Yamaha AEX-502

No need to say too much here. A simply laid out guitar, with single volume and tone control. Does anyone out there use the separate tone controls on a Les Paul? Maybe - but I don't so this is fine for me. Two P90's (more of them later) nice figures top in orange - goes well with the guitar. Sort of hollow body in that the cavity is routed. Maybe that's why this guitar is no longer made - the tree huggers would have a siezure at all the wood being wasted! Mind that saved a bit by the scarfed on neck joint. Mind, there are plently of Les Pauls out there with the same! Good quality tuners and hardware. Pots feel cheap but work well. This was a budget guitar so maybe that's were a cost saving was made. Overall, a standard guitar with enough of what you need and nothing you don't.

So we now get back to those P90's. As already mentioned in another review the difference in this guitar played accoustically and plugged in is nothing short of amazing. Fairly lifeless accousticaly - the cavity doesn't seem to do much - but that all changes when you plug in. A full rich sound - humbuckery and high output - easy to overdrive. I use an old Fenton Weill valve combo and a Vox Pathfinder R practice amp and with both these amps the guitar sounds wonderful. Would love to plug it into something bigger. Very sensitive to how you play it and pick attack. Get the overdrive up and you have 'Money for Nothing' with great harmonics effortlessly. Turn down the gain and it's sweet blues as well. Very versatile - apart from the out of phase Strat sound, this guitar would cover everything well.

Got this second hand but it had hardly been played and had been used for slide so action was a bit high. Relief was a bit high so a quick tweak on the truss rod and now it's perfect. Fit and finish is perfect - the neck is bolt on but the joint is one of the very best I've seen. Frets are seated well at the edges. Could go on. Let's just say typical Yamaha and Japanese construction thou this was made in Taiwan. They must have god machinery and well trained bods. Seen some Gibsons and a truck full of Fenders that this would put to shame.

Don't gig, but if I did this would be fine. Protect it in a good case and I don't see any reason why this wouldn't be a good workhorse. Gold plating rubbing off at the bridge but so what? Bit of vibe and anyway this is a cheap guitar, right?
Would, thinking about it probably replace the strap buttons - they're the standard type - adequate but something better would be good for live use. Only minor gripe is the plastic bracket that mounts the input jack socket. It would be better in metal as a sharp pull on the lead sideways (whilst your mate is standing on the lead for instance) would break it. Easy enough to get one made.

Gig without a backup? Is any guitar that reliable? More of a personal question as to how much risk you want to take looking like an idiot in front of your mates when a tuner breaks for no reason or a wire comes off the jack socket.....(err...umm, we're taking a break now. Oh - is there anyone in the audience with a soldering iron on them?)

Never dealt with them.

Been playing thirty odd years. Had more guitars then I can remember (probably). Play blues and a lot of the old classics (Dire straights at the moment - saves on the picks).

If lost of stolen (tell me - has anyone out there ever 'lost' a guitar? Ohhh, now I had it five minutes ago, now where did I put it?)I would go searching on ebay to get another. They are getting increasingly rare and the price seems to be going up - last one I saw went for ??200 -which is still abargain.

After having it for a couple of months, I???ll chime in with my thoughts on this guitar. It???s a semi hollow Les Paul style, P90 guitar as described in other reviews.

As far as features... well it has a tone knob and a volume knob. Very easy to use and much more versatile than you would expect.

The factory electronics that were in the guitar were pretty bad. Not as bad let???s say as Ibanez components but bad enough that they should be changed if you want to get the most out of this guitar. Besides, it???s a cheap upgrade since it only has one volume control, one tone control and one cap to change. After the upgrade, you get a whole palatte of tone to choose from. Heads up, if you do decide to upgrade the pots, be aware that the volume is 500k and the tone pot is 250k. The P90 pups on the other hand, are fantastic and I see no need to change them for something ???better???. They seem to bloom when picked hard in a solo. Very nice P90s. The factory bridge, tailpiece and tuners are all ok. I guess you could go for some nicer tuners if you wanted but the factory ones keep it in tune well.

What I found strangest about this guitar was the enormous difference between how it sounds unplugged and hooked up into an amp. If you play it unplugged, it sounds dead and lifeless, without any of that characteristic ???wood??? sound semihollows are famous for. Even when strung up with 11s, it???s very quiet unplugged, almost like a solidbody. However, when you do plug the sucker in, EVERYTHING changes. This little guitar has ALL the tone you could wish for. It truly is a beautiful sounding axe. Terrific for Blues and Classic Rock.

I play it through a Dr. Z Carmen Ghia head with a 2x12 cab. The P90s are strong and will easily push the amp. I found it to be a bit noisy but that's natural for P90s. I did go ahead and use copper tape in the pup cavities and that helps a lot. I'd give it a solid 7 before the copper tape but it's a high 9 now!

I really don???t know how it???s made. When checking it out through the F holes, I can???t find any hint of a union between the sides, back and centerpiece. Maybe they just took a block of Alder and routed it out? If not, then I have to admit it???s very well assembled.

The guitar was used when I bought it and although it looked to be in perfect shape, the neck screws had been stripped. I don???t know if this was due to the neck wood being poor quality or over enthusiastic tightening by a previous owner. Anyway, I repaired it and it???s held up perfectly since. The screws haven???t loosened at all.

The finish is very nice. It's thin but should hold up well. Mine still looks like it just came out of the box.

I don't know how long it will last but it seems rugged enough. Time will tell though and I'm not sure about the neck screw issue. I'll never know if it was a factory problem or previous owner issue.

After the work I did... yeah, I would depend on it.

I wouldn???t know if Yamaha offers good customer support, since I???ve never had the chance to try it out. I can say though that it???s almost impossible to find information about this guitar on the Internet and Yamaha???s site is no big help. At least they answer Email.

I love this guitar! It???s not that easy to come by a semihollow with P90s and especially in this price range. The neck is comfortable, everything works (after I did work on it) and the sound! The sound is the best part. I???ve been playing a little over three years. I don???t have a lot of experience but can now separate the good ones from the bad ones. I???m VERY happy I bought this and if lost, I would try to replace it right away.

Now I???m curious about the AEX520, that was the same as the 502 but instead of P90s, it has minihumbuckers. If I can find one, I???ll buy it.

I'm giving it a 9 because as I mentioned, I love this guitar. Looking at the woods used and sum of the parts, I wouldn't have expected this little guitar to sound that good, but it does.

Not sure when it was made. This guitar is nothing short of amazing. Went to Guitar Center to get a new keyboard for the wife and this was sitting there. I have never played any guitar with p-90's in my 30+ plus of playing. I had just bought a Crate Palamino V-32 amp from there. Sold my Messa Boggie to get the amp..that amp is awesome. My wife walks over and just said WHOA!!!!

I play high gain, low blues Praise/worship music.. I have a Keely tube screamer and a Keely Blues driver and a chourus pedal. The sound on this thing is full. Manager @ guitar center was sitting there, was playing thru a old Marshall half stack with a old Fender reverb unit playing a Eric Johnson Strat..Sounded ok. I told him to play this and handed him the AEX-502.. He sat there with his mouth open...TONE Tone tone.. The volume/tone pots are being replaced today, cheap

No rust etc Mine is the 'Gretch Orange finish' gold hardware,pichup selector a lil noisy

Looks like she will hold her own, I baby my stuff anyways, Id gig with a backup

N/a

These are hard to find, selling my beloved Fender Big Apple, Id love to get 1 if lost/stolen, cant wait to put it in a live situation

late 90's, discontinued model, single cutway semi-hollow w/2 f-holes. 22 frets, 2 p90 pickups. not sure about the woods, other reviews have covered that. standard 3-way pickup selector, one vol, one tone. gloss black finish. maple neck w/rosewood boar w/a matching black headstock. gold hardware looks like gotoh. previous owner put graphtech graphite saddles on the tuneomatic bridge. very basic 2-pickup guitar. features are not the point of this guitar - sound is!

This is a blues machine first and foremost. the p90s let you cover everything from sultry to raunchy, clean to gain with no problem. as other reviewers note, these p90s are exceptionally good at reading your pick attack and you can get almost unlimited feel by varying the attack and pick thickness. harmonics fly out with a little gain. unusually for asian p90 guitars, yamaha actually mounted the pickups correctly - the bridge pickup is close enought to the strings to get the right bark. the neck pickup is appropriately a little lower. pretty well balanced, but I tend to drop the volume off a little more on the neck. very effective tone control from smooth-dark to fairly bright (not strat bright, but brighter than humbuckers). The guitar has a nice resonance with a bit less hollowbody effect perhaps because of the small (for a hollowbody) body size. the only thing making this a 9 is the normal single-coil hum. a good hum-cancelling p90 (is that an oxymoron?) would make it a 10 no sweat. this guitar sounds fantastic. at the price you can get these, it's a total steal. I prefer playing this to my 335 if that's any indication.

bought used so anyone's guess on factory setup. everything is good quality so setup is easy to tweak - action, intonation, relief. Only took a few minutes to make this a great player. The neck has a great feel. I'm not sure why others have criticized it. It's medium c shape with a fairly flat radius board. Great for lead work and just fine for chording. my only ding is that the neck joins the body at fret 16 and teh neck shape goes full at 15 - that coupled with the single cut design makes access to the top few frets more work than on other guitars. forget high-register pyrotechnics on this one. All of the hardware is very good quality. the gold finish is still perfect, the tuners are very smooth and effective, the nut was cut perfectly (rare!). NOW HERE'S THE BIG THING - OTHER REVIEWERS HAVE COMPLAINED ABOUT LACK OF SUSTAIN. THIS GUITAR SUSTAINS BEAUTIFULLY. IF YOURS DOESN'T, 1) GET A PHILIPS SCREWDRIVER AND TIGHTEN THE NECK MOUNTING SCREWS (HUGE IMPROVEMENT IF THEY AREN'T TOTALLY TIGHT), 2) IF YOU ARE MORE DARING, REPLACE THE NECK MOUNTING SCREWS WITH THE NEXT HIGHER SCREW GAUGE AND TIGHTEN UP GOOD, 3) IF THAT'S NOT ENOUGH (!), GET A TONEPROS LOCKING BRIDGE AND TAILPIECE (FANTASTIC). YOUR GUITAR WILL BE RINGING LIKE A BELL.

Had Yamaha gear before and it is solid. Expect the same here.

discontinued. what support?

playing a long time. have and have had lots of great gear. this guitar is a regular gig axe, so cheap I don't worry about a ding or two. sounds as good or better than anything I've owned including strats, teles, 335s (never liked les pauls, too heavy and muddy). use through rivera and fuchs tube amps and a crate powerblock with effects rack (put a bbe in your powerblock loop!). The sound of this guitar is very seductive, the hours just melt away. I believe this will be a long-term keeper. I'm not swayed by logos or price paid. in fact, the biggest kick I get is getting an inexpensive axe that totally rocks. this is one of those. highly recommended!

Cheap well made P-90 Semi hollow body. Body is somewhat bigger than a Les Paul. Very lightweight. I've reviewed this model before (4/2003) but I bought another and it's time for an update.

The neck is thin with a wide fretboard and a flat radius. This does take some getting used to for us Fender players. But in return, you get great chording and fingerpicking possibilities.

This is a blues, blues rock or indie music. The only thing I have to say is ....... P-90s baby! No effects needed. It even sounds good through a solid state practice amp.

Here is why I wanted to write another review on the AEX502. I just bought a black one on eBay because the BUY IT NOW price was $220! This guitar was in new condition and the action, fit and finish were outstanding. The frets were smooth, the paint is masterfully applied, the neck is lightly finished and everything works just fine. The screws/neck bolts are a little corroded but it IS a 10+ year old guitar.

A quality instrument. I'm keeping this one home because I don't want anything to happen to it. I have a tele for playing out.

Never tried.

25+ years on and off. I play a telecaster through various tube amps and have a Les Paul with humbucker sized P-90s. I sold my strats because I kept hitting the pickup toggle switch and volume knob while playing with enthusiasm. The tele toggle and volume knobs have rubber bands wrapped around them to prevent this annoying habit of mine.
I like the sound and placement of the controls. I also like the idea that I can bolt on another neck if so inclined.

Two P90s, semi-hollow body w/ f-holes, gold hardware. Mine is a tobacco sunburst.
Not features galore, just features for getting particular tones.

Very full sound. Bright but not ice-picky (talkng about the bridge pup, here). Separate vol./tone controls or each pup might be nice, bu then the simplicity is compromised.
Lots of different sounds are possible from this guitar: One can play Benson-style jazz, all kinds of blues, country, and Rolling Stones-type rock.

I might not be the most reliable source on this one: I know there are guys who take microscopes to the details. I don't. This guitar, to me, even though not an expensive boutique guitar, is extremely well designed and built.

This is a discontinued model, Even so, if my experience is representative, these instruments have definitely withstood the test of time.

If you have a chance to buy one of these, I really think you should. I might have, on pape, at least, paid a little too much for mine, butI still feel that I got a bargain.

Two P90 pickups (?pups? are cute little baby doggies!), Tobacco sunburst, Alder ?F? hole body, Maple neck, Rosewood fingerboard, Strings and frets plus twisty things and dots. No bells and whistles, no weird whammys, no pointy bits, safe for children (has CE mark under the lacquer on the back) for our American friends this CE symbol is a unifying safety standard for Europe and not a religious thing))! Damn those European laws, I can understand soft toys and small plastic things needing to pass childproof tests, but electric guitars??? Mind you, some musicians need to be kept away from sharp bits, b flat brothers and sisters?Gods key!

Wow! What can I say? I played it through a Roland cube 30 at the shop and was asked to turn it down!!!! It was astounding. I played a Gibson ES135 with P90?s and it was the watermark to which I compared this Yammie to, the Gibson neck was better as the Yammies fingerboard is very flat but the sound is soooo close! I took the Yam home and plugged into my Fender champ 12 (another excellent instrument) and the guitar was pushing the clean channel thru? input 1 into overdrive, able to control clean-crunch-distortion with the volume pot on the guitar, the hum is a bit intrusive so over to input 2 for a more sedate voyage. The neck pickup is a thing of beauty, aural sex if you like, set the dial for blues solo and never look back, drop a gear for blues rhythm by selecting both pickups and you are there. Mix it up for clean and you can wander through mellow jazz, jangle and jive. Punks up a treat too.

As this Jim Yam was languishing in the back of the music shop all dusty sad and unloved it needed some TLC, it still had its plastic film on the gold bridge/stop bar, not bad for something discontinued in 2000. New strings, polish the frets, set the action and intonation and orft I jolly well go! As mentioned earlier the fingerboard radius is quite flat which exacerbates the sharpness of its edge (that?s why it has a CE mark!), I?m sure it can be addressed but I?ve got used to it. It balances well on the strap or knee and its not heavee. The fit is tight, they make motorcycles y?know, and the finish is always at the end.

Pickup selector is loose, needs another washer to secure, volume and tone is ok, may need better quality for gigging. Scientific tests show us that if you drop an electric guitar from a moving vehicle it will bend, break and blemish?
Blemish it will in the school of Hard Rocks, the top of the body is thin around the ?F? holes, which will break if pushed hard, but bend those notes and all is smooth?

If this Jammie Yammie breaks and I cannot get another I will need some sort of support as I will be deeply pissed off. G.A. ? Guitaraholics Anonymous.
?Hi, my names Slinger Axe-hero and I dropped my geetar from the window of the tour bus and now I?m all alone.. Waah!? If we bend will we not break and blemish??

Nothing is perfect, but sometimes things get very close. Of all the guitars I have had/owned I?d say this plus valve amp is the closest to perfection! It equates itself very well at all styles and with a great natural sound to start with, you just cannot go wrong. In fact don?t buy one, leave them in the shops for the muso?s with the savvy.

Japanese.
2 P90 style dogear pickups.
3 way switch for neck, bridge, and neck + bridge pickups
Semi acoustic counstruction.
Bolt-on neck.
Brass Tune-O-matic bridge.
22 frets. Black lacquer finish.
Single cut. 1 Volume and 1 tone pot.

A strong sound. Tone and volume controls work really well, even at low volumes. Play it with a danelectro nifty fifty amp. Boss parametric equaliser, digitech chorus, boss compressor, and a wah-wah.

Twangs well. Creates a lovely full sound, works very well with the boss compressor.

I usually play it at relatively low volumes. Though it does seem to higher volumes, I cant really say how badly it feeds back in front of a marshall stack.

The machine heads/top nut give very slick tuning.

Got mine second hand, and it was very well set up. I have had it 9 months, and have restrung it twice. Use rotosound hyrid strings, and they have never buzzed.

The neck is very nice and straight.

Pickups and pots work well together,I usually use the equalizer to give it a slightly sharper tone.

It doesn't come with a hard case, so that would have to be rectified.
Hardware is very sturdy. I have had no problems so far.

I think its beautiful. I walked in the shop, saw it there, asked how much, gave it a try, and within a few hours I bought it. I had been thinking of upgrading my pacifica( tele), as it has a lot of limitations, and was expecting to pay between 5 and 8 hundred pound. Once I got this there hasn't really been a question of needing or wanting another guitar.

alder body, maple bolt on neck flame maple laminated top. 1 vol 1 tone
3 way switch. as basic as they come.

i have owened every major brand in the last 25 years. been a profesional musician off and on. i still have my favorite vitage tele
but, this orange p-90 cheepy is the best guitar iv'e ever had. rediculous i know but true. it's a perfect weight for live gigs and the selecter on the top bout rules. i'm also a lead singer and this is the perfect axe for that too. the 24 3/4 scale snaps back fast (a real plus for singers)and the semi acoustic properties sing. i love the pickups and when i go back to my tele or strat or les paul they just dont have the vibe. this thing is full & sings man. no it dosn't have set neck/ mahogany bod sustain
but i dosn't need it. it is the best blues axe i ever played and i
have used it exclusively for 3 years and 50 plus shows (i'm slowing down a bit now @ 40) i run my baby into fulltone soulbender, marshall supervibe, classic rat, true bypass ross distortion and a variety of vibes, echos ,trems etc... into the clean channel of a hot rod deluxe
it's heaven for me. also i prefer to have the guitar fight me a bit
so i don't mind that it dosn't bend strings like a tele or paul.

this is the only guitar period that i have not modified (i have never even taken the neck off!! nothing!!) and iv'e owned 100 guitars.
incuding 4 les pauls, 3 teles, gretsch aniversary 1964. warmoth customs etc... i did the intonation the first day and havent touched it in 3 years. the gold came off the hardware in 6 mo. and 20 gigs. but who cares i like my shit to look beat. orange flame top.

this guitar takes a little tlc due to its thin top but mine has been droped, kicked left in extreme heat and cold had beer spilled into the f holes. and it still functions 100% perfect.

never delt w/ them will never need to.

i special ordered this guit when i saw it in a catalog. perfect for a blues guy with tatoo's from head to toe (i dig setzer) i payed a lot for it. considering they closed them out at almost nothing. $279.00
ouch. but this motherfucker has made me very happy and i'm going to start stockpiling them. e-mail me if you want to sell yours.
iv'e tried to get away from it and play something more expensive
ie.. my gretsch or tele so i don't look like an amature but no dice
this bitch has me under her spell.

Semi-hollow/chambered LP body, laminated top, S/S P-90's w/3-way, bolt-on maple neck w/rosewood f/b...yada, yada, yada.

Yamaha pups are both @ 8.2 ohms, sweet tone but the neck needs to be underwound for better balance.

Plays thru. '56 Tweed Deluxe clone, JStation and Peavey Pacer(solid state). NICE! for blues and rock.
Forget-about-it!, this thing is rich, chimey and there's no ice-pick bridge(very full for a 90 bridge).
I planned on messin' w/pups b/c I wanted a 520(mini-hums)model, but this thing is quiet, so I may not hide a set of SD mini's under the covers. Big step for me to not take the iron to it, but the tone is big, open and bold.

Pups could be balanced better(identical Ohms).
For any guitar, I added a cap to the vol. pot for consistant tone and changed out the cap on the tone pot for subtle variations.

Can it get better for this price? Not really Thank you CNC precision. Tight and solid build. 3-way selector is a touch loud. The neck is straight and had the correct amount of relief. No fret buzz @ descent string height. Nice string height @ nut too.
Paint is nice.
Good action, played great and inntonation is correct.

I had to tighten jack and 3-way nuts.

I wouldn't kick or punch it near the f holes to be sure. I don't play out and about.

Almost 30yrs. playing now. I'd buy one in an instant if stolen. The tone is worthy of love. It's big and open with enough mid to drive the pre-amp but not honkin'. Good stable axe. Unfortunately discontinued.