to buy one of the fender astist signiture series though. perhaps jeff beck or eric clapton. i wont sell this guitar and i feel i discovered alot of things out and weve been through alot together. but im in need for a real guitar.

1999 model, made in Taiwan. Nato body, pau ferro fretboard (I think), bolt-on maple neck, 2 humbuckers, wrap-around bridge, 2 vol, 1 tone w/coil splitting capabilities, 22 frets, silver finish, non-locking tuners, 25 1/2" scale.

This was purchased as a back up for my Carvin DC-127T (Maple body & neck, ebony fingerboar, yes very bright). I play jazz, blues, funk, and rock. After modifications (more on this later), it fits my style very well. I'm using it with a Boss GT5, a Tubeworks mosvalve 8080 power amp, and an old Vox 2x12 cabinet w/ the original Bulldog speakers.

In stock form, this is a very DARK guitar. The only usable sounds are in single coil mode. After playing it like this for a few days, I opened the control cavity and found that instead of using 500k pots (standard for Humbuckers) they are using 250k pots! Changed them to 500k Dimarzio pots. This seemed to brighten things up a bit, but the low end was still not the way I like it. Don't get me wrong, it's big, just not very muscular, kind of flabby. I next replaced the cheesy stok capacitor with a .0222mf orange drop cap. Whoa! completely different guitar. This thing now sounds more like a cross between a Tele and a Les Paul than ever. Really fat in humbucker mode, but still having plenty of bite(think Billy Gibbons on "La Grange"). On single coil mode, its great for dirty slide work and clean jazz runs. This is a much more versatile guitar now. The neck pickup is now kind of microphonic, but I like that, it makes it sound like an old Gibson PAF. These mods are highly recomended. They only added $27 to the price (If you do them yourself)! This rating is after all modifications.

This guitar originaly came set up for 9's, which I promptly changed to 11's from D'addario. Action is low and fast with no buzzing. The pickups need to have their polepieces raised though, they don't have as much output as I'de like without doing this, but this is only my opinion. There are no flaws that I can speak of, it's just that I like my guitars set up a little differently than most people. Overall, an excellent job for the price I paid ($180, new).

I've gigged with this for about 6 months for 2 days out of the weeks. Nothing has happened to it. Not even a broken string. I originally bought this as a backup, but am now using it more and more as my main guitar. The strap buttons seemed solid, but, as a rule, I always install straplocks in all my guitars. Aside from carrying extra strings, I would definitely gig this thing without a backup.

Haven't had to deal with them, but since I've already changed out some of the electronics, I do beleive that the warranty is voided. Won't bother with it.

I've been playing for over 5 years and own a custom Carvin DC127T, an Epiphone AJ-18SCE acoustic electric, and a Limited edition Ovation Celebrity Deluxe (Quilted Maple top and headstock). This is by far, the guitar with the biggest bang for the buck factor I've ever owned. I would definitly buy another if los or stolen. I love the fact that it sounds completely different than my Carvin, shich is definitely more modern sounding. The Yamaha sounds and feels more like a vintage guitar.
The only thing I hate about it is that Yamaha is planning on discontinuing this model. After modifying this guitar, it sounds kind of like my friend's Les Paul Special w/ P-90's. I modified this guitar to be much brighter than it usually is. This is my preference. The only thing I wish it had are individual coil cut switches instead of the universal one ot has. It would be cool to run a neck single coil and a bridge humbucker (like on my Carvin), but hey, for $180, I got a hell of a lot more than I expected.

Made 2000, the other reviews can give you all the specifics!

I play blues, folk, country, Rock'n' Roll, and use a Fender Automatic, a Poker Combo, or a Fender Reverb. Some distortion when required (Boss). This guitar sounds great thru any amp, and, thanks to the coil tap, can give you a nice warm gison noise, or a bit of Fenderish jangle, plus a lot more in between. Good for rhythm, good for lead. I can't think of anything I dislike about it.

I bought this from a reputable online dealer, and it came with a full set up. No probs.

I have used this live and rehearse at least once a week. It's been dropped a few times, and seems hard-wearing!! Strap buttons are good, finish excellent. The only reason for back-up is for the old broken string routine.

Never dealt with them.

I have been playing for 15 plus years, and have had lots of guitars -this is the best one I ever owned in terms of variety of sound and price Vs quality. Fretboard wizards would probably tell you the neck is not fast enough, but compared to the competition at this price(Epiphone, Aria, Squier etc) you won't find anything of equivalent overall quality. I was prepared to spend much more than this on a new guitar, but frankly, I'm glad I didn't!!