Yamaha AES820

Designed in USA and built in Taiwan probably around 2000. LP-style body, 22 frets, solid top, three-way switch but also a three-way switch for humbucker, single-coil and warm sound mode so in total you have 9 basic settings. 2 Dimarzio humbuckers. I understand these were custom made for this guitar. Also the Sperzel tuners on it are special and maybe unique. Piano black, perfect finish, retrocool with high-tec features. Didn't come with a hardcase. (Why the .... not????)

I've played blues to metal for the past 23 years and with this guitar you can pretty much get 'em all. I play through a 5150 signature. No effects. Can sound like Chuck Berry's ES just as easy as James Hetfields Explorers. Single-coil mode is very different and sparkly. Warm sound mode is usefull for softer parts.

Looks good, plays good, sounds good. Not just a guitar but an instrument! Everthing is well thought-through and well built. My experience over the years is that, no matter what Yamaha makes, (from mopeds to saxophones), they make well. This guitar is above that.

Needs no backup. I don't think you can build them more dependable.

No expirience with Yamaha. Limited lifetime warranty from the factory and 2 year-warranty from the store. So there is confidence.

I first played this guitar in my local guitar shop in about 2002. Blew me away! It was a D-6 but I wanted a normal scaling. That day I bought a Fenix Telecaster (pre-lawsuit, see reviews). Still have it and beats most Fenders. However through the years the AES820 linguered in my mind and in 2006 I bought one new from a music shop through mailorder. I played it for about 2 months and then I had to sell it because I really needed the money. I sold it to a guy who wanted to learn how to play. The moment I put it on the mail I knew I was going to be sorry. And I was! For the next two years I frequently searched the internet for another but NEVER encountered one. Until december '08. I looked for Sperzel tuners to put on my Fenix and there it was...the same AES820 I sold to this guy. I immediately put a bid out and emailed him that I was the guy who sold him the guitar 2 years before. He accepted and I finally had my AES820 back. I will never sell it again, in fact, I'm going to try to buy more!!

All been covered already, blue, stock. Not big on the electronics, but I dig the tail pieces/string thru setup. I bought this guitar for a coworker who told me to keep an eye out for a good deal, and for $140 at a pawn shop I think I've never gotten so much guitar for my buck, I'm going to have a hard time handing it over.... If I was going to keep it I think I would change it to coil taps on puch-pull volume pots and the third pot would be a normal tone. I wouldn't have much use for the third setting on the as is tone pot, it's kinda like it's just there to make the other two settings sound better by comparison.

for a $140 bucks, I wish I could rate it an 11, my first electric way back was a Squire Strat I payed $250 for and after replacing the tuners and saddles it was still a plywood turd that wouldn't stay in tune, if I had bought this as my first guitar I would still be playing it 14 years later. I was playing this thru my deluxe reverb with no effects, all I can say is it sounds great, nice, full, rich except that third position on the tone knob, that sounds like that might be the "suck" setting, but hey, at least they tried something different.

action was very good for a pawn shop neglected guitar, it was missing some hardware and had some loose nuts, tightened everything, tweaked, cleaned and threw some new strings on there and this thing is full on ready for the stage or what have you. Frets are next to flawless, which is alot to say about a guitar which sees to have no been treated all that well (far share of dirt and scratches) makes me think it'll be a good player for a long time to come.

it looks typical Yamaha, rock solid, would gig with it, bet you could knock it over, drop it without doing any real damage, not that I would try.

I've been playing for 14 years, I own a pair of 81 Ibanez artists, a les paul DC (which I'm off loading cause as pretty as it is it doesn't have anything playing wise on those old artists) and a MIJ tele. Like I say, I bought this on behalf of a coworker who wants to learn how to play, and like I said, it's going to be hard to turn it over. I've always thought of Yamaha as a company that will make gear that will take any punishment and last forever, but isn't terribly inspiring (like peavey too) but I really like this guitar, I didn't want to put it down which I figure is about the best thing you can say about a guitar. nuff said.

This is an update to my previous review. I have recently had the stock pickups coil tapped, with DiMarzio 500k push/pull pots. I also had it setup for 11s.

The coil taps have opened up the tonal possibilities of this guitar far beyond what I expected from a Les Paul style guitar. I can now switch from Melvins-style rock pig to a bright, lively ska/funk tone in one easy pull, and everywhere I want to in between. I'd recommend having this mod carried out. Also, changing up to 11s makes the wood resonate more from body to headstock; this translates to a much beefier tone than with 10s.

The second hand value on Yamahas in no way relates to the actual quality of the instrument. If I could, I'd have the SA503TVL as well, but domestic line management operates a 'one in one out' policy. Maybe one day...

i have a yamaha aes 820 in gloss black and one in brown korean made .
les paul body style the cutaway is more open than a les paul so you can get pretty high up the neck without too much effort .
locking sperzel tuners
the neck is finished in satin black and is almost as fast as a unfinished birdseye maple neck , i love this feature !
custom dimarzios sound amazing !
esthetically this guitar isn't as pretty as my goldtop les paul but , it plays just as well . I use these guitars as my main guitars for playing live , you can beat the shit outta them and not worry about it .
the only thing i don't like on this guitar is the tone pots seem cheap ... the pickup switch selector is kinda weird so i will be replacing it in the future to just another tone knob .

i play mainly rock from guns n roses to ac/dc to social distortion
i use it through an engl thunder 50 w/ a line 6 pod pro , sounds amazing
sometimes a little noisy , nothing some shielding can't fix
the neck is a baritone so its really easy to pinch and squeal for your solos .
the sound is huge pure meat and potatoes sounds just as good as my les paul classic , perfect for rock
i love almost everything about this guitar for the price
to hear this guitar in action check out my friend michaels band , he is endorsed by this company and uses these guitars as his main guitars


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the action is ridiculous ! super low and fast w no buzziing ! you can get a perfect feel for this guitar in any tuning , i play in Eb and this thing sounds low ...its amazing .

this thing is built well
the finish , the whole package is great , some of the other problems with the jack i haven't experienced yet its just been great .
i bought these as my backup guitars , they seem rock solid

no worries yet

i have owned every kind of guitar you can have and been playing for 21 years and am a pro musician , these guitars kick a@# !!! for the price i tell all of my friends to get one , do not pay more than 300 bucks as the resale on these suck instead , keep it ! you seriously can't beat this guitar if you are looking for a nice guitar for the price . Esthetically , these aren't the prettiest guitar on the block but you can dress em up and not feel bad about it seeing as how cheap they are.
i will be keeping all mine !

Body - Alder - Les Paul similar shape
Neck - Maple w/Rosewood Fretboard 22 frets
2x DiMarzio custom humbuckers
2x volume , 1x 3-way tone switch for humbucker/split coil/tone rolloff
Sperzel tuning heads
Metallic Brown finish

this guitar sounds incredible in my opinion. with the 3 way tone switch, it will give you all the sounds you want, from Les Pauls to Strats. the pickups are really good for heavier styled music, such as metallica, alice in chains, guns n roses and more.
the neck is a lot larger than my good ol' ibanez, but it is surprisingly easy to play some fast lead runs on.
only complaint would be to have a push/pull pot instead of a 3-way.

the finish is a metallic brown, whick looks pretty cool, however noth the colour for everyone.
the action is set pretty low after some tweaking, and there is no fret buzz whatsoever.

the reliability is good all round, except the pickup selector. ive had mine replaced 3 times now, and i finally have a winner (i think it's another brand.
the input is also located on the back, which can cause it to come loose easily. i have installed a spring washer thing on it and it has been good.

this guitar is by far my favourite guitar out of the 3 i own. I also have an ibanez whick has been signed by Black Label Society, so i cant use it anymore. I also have an old Aria Pro 2 Straycat which i have painted in a Eddie Van Halen design.
overall, this guitar is the meat for my potatoes, and by far the best sounding guitar i have ever played.

Yamaha - AES820

With its blend of traditional single-cutaway AES styling and a radically sculpted top, the AES820 is a picture of sleek efficiency and retro-cool. And what you?ll hear is huge! - two gain-laden custom DiMarzio humbuckers dishing the hooligan filth, with a flexible rotary tone control system that will also simulate more open-voiced single-coil sounds.

If all that isn?t low-down and dirty enough, the guitar also comes as the Drop 6 AES820-D6, with a longer 666mm scale length and heavier strings enabling down-pitching to A or B without losing string tension or having to learn new tunings. Truly grunge-o-matic!

Specifications:

* Body: Alder
* Neck: Bolt-on maple
* Fingerboard: Rosewood, 350mm (13.75?) radius
* Frets: 22
* Scale length: AES820 - 629mm (24.75?); AES820-D6 - 666mm (26.25?)
* Pickups: Two custom DiMarzio humbuckers
* Controls: Two volumes, three-position tone control (standard humbucker, simulated single coil, master tone), three-way pickup selector switch
* Bridge: Tune-o-Matic type, six string anchors
* Finishes:Black-Light Brown Medium-Flat Blue

I mainly play jazz (Pass) blues (Hendrix) and rock (Muse/Radiohead) The guitar can be modified to sound comfortable in most genres. Its three position tone selector is perfect for reaching the most definable tones every guitarist needs when playing. The extent of which tones is conveniently configurable on the control panel as well.
The only thing this guitar has difficulty replicating is the twang of a single coil, which I miss. But is not a feature you expect from a H-H guitar, even a coil tapped one.
I use the guitar through a Zoom GFX8 through my PC into my Sony 5.1 Surround sound system. It sounds amazing.
This guitar doesn't produce any static noise, mainly due to there being to single coils in sight, but also due to the fnatastic quality of the wiring job under the hood.

The guitar was set up too high for me, but this was no problem correcting thanks to the tune-o-matic. The truss rod was adjusted perfectly and the pickups optimal distance from the strings, until of course I changed the action. The saddles were set for perfect tone on all strings and the finish was perfect. Wouldn't expect any less from yamaha.

This guitar looks great, totally unique. Its hardware is no exception. Each locking tuner is a different size to compensate a different tensile stress of a string. They appear very hard wearing.
The custom DiMarzio are fitted securely and adjust without wobbling all over.
Looking in the control panel, the wiring is very well soldered and looks like it could go the distance.
The only real issue is the potentiometers. The nuts have difficulty gripping the finish. This only requires swift spanner and allan key action though and you're sorted.

Yamaha support is fantastic and renound.
They still supply the product manual for this online and the product is still locatable on the custom USA guitar pages. I purchased this guitar in the UK, so the warranty should last for a year by default. But I doubt it'll ever see the light of day!

I know how a guitar should play and sound.
I chose this guitar because I wanted a guitar with the reliability in build and sound of a classic strat/tele/LP, yet unique and much more versatile. The AES820 looks fantastic, has so many strong sounds and seems like it will last forever. It is perfect for me. It will not be replaced in my collection for a long time, perhaps until I die.

2004 Korean made, gloss black, the same features as all the others. There's nothing excessive or fancy about this guitar, which is what I wanted. The stringthrough body and Sperzel locking tuners make changing strings easy and quick. I'm giving it a 9 because it has everything I want, and nothing I don't.

I'm using it currently through either a VAmp2 or a Digitech Bad Monkey, depending on the sound I'm after. I've also played it through a TSL100 at practice; it sounds great through anything. Combining the tone switch, pickup switch and volume controls I can make any sound I want: it won't sound quite like a Tele or Strat on the single coil style setting, but has its' own sound which I like. I managed to download the service docs, found the trimpot inside the jack cavity which controls the brightness of the topmost position and turned it fully clockwise, so I now have three distinct sounds available from thick through to fairly bright. The last fifth of the travel on the volume pots seems to really boost volume, which can be overpowering but is easily cured by rolling back a little. It can be noisy on the single coil setting when I'm near my monitor, so I turn around and it goes quiet. As I posted in my Antoria Rockstar review, I don't have a style, so that question doesn't apply. It sounds as good as it looks.

The first thing I changed was the factory strings- I prefer Rotosound Yellow 10s. The action was higher than I like, easily lowered with the TOM style bridge. The rest of the guitar came perfectly made, fitted and finished- with one glaring exception. Yamaha have still not rectified the known fault where the jack socket shorts out. The soldering on the jack looked like bird snot- not good, so I took it to my local luthier and had it sorted. I haven't had a problem since, but I shouldn't have had one in the first place, and it meant the guitar cost me more than it should. Poor show Yamaha.

I've seen the same model guitar being hammered on stage by the guitarist with Fleshies, and it seemed fine. The hardware is solid and probably durable. The strap buttons are a good size; I always use Grolsch straplocks ( you have to drink a couple of bottles for a set but they never let you down, heh). The finish seems enough to last, but you aren't playing the finish, if it goes it goes. I don't have a choice about a backup, which is why I bought this guitar.

Never had to deal with Yamaha. If it breaks down I'll get it fixed locally.

If it was stolen I'd claim on insurance and get another- after catching the thief and making them regret their decision.

You know the features already, so lets go to the bone:
The good: The Sperzel USA tuners are great (you dont need to rewind the string around the tuner to lock it), in conjuction with the string pass-through body it makes restringing a 6 minutes task. The tune o-matic bridge is also good, you can remove buzz easily above the 7th fret. Alder body! at this price range is a glory.
The bad: The jack connector came loose, as other ones have stated...I will have to lock it somehow. There is no tone contol :(. The neck is a bit thick for my taste, but coming from the Ibanez world everyone is.
The ugly: For the price you are paying...nothing!

OK...I know you are asking yourself: How close are these custom DiMarzio PUs to the high end ones?...The answer is: Pretty close.

I play british, 80's and heavy rock, I got a RG570 stuffed with DiMarzio Paf Pro (neck) and Evolution (bridge), so I played both guitars together clean and with distortion: the bridge PU is really close to the sound of the Paf Pro, a LITTLE bit less full/bright. The bridge PU OBVIOUSLY cannot match an Evolution but it sound more like a FRED one. All in all...good quality PUs, and definitely usable. The upgrade to top DiMarzio ones is not justified. I my particular case I will upgrade in future to EMG's 81 &60/85 as I already cover the DiMarzio tones with my RG570, if you are into heavy tones, you should consider the Zakk Wylde EMG PUs kit, or go straight for the ESP EC1000 guitar.

Now that you are happy with the PUs..the bad news: the only sounds I founded really full and soulfull are each Humbucker alone, not that I need too much variety anyway, but the single coil "emulated" position and others (activated by the rotatory switch) really darkens the quality of these PUs and in general produces muddy results. A push pull pot and circuitery like in the Ibanez JS100 is a good example of diversity of sounds using two humuckers...but this is NOT.
All in all, I think you got excellent raw stuff here, If you want more variety or a tone control, you take your chances and modify it.
The guitar is NOT noisy.

I got to say it: I promised myself 5 yrs ago never to buy Korean guitars again, but...it seems the quality has improved, and in this case, the hardware selection is also good.

The previous owner action was crap... but hey, I raise the tune o-matic bridge "with my fingers" a little bit and that was it. Action is now low, but if you are crazy about it, you are invited to look elsewhere. The frets are medium and well mounted. Nut cut, controls, etc are fine.

For live playing the guitar is great, as long as you dont touch the Sperzel string locks by mistake.

The finish looks good quality and it seems it will last.

Would you use it on a gig without a backup? If you are gigging without a backup I would advise you to buy a 20 bucks guitar on eBay just for this purpose. But if you don't, remember restringing a string is a two minutes task.

never dealt with them.

25 yrs I've been playing, I do my research carefully before buying, but this guitar has exceeded my expectations for the price paid. True it lacks some features like the tone control or more sound variety...That being said, the DiMarzio PUs are great, the hardware quality very good. Well put together instrument. I know I will trade at some point my RG570 for a RG770, and that this Yamaha will be my sidewing in this life until God takes me. I dont need more...do you?

AES820, metallic brown, two dimarzio humbuckers, volume for neck-volume for bridge-special 3 position tone switch, bolt-on neck, tunomatic, string thru, sperzels, alder body, painted maple neck, no inlay rosewood fingerboard.

Set up with 10-46 gauge. Great bridge humbucker for hard rock/alternative. I prefer the closest volume knob to my hand to be the bridge pickup, so I unsoldered and swapped the red leads to the two pots with each other. In doing so, the pickup switch became reversed, so I swapped the blue and white wires on the switch to get that back to normal. I also prefer my neck pickup to be a single coil or a humbucker split into single coil mode. The 2nd position tone switch does not truely split the coils (as well stated by Norman 11/05/02), but I did note that the black/white wires from the neck pickup were soldered to a green wire that went to the switch. As those wires are the Dimarzio 'coil-tap' wires, I simply ran a wire from the black/white/green solder connection to ground, and now my neck pickup achieves a true single coil sound. Also, as Norman stated, regarding the sound of the 3rd position on the tone switch, there is a potentiometer on the switch you can adjust with a small screwdriver. This little pot basically acts as a tone pot when you turn it. I found the pot to be delivered in the middle position. I turned it fully clockwise to get some highs back, so now that position doesn't sound as muddy as most people mention in their reviews.

I bought used on ebay, but the action was very close. I did a slight adjustment to the trus rod and bridge height to bring it to my preferences.

Very nice hardware, very nice solid construction, great paint. Overall, a very good guitar for the money.

I would not hesitate to take only this guitar to a gig.

Bought used, don't anticipate needing and support.

Very impressive guitar for the money. Plays and feels better than a USA standard Wolfgang and a Jackson SLSMG I just bought (both for a lot more money!).

Comfortable, great controls and location, great sound.

Nice new wave look to it, doesn't look like everything else.

They don't offer this model any more. I think it's better than the current AES line up, recommend getting one if you can find one.

Made in Korea....*loud gasps*...yes Korea it is. I now know that country of origin isn't the final word. In short, there is little on it and little to screw up. The tonal variations are now blown out by lack of a "real" tone control. If you play with it enough, you will find those tones. I don't like a lot of stuff on my axe. 10 it is.

I play all sorts of rock. Blues rock, alt rock, old rock, rock and roll, etc. With a nice amp, this thing kicks! Beautiful sound. The other guitarist in my band has a Les Paul, and he plays mine more at shows than I do! (Ha ha, I still can use the SG) I love how the thing sounds. It does great for both rythym and lead (but I let him have the better chunk). Straight ahead rock tone.

Feels good, plays good, it's good. I'm not too picky...

My only main complaint is that the pickup selector is very easy to trip. I could have put another in, but I just prefer to play closer to the bridge anyway.

Never had to deal with them

I have been playing for about seven years, but I have been in numerous groups and bands. I have played more guitars than anyone my age could get their hands on. I have an ear for tone. I actually used to study guitars for a long while. In short, I know what I am talking about. If you can find one, buy this guitar. Great main axe or backup. They used to sell for a LOT more than what they call for now, mostly due to a Gibson/Fender grip on the guitar market. Good axe.

You can get the specific features from other reveiws. I like the no tone knobs and the 3 way rotary tone thing with the great pickups.

I play some of everything. Mostly rockish stuff. I run it dirrectly into a Tech 21 Trademark 60, which is an amazing amp... It has no hum on the humbucker and jazzbox settings. The supposed "coil tap" setting hums a bit, especially when in a room with a tv or computer monitor on. I dont think its a real coil tap, and it doesnt really sound like a real single coil, but thats not to say it sounds bad. It sounds almost acoustic when set right. The jazzbox or whatever setting is actually really good. Roll off the volume on the guitar and it does almost sound like a semi-hollow body. The humbucker setting is just that, just the humbuckers. It sounds great. They are realitively bassy, but thats humbuckers... and my amp. I like this guitar much better than my friends gibson sg, its much less muddy and it is much more versatile. And, I only payed 300 for it, he payed 900 for his used. It distorts just as well, but has much better clean sounds. I cant stop playing it because i keep finding better and better sounds. The only thing id like more is if it was a true coil tap. It just doesnt have the single coil clarity, or something. But i like the sound it does have. So im still giving it a ten. Just dont count on it being strat or tele like.

I got it out of the box and started playing. The set up was great. Action was fine. The finish has no flaws. I like how everything is black. The 3 way rotary switch was loose when i got it, but i tightened it up, and everythings fine. Oh, one very very bad point. The input jack gets loose over a relitively short amount of time and is next to impossible to tighten. You have to take the cover off the back, which is hard as crap and kinda pops off when it comes off which is bad because then the wires connected to the input jack can pop off and then u have to solder it back on... I dont know if thats a problem for everyone, but iv done it twice now. Part of the problem is that that wires were not soldered on well to the input jack in the first place.

Playing it live is fine. The thing is built tankishly. The only problem is the input jack, which i just talked about. When its loose its horribly hard to get it to play without cutting in and out. But, as long as u make sure its tight before u play, ur fine.

No idea

Great guitar. Its one downfall is its input jack. I think i got it tight enough this time that its not gonna get loose again. Other than that, everything is great.

Two humbuckers (Dimarzio), two volume, and a prs-type 3-way rotary. Position 1 full humbucker, position 2 coil split, position 3 tone roll off. The tone roll off is selcteble via a small trim pot in the control cavity. The jack is also unique, mounted on the control cavity on the back of the guitar.

Awesome!! I'm not sure what kind of Dimarzios are in here, but they sound good. Actually, I swapped the bridge pickup for a Seymour Duncan Invader, which was no easy task, but the stock one was fine, I'm just anal. The neck pickup is perfect, warm and full sounding, great for clean chording. Even with heavy distortion, clarity remains. Think John Petrucci neck pickup lead sound. I love it. The Invader was very difficult to install, because the Dimarzio has a triangular base plate, and the Invader was square. I had to remove the base plates from both pickups, switch them, and then install the Invader. I'm happy to say it was worth it. Full, crunchy sound. Metal, rock, punk, you name it, it can be found. Also, when split, it sounds almost exactly like a strat!! I can do it all with this guitar. I'm also happy there is no tone, because I either leave it all the way on or off anyways, and I usually disconnect them. Eddie is right, it does sound better without them. With the AES 820, this was not needed, and with the mini pot inside the control cavity, you can attain and sound you need anyways, so no big thing at all.

Very good. Only a few gripes. Of course I adjusted the action, but everyone does that. Knobs, although pretty, are a little slippery. Input jack can become lose as well, and is a pain to get at because of the placement, so get that fucker tight!! Plays VERY well for the money, everything was tight when it came. Brown finish, although not the best to look at, was very well applied, and the satin finish on the neck gives it that nice smooth feel. Love it!! Almost as good as an unfinished neck in feel. Impressed with the tuners as well, not only Sperzel locking, but custom made for a straight string pull. Genius! Very well made, very impressed, especially for the price paid.

Had it for about six months, no problems, but then again I don't beat on my guitars. No problems thought, and none expected.

Never had to deal with them. =)

I have been playing for a little over three years, and I'll admit I am more into gear than my ability should allow. I spent hours in Guitar Center looking for my next axe, and I would buy this one again and again. Very well made, awesome sound, and come on, $279? Tell me you can beat that price for any guitar near this good. You CAN'T!! Awesome, love it.

I'll come back and finish this review, but for now just look at the custom locking Sperzel tuners and notice that each pair is a different size to accommodate the straight string pull. This is the beginning of one fine machine! After looking at how it should be done all other standard heads that bend the strings pulling them to the side look dated. This guitar tunes and holds it tuning better than any other guitar I have owned....OK, it's only my 3rd one...but I tuned a lot of them and this is the best set up IMOP. For $300.00 as some paid it was the deal of the year, too bad I had to hold it first and got it local. Living in Hawaii has it's downfall with shipping costs 2nd day air. Still a good deal. The neck is perfect with 9s on. It's not as pretty looking as the AES 620 that cost less so it gets an 8. Was a hard decision, but I thought the 820 was a better all around sounding gutair and the tuners beat the Grovers out and I liked the neck and frets better even though it was a bolt on neck.

Using a Fender Champ 2 tube amp and Wavestation A/D for effects for the time being...taking back the Digitech GNX1 and getting a Lexicon later on. This is a very nice sounding guitar. I have run it through a class A Gibson and would say the amp used is the final sound judgment. Pickups are very quite and strong. Sometimes wish it had a tone control, but then the sound would be colored by the tone control. There is a reason Yamaha lets you bypass the master volume, SW, and tone control and lets you plug directly into the humbuckers on the RGX 420S...it's called "PURE TONE". Ask any audiophile how bad ANYTHING in the signal loop is. So I am happy with the PU setup

Great!!!! One little flaw in the finish...that all. Nice neck!

It's a Yamaha with good hardware.

Excellent so far....questions about product were answered within 24 hours by a real person that knew the product well.

I'm a keyboard player 15 years (LOL), but needed a new toy, so looked at everything on the market under $800 and this was it. Really a nice machine and in my opinion better than the majority of Gibsons I looked at. The Washburns are nice too, but the fret radius is better on the Yam 820. Some Gibsons are just trash now compared to what is coming out of Asia now.

The Yamaha AES820 is my favorite solid body humbucking guitar.

What I like:

?Ergonomic sculpted Lester-variant shape. Less weight due to alder body composition. Through-body string anchors. Tune-o-matic style bridge. Angled output jack at body back. Two strap buttons at lower bout. Shielded pick up cavity. Chrome knobs. Flat blue finish with nice sparkle and depth

?Comfy rounded profile maple neck. Immaculate medium frets. No fretboard position markers. Straight pull headstock angled to not need string trees. Sperzel locking tuners. Solid four-bolt neck attachment

?Overall look is elegant and subdued, realizing that my perception and application are likely the antithesis of Yamaha's intended market target

?Well balanced neck weight, body weight, and overall configuration, allows balance on lap just like your favorite strat

?Two usable DiMarzio humbuckers w/ 2 volume controls and standard toggle pickup selector. Rotary tone switch for 3 different tones: humbucker, split single-coil, and configurable tone roll off. Decent switch, jack, and pots. Coil split two pick-up position has real nice stratty quack

?Internet purchase for less than $300, new, including 5 sets of flat wound strings and shipping. Also, came with 30-day trial period that I gladly let lapse

I strung it .014, .017, .022, .030, .040, .050., with flat wounds. Truss rod needed less than 1/4 turn to accomodate my favored string gauge

?Great percussive jazz sound from the neck pick up. Rocks like crazy from the bridge. Nice jangle with coil tap engaged

Intonation and setup were great out of the box. So much for the prevailing idea of impossibility of good setups from the factory. Excellent fretwork. Flawless finish

Rock solid, well built

Yamaha customer service is known for being excellent. It is dealer based like Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, etc.

What a fun guitar out of the box for low bucks!

the guitar was made in taiwan. the metallic brown looks better than it sounds. it has a black satin finish on the neck. it has a 24 3/4 gibson scale, a les paul-esque body shape, string thru tune o matic bridge, an alder bldy, sperzel tuners, and dimarzio pickups. it came with a cheap cable, a sheet with an explanation of the tone knob/switch, and why it came with an owners manual for one of their floyd rose equipped guitars is beyond me. all and all the featues described sound like they should be on a much higher priced guitar, they were enough to get me to do one thing i said i'd never do... buy a guitar online!

the dimarzios are super quiet, much quieter that my stock '78 les paul custom, even with the coils split. i play hard rock/punk though a fender showman with a tube screamer, and i normally play my les paul through the rig with all the knobs turned up on everything. while the guitar is no les paul, it definitely sounds way better than i was expecting, it sustains unbelievably well for a bolt on neck, and while not quite as full sounding, it sounds full enough at 2/3 the weight. the split coils also do a decent tele impression. the tone rolloff/sweet sound is too muddy, yamaha should have used a different capacitor. all and all, i'd say the guitar is suitable for any type of music, but some jazz, due to the lack of a true tone knob. i should also mention that i restrung the guitar with dr 11's, the stock 9's sound like caca.

the factory set up in one word sucked. it was super high with the stock 9's. i lowered the bridge, literally all the way and had to adjust the truss rod with an allen wrench that may i add was not included. the high output pickups were set at what is probably the perfect height for pickups with that kind of juice, any higher and there might have been some squealing or sustain issues. the hardware itself was flawless and tough as nails, and the finish was well executed, although the satin black neck looks a bit goofy to me.

i bought this guitar as a hopeful gigging/touring replacement for my les paul, as i'm afraid of anything happining to it, i've already had one pilfered. i'm happy to say it's built to last, and i can say that beyond staplocks and some cosmetic alterations, this guitar after a proper setup, is ready to gig. it's tough enough to last road rigors, although i would have like to have seen a volute behind the headstock. i don't bring backups to gigs and i won't need one, while i won't be recording with it, it is totally suitable for live playing.

the yamaha website is weak, that's why i go to sites like this. musicians friend, i'm 50/50 with, they carry things that i can seemingly only get through them (12 guage speaker cable in 6 foot lenghts, spectreflex, raw speakers...), but the only time i've gotten friendly human service is at thier clearnance center in k.c., and their returns department, their sales people that i've been in contact with are morons.

i've been playing guitar half my life, and touring almost non stop for almost 5 years. i'm very impressed in general, although if i would have known initially that the guitar was built in a country without sweatshop regulations i probably wouldn't have bought it, but the quality is such that i am keeping it. i like the fact that is essentially a les paul on a diet, and for live situations, it is absolutely perfect. i'd recommend it to anyone low on cash who wants a great guitar, or for people like me who want to make sure the les paul stays around to be willed to future generations. this guitar would have been a 10 if i knew it were made in a non sweatshop environment.

good neck, great dimarzio hummers. Tone nob replaced with a tone selector, kind of cool, but would rather a regular tone nob, or maybe even two. For the anal retentive, the volume nobs are a bit slippery. I really like the feel of the neck in this guitar.

good sound, but the heavy tone selection can get a tad muddy, but if you cool the guitar's volume it works. Pickups are very nice on this guitar and produces good sustain. The neck allows for quick and deft playing. Sounds equally magnificent clean or pumped with a TS9.

set up was nice, I think the strings were 9s which will have to go but other than that good. I loved the finish of the guitar. It is a modern day version of the LP, and none of the pictures do it justice. I had the blue one and my favorite part was that it didn't show any finger prints. Beautiful guitar that doesn't get smudgy!

Also a light guitar relative to any other LP's

The input jack is found in the actual back of the guitar which was strange. At first it seemed cool, but it makes wrapping the cable around your strap ackward. Yet I still haven't made up my mind because it may hold without wrapping around. The bad part is that the input jack kind of shorts out and seems to be a quick fix, but became a problem within a week of receiving the guitar, and no one wants to take the ax to the shop a week after buying it.

Please note that in this section I am rating Musician's Friend and not Yamaha.

This guitar came to me damaged yet I took full advantage of the 45 day guarrantee and played it hard to see if I wanted to exchange or just get something else. The customer rep that I talked to was an ass and for that reason decided to get my refund. I will not give a number to rate this section, because I don't want to bring the avg down because I got pissed at musician's friend.

This is the part where I say how cool I am and how you need to listen to what I have to say. irrelevant. The bottom line is this is a great guitar, if delivered without damage. I would have to say that this is THE best guitar you will find under 300 bones. The tone, neck, playability, and quality is first class. I am sure that the short on the input is easily fixed, and maybe you could fix it yourself for those ejumicated folk, I on the other hand would solder my hand to the guitar.

Check Ebay you maybe able to get this new for less than I paid.

AES 820 Flat Blue. The flat blue is really more of a metallic blue. Body shape and finish are first rate. The Dimarzio pickups are very good. Sperzel Locking tuners are fanatastic. Ths neck is thick but very fast. Straight thru neck and tune-a-matic bridge.

The AES820 looks somewhat like a futuristic Les Paul. This is by far the best production model guitar I have ever owned. Unless your willing to pay big bucks for a custom shop guitar, this is as good as it gets. I also had to problem with the input jack loosening, a drop of loctite took care of that, otherwise its perfect. This guitar has great tone and is suitable for many styles of music.

The fit and finish of this guitar is flawless. Set up was fine, no adjustments were needed.

I only play at home for my own enjoyment, but this guitar is well made and I will probably keep it for quiet some time.

I have a lot of yamaha products. IMO, they know music and thay know quality. I have never had a yamaha product that I was dissatisfied with.

I love the sound and the look of this guitar. It looks and feel like a quality musical instrument. If it were lost, I would immediately order another one just like it. My set up is a Boss V Wah, Yamaha MagicStomp, Adrenalin II, Korg PXR4, And Randall RG200.

Dual humbucking design, through body stringing. Les Paul style, but this guitar has an individual shape. 3 way pickup selector, 2 volume and one rotary control that switches between humbucking/sc mode and a "presetable" tone rolloff. Locking tuners. Full details on www.yamaha.com

I play heavy rock music, but like to keep my sound short of saturated distortion. This guitar has a huge sound, you get a lot of clarity from all the strings rather than mush that a lot of guitars kick out. Rolling the volume back cleans up the guitar very sweetly. The single coil mode sounds great too, especially if you're after balancing on the just-breaking-up sound. I have been playing this through a Marshal SLX

Great out of the box. I lowered the bridge slightly but thats all. It has a very fast fat neck - there were no raised fret problems at all. The machining on this guitar is fantastic, best i have seen on a mass production instrument

Its a bombproof construction. BUT... there is a problem with the rear reccessed jack socket - its a great design but the cavity is very small and packed with electronics. If the nut holding the jack socket comes lose and rotates, the terminals can ground out if they touch other components inside, so the guitar can cut in and out. The newer 620 doesn't have this feature, maybe its been a common problem? This is the reason I would have to take a backup. Everything else is tougher than old boots and you can change a string in less than a minute!

Nover had to deal with them

I have been playing for 15 years and hovering between pro and semi pro for the last 10. This is the best guitar I have ever owned. If you need the label or somethig to hang on the wall then buy a Les Paul, if you want something to do the job ad more then you should check this one out. The design flaw with the jack socket is fixable. Some people have complained about the rotary coil tap/ tone control, but if yu don't like it, just replace it with a standard tone control! A dimarzio one will cost abouyt #5.00 and they do a push/pull so you can coil tap if needs be. Me, I'll just leave it as is.
Even though its non trem, the locking tuners make a hell of a difference, its tuning is predictable and very solid.
All round excellent

Standard Les Paul type guitar w/ Dimarzio pickups. Very nice, adjustable bridge, locking tuners and overall high quality equipment. I do have a gripe about the 3-setting tone knob. It's very limited. Yamaha should have included a push/pull pot to get a single-coil sound instead of using the 3 way tone approach.

Great sounding guitar! Plenty of spank and sparkle when clean, great blues tones, and absolutely crushing for any heavy-lifting. I have no complaints about the way the guitar sounds. It can be a little noisy when using the "single-coil" setting on the tone control while using a higher gain setting.

Action was wicked-high when it arrived. But the neck and bridge adjust easy enough. Pickups are a little low but sound fine and have plenty of power where they are. The only problem I've had is with the 3-way switch. It broke on the first day of use. Inpection of switch revealed a cheap plastic unit that doesn't belong on a quality guitar. I replaced it with a higher quality unit.

Everything is great except the previously mentioned 3-way switch. the Guitar loves to be played and is of very high quality.

Yamaha customer support is great. They're knowledgable and will really try to help.

For the price, an absolute winner!

The reason I'm knocking a point or two off features, is the lack of a true tone control. The 3-way rotary is actually kinda cool (though I have no need for the "mud" setting as I call it), but if you're like most guitarists, every now and then you just want to roll a little bit of treble off; can't do that with this guitar. Still, the features are super nice: Dimarzio humbuckers that SMOKE; Sperzel locking tuners with straight string-pull; excellent attention to detail; rececessed cord plug hole in the back of the guitar; nice feeling neck with meaty frets.

Great for rock. Pickups clean up okay, but are really meant for hard-driving rock 'n roll in my opinion. The definition with high-gain is pretty good. Good sounding axe. (playing through a Peavey Delta Blues 210, with a Marshall Guv'nor pedal)

Excellent right out of the box. Needed minor neck adjustment.

Who knows?

Never had to deal with them.

Excellent, gig-worthy guitar. Wish it was a set-neck, but this is one nice humbucker-equipped guitar!

This is for MoonWalkers problem with the noise when touching the toggle/pickup selector.

It grounding problem. I've encountered this annoying problem many times and it has always been #1 a cold solder that came loose, #2 they never grounded everything properly and just sent it out the door or #3 the volume pots. Pots(vol/tone), pickups, and switches all need to be grounded. The problem is you gotta know what you're looking for and sometimes its frustrating because it could be any where inside the wiring. The most logical place to check is the selector switch.

Made in Japan as all Yamaha guitars are. I believe my model is a 2002. I have the regular (not drop 6) version in black. 22 frets solid mohagany body - I believe the neck is maple with rosewood fretboard but I'm not sure. Lots of tone controls - a pickup switch selects either bridge, neck or both, then it has a 3 way knob that has a single coil tone (my favorite), full humbucker, and a third that is customizable with a dial inside the body but defaults to a somewhat dark jazzy tone. Tune-O-Matic bridge that's extremely easy to set up. Yamaha says the neck is "massive", however I wouldn't describe it that way. It feels like a les-paul neck to me. I have small hands and it's very comfortable. Also the neck has a satin finish which is very fast. Comes with Dimarzio pick-ups, but mine has been upgraded with higher-end dimarzios so I don't know what the stock sound like. Sperzel locking tuners that are custom made for the guitar so that the string pull is completely straight. Unique input jack in the back that stays out of the way. Lots of thought went into the design of this guitar and it shows in all areas.

I like to play somewhat mellow sounding music when I jam by myself, just sort of improvising and using a lot of open strings in the chords - usually play without distortion and a heavy chorus effect. I've tried this with distortion though and the sound impressed me. I love the rich sound of this guitar - every string comes though clearly. I can't comment on the stock pickups, but I can say that this is about as versatile as a solid body can get without sticking on a piezo.

I bought this guitar used so I don't know how the factory set-up is, but this guitar is very easy to set-up. The prior owner had the action extremely low and the 5th and 6th strings would buzz. I simply raised that end of the bridge a bit and the buzz went away. The action is now still very low (the way I like it). The pick-ups were raised very close to the stings, and although it sounded great, the guitar was having brief fits of static here and there. I lowered the pickups down and the problem seems to have gone away. I hope this isn't a wiring problem that will re-surface. As far as the workmanship, I'm very impressed. The neck especially is flawless. Everything else looks just right and brand-new, and this is a used guitar. Bottom line is this guitar is very easy even for a noob to set up the way they want it. My friend has a gibson SG and overall I think this Yamaha surpasses it in quality, plus I paid half as much for it.

I'm not sure how to rate this since I haven't had the guitar very long, but I can say that everything on it still looks brand new even though it's over a year old. The prior owner may have had it in a case and never played it though for all I know. It seems to be of very high quality, as I mentioned above, but only time will tell... My gigging days are over but I would never go without some kind of backup... you never know what can happen!

Never dealt with Yamaha. Their website isn't very informative though.

I've never owned a very high quality guitar. A couple Ibanez and a Kramer, all korean made. Bass was my instrument and I've had a couple of really nice basses - stuck with a nice Japan made Ibanez with EMG pickups that I love. This guitar really impressed me the moment I laid eyes on it. The attention to detail and love that went into designing this guitar is really evident. I decided to sell all my crappy instruments and get one nice guitar, and finally picked this one due to it's unique tone set up and all the features it had (and the great deal I got on it). If you've got your eye on this guitar, I can safely say that you won't be disappointed.

The model i have is the AES820D6 (drop 6 version). Just go to yamaha's site, or look at the previous review's list.

I just started learning to play the guitar, so I can't really comment on the sound, tone, etc. All I can say is that I like it. I am currently using a Ibanez TS-9 w/808 mod (heard it's good, and I had money to burn) --> Marshall 30DFX.

Everything was almost perfect. There's a problem with my pickup selector. It seems to have a lot of static when I touch it or switch to a dirrent pickup. I have yet to fix this problem (as I don't know how to do it). Other than that, everything is excellent. Also, big points on the style (it was the reason I bought it). Looks VERY stylish; has that retro-modern look to it. I have the Light Metallic Brown and it looks great with the neck. Yamaha's picture on their site is misleading (it shows that the neck is black, but it's really brown), it's not a regular AES820but part of Yamaha's signature series for some guy. I would have given a perfect 10, but -1 for the noisy pickup selector defect on mine.

The guitar seems to be very durable. I'm not sure how long my noisy selector will last though. The finish seems to be good enough to last a long time. Strap buttons appear to be very solid. I think I could depend on it. I would use it on a gig without a backup (only cause I can't afford another guitar after getting this one.

Haven't contacted Yamaha before, and I probably won't (cause I'm lazy).

I've only been playing for a couple of months. This is the only guitar I have (but I will buy another one soon). I just wish I bought it somewhere online cheaper. If it were stolen, I wouldn't be able to afford another one. I would probably buy another guitar off ebay or something. The thing I love about this guitar the most is its looks. I was comparing this guitar to an ESP F-200, I got this guitar because I couldn't find an F-200 here. I wish it had a whammy bar and a tone selector. Otherwise, I'm loving this guitar!

Two dimarzio humbucker equipped solid alder body, nice and thick, but not gigantic, comfortable maple neck. Strings pass straight thru nut to sperzel locking tuners with no bend east to west. String thru body, great padded gig bag. Two volumes, but no traditional tone knob. Instead it has a three position knob that gives you humbucker tone, single coil emulation, which sounds pretty good actually, and jazzbox sort of tone killed type sound. One point off for no actual tone knob.

My musical style is varied from rockabilly classics to c&w to classic rock to modern high gain stuff. Use 2 boogie amps, all different kinds of stomp boxes, not noisy at all in hum mode. In single coil emulation, a little hum. Sound clean is great, with distortion its super. Really made for hard rock, I would say. I don't understand the tone-killed jazz setting on this guitar.

Set up was great when I got it used. No flaws at all in construction. Best Yamaha I have seen, played, owned or heard. Well made and designed well.

Defieitely solid. No problem beating some sense into a drummer with this ax. The alder body is a little soft, tho, so there are a coupla dings on the front, probably from drummer teeth or somesuch.

Don't know.

I have many guitars, many amps. I got this one cause I like big necks, and this one is a beaut. I probably wont keep it, cause I like to fine tune the tone with the tone knob. You know, turn the treble all the way up and back off a little sometimes. Sound of the dimarzios is great, they make great pickups, the locking sperzels are just the best tuners. Light guitar on the shoulder, cool blue paint. Great gig bag. Almost a 10 overall, but no, a 9 in the end.

This guitar is of a Les Paul shape and scale, no vibrato bar, either. On the other hand, it doesn?t weigh quite as much and has through-the-body string anchors. It has two humbuckers and volume controls, the standard toggle and a rotary switch for three different tones: humbucker, simulated single-coil and a configurable tone (stay tuned for details on this). Mine is "flat blue", which has a kind of sparkle and depth to it - the images on the net and in magazines do no justice to this color.
The chrome knobs have no position indicator or numbers - pure elegance, just like the lacking fretboard markers. The Sperzel locking tuners are matte silver. Chrome would have suited the guitar a bit better, matching the other hardware, but as it is, it goes well with the blue.
I like the angled jack at the back, though I always have to get the cord out of the way when putting on the strap. You nu-metallers won?t be having this problem, you?ll be using the upper pin instead (there?s two to chose from) to hang the guitar lower than I do.
The strings that came with are a .009 - .042 set, I will be changing to .010 - .046. The neck is thick and incredibly smooth for non-stick playability. The bridge is Tune-O-Matic style.
The manual is a generic booklet covering all types of bridges, pickups etc. and the adjustments they might need. Useful, but not pretty. Yamaha, please send me a nice AES 820 owner manual with color pictures. The only dedicated document is a separate sheet with a sketch of the guitar, revealing not much more than the names of the three tone positions of the rotary switch.

I respect this guitar for it's really good clean sound, though I play just as much with distortion. Clean, the bridge pickup sounds a bit nasal, but I use the neck or combined pickups in this case anyway. Distorted the bridge pickup is quite smooth.
Here the details on the single coil simulation: it's the second tone position of the rotary tone-switch, the first being plain humbucker. Yamaha claims they don't split the coils, but just use a dedicated RC (resistor / capacitor) circuit. A British guitar mag states that Yamaha removes the tone (i. e. harmonics) completely from just one half of the humbuckers (implying a tap) and the hum thus still gets cancelled (being of a low frequency). In any case, this is one of the highlights of this guitar. As it comes from the factory, the third tone position won't be of interest to you nu-metallers, but is good for jazz chords. Then again you can actually configure the tone of this position with an inside pot - a hidden feature of the guitar. So we have three separate RC circuits here.
A guitar mag wrote that both pickups have a very high DC resistance (12k and 18k), thus reasoning that they have a high output but also high impedance, which would imply an attenuation of higher harmonics - both they and I can confirm that this is not the case.

The plastic nut is OK. Intonation was almost perfect. The shielding inside the pickup cavity looked OK and seemed to be grounded correctly. Frets are fine.
Gripe 1: Both pickups were originally too far from the strings by any standards. Raising them with the screws was partly successful, but now they were not straight anymore and also wobbly. Turns out the foam they rest on is not only not thick enough, but deformed as well. I have already helped myself by placing a few layers of thin foam underneath.
Gripe 2: As delivered, the strings had been locked in the tuners with no slack at all. After a few (too many?) detunement operations (for adjusting truss rod and bridge) three strings snapped right at the tuners while detuning. I gave the new ones about 1 or 2 cm slack before locking the strings, have been OK since. ShouId they snap again, at least I can still re-use them.
I had to undo the truss rod and bridge adjustments the dealer made when I complained about fret buzzing in the store, he was not a gifted guitar tech. Now I have the neck and action as well as pickups set up just right for me.

The switches and pots seem to be of very good quality, practically all lower priced guitars disappoint me in this area. Pretty solid guitar. The bridge seems a bit more fragile than others of this style. I am also I bit wary of where the strings get a sharp change in direction at the ferrules (those shiny long pieces of metal the strings come out of before going to the bridge). No problems so far in the three weeks I own it.

Called them once here in Germany, about the pickup height problem. Very friendly and willing to help. Recommended putting some more foam underneath. Confirmed the existence of the inside tone-pot. Read me a statement from Japan explaining that the single coil simulation is done with a dedicated capacitor, not a split.

Finally a good looking guitar with a design that doesn't say "don't I look like a '55 so-and-so", though reminding of a Les Paul. It is a bit top-heavy, no big deal, though. I like the blue more every day, though I'm sure the black one is pretty cool, too.
I am more than pleased with the range of sounds I can get using the three RC circuits and haven't even experimented with the "hidden feature" (inside pot) yet. I was able to fix all the gripes I had (strings breaking at the tuners, wobbly pickups).
Try it out. You will be comparing it to different guitars than I did, but for me the combination of design, solid build and quality, three tone circuits, no-hum single coil simulation, good clean and distorted sounds and very playable neck won me over. Great value for the money, too.

This is a dark blue guitar, bolt-on maple neck with rosewood fretboard, dual passive DiMarzio humbuckers, locking tuners, alder body, tune-o-matic bridge with strings-thru-body tailpiece, chrome metal knobs. Body is highly sculpted and feels great (no edges to bother your arms). The neck and frets feel absolutely excellent. Neck is very very solid feeling. Headstock design pulls strings straight to locking tuners without any sideways pull on strings.

The sound and feel of the AES820 is definitely excellent for hard progressive rock.

I had to change the stings out from a 09 to a 10 ~ 46 set, otherwise setup fine.

No one could possibly argue that this is a flimsy guitar, not by any stretch of the imagination. This machine was designed to play and work hard. The neck attachment is just a killer, *way* ahead of a Strat or other typical bolt-on neck.

I have not dealt with Yamaha customer support.

I also own a 1973 Stratocaster (USA) and a 1974 Telecaster (USA), both hand-me-downs from my older brother. I have been playing for 10 years now. I have been in the market for a Les Paul type of guitar, tho not a Gibson as they tend to be rather expensive. So I have been looking for some time now at Epiphone, Fender, ESP, Ibanez, Yamaha for a 2 humbucker type of guitar and have generally liked what I've seen, but then I came upon this new model AES820 Yamaha at Mars Music and it was just way too good to pass up. I also have noticed some recent new ESP guitars somewhat similar to the AES820 but not quite like this.