Yamaha APX 6A

Bought it in 1999. It was second-hand, but nearly new, and in mint condition. Slimline body, sort of 'acoustic Les Paul' shape. Nice tobacco burst top, satin finish neck. Bound rosewood 'board and gold tuners. Mine has an ebony bridge, which I'm sure was meant to be rosewood. I'm not complaining. The active preamp has a 3-band EQ, mid sweep, volume knob and mute switch. I don't think Yamaha make this model any wore, which has two little frets at 23rd and 24th just for the top two strings (virtully useless, but nice to look at). The price included a Hiscox case, and a setup. Couldn't really ask for much more at the price.

The normal un-amplified sound lacks a bit of depth, and the thin box and 'hourglass' style pinched-in waistline give it a bright, trebly sound. The sound is still quite nicely woody, unlike a lot of slim-bodied acoustics, especially in this price range. The APX comes into its own when amplified, though. The preamp is really versatile, and lets you find a nicely balanced tone without much tweaking. The mid-sweep knob is particularly good, nice and responsive, but still leaves most of your settings on the 3-band EQ intact. You can go from a high-attack, cutting sound to a more mellow strummy tone in about 3/4 of a turn. The volume knob on the preamp can be used together with the amp or PA volume to produce a surprisingly tight overdrive, too! It's my only guitar at the moment, and I play mainly for pleasure, a mixture of blues, classical, the odd Metallica intro, and finger-picked country and bluegrass, and you gan get a range of tones to suit pretty much any acoustic style, albeit only when amplified. So, 8/10 plugged, about 6/10 unplugged.

The original setup seemed ok, but the guy at the shop offered me a setup at a major discount, so I had the action lowered so it would suit a set of .11's. Best acoustic action I've ever played, the satin neck made it noticeably faster than my mate's Takamine, worth over twice as much. Quite a similar feel to one of the mid-priced Ovations. The overall finish quality was (and still is, mostly) high quality, even though the high-gloss finish and white binding on the body seem slightly incongruous with the matt finish on the neck and headstock. It kinda looks, dare I say, a bit, well, Japanese. Can't fault the playability, though, and the small body makes it easy to play for ages either seated or standing, without hurting your back or right forearm on the edge of the top, like some dreadnoughts can.

Erm, right. The guitar has, as a whole, been very reliable. I've looked after it well for the past 3 years, even though it's been played nearly every day. The frets seem to have held up pretty well, despite quite a lot of string-bends (left over from my electric guitar playing days). Some minor scratching has appeared on the top from cleaning, and the 'gold' pegs show a fair bit of oxidising unless you polish them regularly. The tuners are pretty stable, though, and there are no nasty creaks or buzzes.

The major problem is that I was changing the strings a while back, when a slight tap from my fingertip on the nut saw a chunk of ivoroid plastic go pinging across the room. The end bit of the nut, which locates the low E had sheared off, probably due to a hairline crack. I had the nut replaced by some prat who did a totally half-arsed job, and used a MACHINE to cut a non-standard nut. The string spacing was, and still is, all to cock. I complained, and he improved the action slightly, but it really needs a whole new setup.

I haven't dealt with Yamaha themselves, and there wouldn't really be any point, as I'm in the UK. The lesson I've learned is that some shops (eg City Music, Birmingham) are actually bothered about customer service, and they use trained luthiers to do marvellous setups, and throw in free strings and generally try to keep you informed. Others, however (notably MOR Music, York), have obviously got no real idea how to treat customers or their guitars. I'm rather ashamed of myself that I allowed that smarmy piss-artist to get away with his neanderthal workmanship. You live, you learn.

I've been plaing for about six years. I had an electric guitar for a while, but missed the acoustic, especially being a poor student with no room for loads of gear or playing seriously loud. Never had a band either, so the electro was pretty good for doing the odd pub gig or jamming with mates. Now I'm a bit more monied, I'm going to get a new electric guitar, and probably replace the APX with a bigger-bodied, more basic acoustic, with more natural acoustic resonance and volume for playing at home. Don't get me wrong, it's a great guitar, but it probably suits more regular performers, who do more lead-oriented acoustic playing. If it were stolen, I'd take the insurance money.

Thin-body acoustic electric. It has an under bridge pickup system. It is a satin finish, but after playing a while the neck has a high gloss sheen to it. The neck is a perfect size for medium sized hands. They use nato wood for the neck and I think the body? The nato wood is an oriental version of our maple and it is very rugged and reliable. The wood seems to be a laminate, but not sure because the grain pattern is slight and cannot tell if it is solid piece.

This guitar was made to be played plugged in. It has very thin acoustic qualities on it's own, but the electronics help. I also use a Korg effects pedal to add ambience and depth to the sound.

From the factory the action was a little high and I had it lowered. I finger pick about 50% of songs and it is very responsive. I use a thin nylon pick when strumming, anything heavier will cause too much buzzing with the action this low. I use thin gauge martin SP bronze and they sound more accurate and more neutral than the phosphor bronze which are too bright for this guitar. This guitar allows for fast and precise playing, and this is the main reason why I bought this axe. The neck is perfectly straight, and the frets were perfectly filed with no edges.

Have seen some fretwear in just over a year, but my guild actually seemed to wear out even quicker. The electronics are very reliable, although there is not much response difference when going from full to half volume.

It is a good second guitar, but for those who love true acoustic sound you will want something else. This is fine for plugged in jazz, fusion, rock, etc for most people.

ive been playing the guitar since i was nine years old and ive never played a guitar like this before. This is by far the best guitar i have ever played, which sounds great with funk to blues or even clasical coming out of it!
The EQ is amazing with only 5 variables the amount of diffrent sounds you can get is unreal. It comes complete with a real high grade body finnish with a cutawy neck and extended fingerboard (24 frets on the top E which means another full set of harmony notes!) the neck is thin and light so you can really jam and whip it up when nessercerry.
I got a free hard case and set up $30 strings with mine and still got the guitar at 1/2 price brand new! it really was the best thing i have ever bought!

it suits nearlly all music styles and tastes especially coming through my trusty marshall v65 amp.
i think the sound is cool. not thin or fat but just cool!
nothing about this guitar do i dislike

the pickups are also trulley amazing! what a sound.
not a flaw in site!

as long as you treat this guitar with some respect it should last a life time! the finnish is tough and looks suberb but i highly recomend a hard case, but that goes for any guitar!

all the help i needed

i think ive praised it enough.....HURRAY for mister yamaha!

This is a small-bodied acoustic/electric. Made in 1999. Japanese. Solid spruce top; back, sides and neck are nato; fingerboard is rosewood. 22 frets, single cut-away. Single piezo bridge pickup; preamp has 3-band EQ, middle band is parametric; volume, mute, and battery low indicator. Sunburst gloss finish, except for the neck which has a satin type of finish.

This guitar sounds nice, both acoustic and electric. Is has a small body - only very slightly larger than a standard Spanish guitar (15in wide instead of 14.5in) - so it doesn't have the volume or bass of a dreadnought, but it has a very crisp, clear tone and is reasonably well balanced string-to-string and over the frequency range, especially when playing electric. The pickup does a good job of sounding like an acoustic, and the built in EQ is reasonable for compensating for the lack of bass. I usually play with the bass slider way up. For a guitar of it's size I'd say it sounds great.

Like most acoustics, it came from the factory with the action set high. $20 at a good guitar shop and they fixed that for me. (It was also a little lop-sided when I got it, but they fixed that too.) I have medium acoustic strings on it and it plays very easily, even to my electric-accustomed fingers. I'm not really used to playing with only a single cut-away, so I find the higher frets a bit difficult, but no more so than any other acoustic guitar. The satin finish on the neck is a really nice touch - your thumb slides over it much nicer than over a gloss finish.
The bottom line: I really enjoy playing this guitar.

It's an acoustic, so don't expect it to take a Pete Townshend thrashing on stage, but it seems to be holding up so far. You'll need a hardshell case though. One note: since the body of the guitar is a slightly odd size, you may have difficulty finding a case for this guitar. I ended up buying the actual proper Yamaha case for it from Grandma's in Albuquerque. It cost $100.

The store I bought from were great (Allegro Music, Santa Fe, NM). No idea about Yamaha themselves; never spoke with them.

I have been playing for 22 years. I mostly play electric. This is the fourth acoustic guitar I've bought and it's by far the best. At the moment it's the ONLY guitar I own that I play around the house just for fun. It really is a joy to play.
I bought this guitar basically because I was looking for a small-bodied acoustic/electric under $1000 and the market isn't that big. The only other guitar I played which I liked as much was a Guild for $200 more; nice but not worth the extra cash.
The APX 6A is almost the same guitar as the APX 4A, which is $100 cheaper. There are three differences: the 6A has a higher quality pickup (but the same electronics), the 6A has gold fittings as opposed to chrome on the 4A, and the 6A has a much nicer finish. (I have the "blue sunburst", but all the finishes are real nice on the 6A.) I think that the extra $100 is worth it for the better pickup alone.
If it got lost or stolen, I'd happily buy this guitar again.

Electric Acoustic guitar with peizo pickup and active preamp & tone controls. The mid range is selectable. There is a mute button & low battery indicator. Gold hardware & 22 frets. Sunburst high gloss finish

I play mostly accoustic but with some electric - I use a Peavy badit amp with art Levelar & FX1. There is no noise $ the guitar sound full bodied. The active tone controls allow for a wide range of sound up to almost full electric. I tried light guage electric strings & it gave a great electric twang but lost the bottom end.

The guitar came setup for med accoustic strings & played very well. I have since(about 2 yrs ago) set it up for light accoustic strings & with a little eq stills sound great & plays even better. The finish is excellent & the single cut away diesing lets you get high on the neck. Action is good

I play this guitar every day & use for gigs every weekend (well most weekends. I do not use a backup & in 2 years have never broken a string (Yippeee. The battery seems to lastabout 8 months.

Never tried Yamaha but the dealer was very helpfull in the early stages for demonstrating the many features of the electronics

I've been playing for 20 years & I've had Ovations & Fender guitars. This is the best accoustic electric I've played. I would buy it again(maybe the higher model now I've got more money)