Yamaha APX 4A

Yamaha Apx-4a I love my Yamaha I use it to play acoustic slide. Everywhere I play people offer to buy it. It has rosewood back and sides with one piece spruce top and rosewood fretboard. The electronics are 3-band, with amf controls and volume. It has 22 frets with a cutaway thin body. I paid $579.00 U.S. in '98' or '99' without a case brand new. I have tried to price it but can't find anything like it on the web. Anyone have any idea what it might go for today?

Normally I like jumbo guitars, but with the electronics this guitar is great. I have a Taylor that doesn't sound anything like the Yamaha. I own a Fender Junior tube amp that I play it through which gives it a rich full sound. Like I said for acoustic/electric slide like Mississippi John Hurt or Fred McDowell it sounds great. I don't play them much anymore since I moved on to playing my own originals.

Never had it setup! Plays great, sounds great, no flaws

Withstands live playing. Hardware lasts, finish is excellent, strap buttons are solid, very dependable. This one I tune to Open D.

Never had to have it repaired or setup as yet. Not under warranty. Company is very friendly.

Harmonicas 35 years. Guitars 30 years. Acoustic slide 7 years
At present I own a Taylor acoustic/electric; Ibanez acoustic/electric; Casio keyboard; Fender Jr. tube amp; and lastly I own a Carlos Robellini copy of a Gibson ES335

Made in Taiwan. Laminate black top, nato back and sides. Yamaha Die cast tuners. Pickup and Preamp with Volume, Bass and Treble. Cutaway thin profile. Medium neck.

Sounds very good for a guitar with laminated top and nato sides and such a slim body. I have gotten curious listeners asking what fine instruments this was in both performances and recordings. Lack of Bass response and sustain are inly real shortcomings. Very Good balance between strings, projects good enough for even fingerpicking. I play mostly fock, rock, and blues, and this is a versatile instrument. Can play solos as the action is close and the strings have a nice give to them for bends etc. Barre chords not a problem.

Guitar setup very nicely. Action was very good. Guitar looked nice and solid and felt well put together when received.

I have had this guitar for 5 years and have not treated it very well but it still has withstood and acoustically it still sounds very nice. However the electronics are another story.

We have dry winters and it has survived without a humidifier. Has fallen out of stands many times. Only thing to show are a few nicks and dings. The strap button has broken. So the quality of everything acoustic is fine. However the electronics have broken and now the guitar functions only as an acoustic.

After a year, you are on your own as far as electronics

Despite the synthetic construction materials, acoustically the sound of the instrument is suprisingly good. Plugged in it sounds above average, kind of flat, but no noise. Electronics were not installed in a smart way so as to facilitate repair or maintenance. Battery has to be changed by reaching inside the guitar and there is no clear way to turn the preamp off.

I have been playing electric guitar for 15 years, acoustic for 6 years. This was my first acoustic guitar. I have had 2 electric guitars prior to this. If this guitar were lost, I would look into a more natural looking one, with more resonance and deeper bass. Also, more sophisticated electronics. I love the guitar's reliability and playability. I have spent many lovely nights with this guitar, it is a real player. My complaints have to do with the sound potential in terms of bass resonance and sustain.

APX 4A Made in the 90's (Taiwan). 22 frets, solid (violin) top. Nice EQ (3-way). From reading the other reviews you know the other details.

For a slim body,... the thing sounds pretty good. As others have said, plugged in the guitar kicks ass. With the EQ, and it's sweet neck,... this instrument is versitile for a 12 string.

I bought the guitar used just recently. It's current set up is good but can be lowered a bit I'm sure. The two or three previous owners took pretty good care,.. just one pin-prick-ding oh the whole instrument. Tuners are original and hold the pitch well.

The guitar is well made (solid) and I see it outlasting me. Stap button solid, finish will last, and hardware is solid as well. One would not need a backup when gigging.

No opinion.

I've been playing guitar, bass and keyboard since I was 14 (52 now). I made a good purchase buying this instrument. I have never owned a Yamaha (anything). I have demo'd many Yamahas and was never very impressed. This guitar impresses me. New I suspect it costs $600 - $800,.. and if I'm correct, that's still a good bargin. It's a well made nice sounding slim bodied 12 stringer. If you get lucky and see a used one for sale ($200 - $400) I'd grab it if I was you.

it's a mid 90's model, it's a 12 stringer and it has atleast 2 scrathes and three dings for each string, multiply that by 12, and you've got a real scratchy dinger for sure. came with a case didn't need to though. but i love every hunch of the ugly thing, cause it sounds so beautiful, it's true what they say beauty is only skin deep. nothing wrong with an ugly body that has a beautiful voice, i've named her miss quasimotto yamaha, it has a certain ring to it.

sounds big, both in and out of an amp, like one of those ugly old fat opera singers, they never seem to lose their voices, their weight or their appetites.

hard to believe this guitar was ever young and beautiful, it be like digging-up up a dead playboy centerfold, and trying to convince yourself, that the corpse you hold, was once beautiful, very hard to do. the action is low and intonation is perfectly correct, sounds like sweet honey and no swarm of bees buzzing around the frets

everything is solid and will last forever, i can depend on it, to be last every beauty competion, and first in every singing competion.

i've been playing for 20 plus years i own heaps, greedy-me, i bought this guitar from ebay, from an ugly liar, he and miss quasmitto yamaha were very well suited to each other. imagine my suprise when i opened up my mail-order bride's case, she was as ugly as charles bronson, but then to be suprised further by her beautiful voice, i tell ya it's an amazing world, charles bronson with madonna's voice,
what next. no one would steal miss quasimotto yamaha, she'd be flattered though to have such attention. if she were gone (i'm starting to get all choked-up, just thinking of her gone)i would buy another apx 12 stringer for sure, a prettier one next time, something that hadn't lived it's life outdoors.

i didn't file a paypal claim, cause as angry as i was, i couldn't get over how amazing it sounded, it out performs all other guitars in and alot above its class, do yourself a favour and buy one, one that lived indoors, one whos owner knew that picks are meant to strum strings, and not the body

I'm not too sure where mine fits in- its the model with the plastic coating on the back BUT does not have the 3-band EQ. Mine only has treble, bass and volume. So that's at least 3 variants on the same model. Having said that, 2 bands works fine and it's got everything I need. Thin neck as well.

I went looking for acoutic/electrics, found this one which was 2nd hand, spoke to the guy and he said he could get me a new one for exactly the same price. The new one got there...and I hated it. It was all wood. So I bought the 2nd hand, plastic-backed one and have never regretted it.

It's not a dreadnought- when you get a slim bodied acoustic, that's one of the things you sacrifice. I play in an indie band and we use very little acoustic, but when we do, this fits perfectly. My chain is long but I don't use any effects for this save an Ibanez DL-10 delay and a George Dennis Volume-Tremolo. I use a Fender Super 210 all-tube combo amp.

Sounds unplugged as good as you can expect. Plugged in...more than you'd expect. Rich, full tone although can be a tad tinny at times.

This guitar shines in this department. Got it 2nd hand, so I don't know it was like new, but it is so smooth and easy to play. My right arm is stuffed, so playability is everything to me. I haven't seen/played/owned an acoustic as easy to play as this. I use electric strings on it (because of my arm) and still no rattle or buzz!! Beautiful, thin neck. No tuning problems ever. I can't fault any other aspect of the build quality.

I've owned it for 6 years now and the pre-amp just went on me (bear in mind that this has a different preamp to most of the reviews here; and it is original- there's no way any one could fit the smaller pre-amp mine has into a bigger hole- especially with that plastic on the back). My repair guy said he took it apart, re-soldered all the joints, put it back together and it worked, so it was a cheap job.

I was a bit disappointed- I've never known any single piece of Yamaha equipment to fail. I have always sworn by them. Then again, 6 years on top of previous owners, is pretty good.

Never had to use Yamaha support except for a 4-track I got 2nd hand and they had the manual online for free, despite the fact that it was well and truly out of production. Very impressed. Companies who could learn something about supporting products after they're stopped:
Boss, Fender, Ibanez.

I have been playing about 15 years and mostly play electric- I have an odd assortment of Fender strats/teles and quirky guitars, like my orange sunburst Jap Ibanez Talman TC530- the one with the plastic/resin body. As before, playability means a lot to me and on this basis alone it would be great. But the tone is strong plugged in and it seems very durable.

A recommendation: almost every single person who has borrowed it from me has offered me cash for it. That has never happened to any of my other guitars even once!

I bought my yammy about 1 yr ago now it was preowned ov about 1 year i belive! it was made in tywan..it has a great pre amp but unfortunatly mine went funny and buzz's and hiss's ...i haft to hit the bridge hard to lose it only for it to come back.. oh well..i really like the finish i hav seen a version ov the apx -4a with full wood body insted ov having the plasticy sides and back .the tuners are sound NEVER had a problem the action was ok for acoustic but i had it lowerd now its perfick. it is honestly the best cut away guitar i hav played for it price (#200) 2nd hand.. the neck is nice and thin..

i like to play blues mainly and many other stuff.. it suits blues great a really nice loud sound considering it is small bodyed.. and is great when u plug it in...(even tho my pre amp dont work well...im just unlucky) i put electric guitar strings on it hav been for a lil while so that coupled with the fact its Very low action its great to play.. it also sounds great thru guitar pedals

from factory i think the action was a little bit high for my liking but i like it LOWWW haha .. the pick up is very good and nicely hidden away.. ive noticed that the wires in side arnt very well fastend and the nut around the jack input sometimes comes lose but nothin serious.

this guitar is ROCK solid i have put a few marks on it but hey that cant b helped....i dropped it down a flight ov stairs about 3 months ago and all it did was make it abit out ov tune haha. i know yamaha electrics are very good and its true on the APX-4a but i must say im anoyed because mine went crazy and will haft to get them replaced.(once again im just unlucky i hear its very uncommen) it is great for gigging ect the srap buttons are strong. the guitar itself wont let u down but the electrics just might.....i would never do a gig without a back up soooooo lol

i hav never delt with them but will be about the electrics soon soo il keep ya updated haha

i been playin about 2 yrs i got a few guitars now the yamaha was my 1st good one and i still play it every day even tho i got a vintage martin (had to say it haha)....if it got lost i would kill myself for being such an idiot...and if it got stolen i would proberbly get the APX 4 model with the full wood body being as i play more unplugged than plugged in.....i love that it is a great sounding, small ,good looking guitar my frav feature about it is u can have 1,000,000 upgrades done to it if u know the right ppl...theres only 1 thing i suppose i would like it to hav extra and that is lockable tunner pins but hey it aint no biggy

made in taiwan, no idea of date, and dont much care. has thinline body, with ace oval soundhole.
has VOl, EQMID, and others. rosewood fingerboard, with very low action (considering that its an acoustic) and the best preamp in the below #1000 market!!!

all styles (excludin trance, dance etc, & jazz) appeal to me, so this fits in well anyway. not fullbodied like a dreadnought, but as its thinbodied, i dont expect it to be, and i dont want it to be, either. ace in any amp, and unplugged is just as good. dont belive the crap people say about it being "weedy" etc;

action, as stated is as low as an acoustic gets. well, mine is, anyway. ine is preowned, and the original owner scratched it to fu#k, but i have never don anything to the finish (and my mates want to get me a crowbar, to make me play softer. no joke!!!)
all else is as new, no faults with the electrics (i got a cheap jack stuck in it once, and had to spend ages taking it apart!! wasn't fun at all)

made for gigging, without backups. you could play a brick, and it would break before this!! THE most dependable guitar ever, and, like i said, i have a firm hand!

never had to talk to customer support, and probably never will. they soud scary though.....

i know all the 10's may seem very very very biased. their not. i have 100's of mates who all agree, and if you dont belive me, find one (not easy, it is a discontinued line, but the new line is carp in comparison), but this is the best guitar in this price range. i know this, as i have played literall 100's of acoustics, and i am not exagerating.

Bought new in 2000, rosewood with starburst laminated top.

Single piezo pickup with 3-band EQ, volume and tone controls, and mute.
As an intermediate player, it had everything I was looking for.

Decent when unplugged, especially for a thin body, but very good over a system, as far as bang-for-your-buck goes.

HOWEVER, after three years, the preamp failed on me. It hisses and pops any time I have the mid EQ band above zero. The technician told me that these preamps are notorious for failure, and that replacement is the only option. Then he said that they're hard to come by, and couldn't find one from the Yamaha distributor.

Set up well at the factory, I've played this as my only guitar for three years and the finish is hardly scratched. The laminated starburst top and rosewood neck is beautiful, and I get a lot of comments about it.

I've chopped away at this guitar, and apart from accidental dings, the finish has held up wonderfully. I play it regularly without a backup.

The only problems I've had have been electrical. I used to leave the battery plugged in all the time, and it corroded the wiring inside, which needed to be replaced (it took a month, because the distributor sent the wrong part). This was not very expensive to fix.

However, then my preamp failed, and needs to be replaced. Supposedly this is more common. The guitar itself has been great, but the electronics have been nothing but trouble in the last year (2002-2003)

Everytime I've had to get repairs done, Yamaha has been very unhelpful. Once sending the wrong part (battery clip instead of housing), then not having any available (preamp). I never needed any repairs during the warranty.

It's a pretty versatile guitar. I love the shape and the look. The fit of the neck is excellent. It's the second guitar I've owned, and a good one for an intermediate player, but I'd probably buy something with more reliable electronics if I had to do it again.

Features... as described about 19 times previously, so I won't go into that again. Only to say that the eq is more than adequate, with the mid q filter that allows to filter out a variety of hums and hisses you may find when plugging in.

It doesn't sound as full as a full-bodied acoustic, that's true. But it sounds nice enough to this ears. A good set of strings is very helpful here. I use Elixir 11's... and I love the acoustic sound of this guitar.
Plugging in, it sounds distinctly "piezo"... but you can eq it to sound very very decent indeed. I plug directly into my Akai multitrack, or sometimes through a Boss GX700 (for effects, such as slight chorus, or reverb/delay, compressor...). I have used it through a keyboard amp (a Torque t303mt) and that's pretty good too. There are better guitars, but at this price? And at any price, I am happy with this guitar.

I bought it second hand, well used... but the set up was good and the action lowish but without fret buzz (not as low and soft as in my electrics, obviously, but nicer than most acoustics I've tried).
Mine is the black finish one. The binding looks a bit too "plasticky", but maybe I'm being a bit picky here. The neck is lovely... I love thsi guitar for the nice neck and comfortable body. I used to shy away from acoustics partly because of the large bodies which I felt uncomfortable with after a while playing them. This guitar is only slightly thinner, enough to make a huge different in comfort, but without losing too much acoustically. Good compromise.

It's been played a lot, and gigged, before I owned it. Apart from severe pick marks that wore away part of the finish where it starts to show the wood underneath, it's in good condition. It plays great. I think it's a very well built guitar that will last a long time.

I bought it second hand about a month ago... It's my first acoustic guitar, although I've played electric for many more years that I'd like to admit. The reason I never had an acoustic was that I never felt comfortable with big bodies and their harder actions. For years I substituted acoustics with crappy acoustic simulators... Now, I wish I had tried this guitar a long time ago. It's the acoustic guitar for die-hard electric players like me. Nice action and feel (with 11-52s) and the sound is pretty good too. It's already changing what I play and listen to... I am suddenly more interested in acoustic guitar players and it's the guitar I tend to grab when I'm at home before my many electrics. It's simple: grab and play... no cables, power up stuff... it's so satisfying even if just strumming a little.
Really nice intermediate guitar. I'd buy it again, no doubt. Love it.

My APX-4A is Koren made, I got it in 1996. Has a preamp with three band eq, mute switch, volume, adjustable mid frequency.. I had Ibanez Performance model and cause I'm not tall whenever I'd it play on strap my right shoulder would hurt after 5 mins. I saw APX-5 (one of the first models with plastic back)and emediately went to sell my Ibanez. That small body amazed me and in no time I bought my APX-4A. Spruce top, nato back and sides, rosewood fretboard, chrome hardware, piezo pickup.

Since I bought it because of thinness I have no big complaint. I can say that it does sound a bit harsh, but that's only because of shallow body. I solved it with D'Addario 10's.. When you plug it in - you have a great sound (I've got Marshall amp) and corrections with Korg 300 pedal.
I also recorded distorted riffs with it and it was pretty good!

Action is a bit high but helps you work on certain chords, neck was a discovery for me that really feels GREAT, tuners are allright (g string tuner needed adjustment) - overall - very good.

I've played many gigs with it - both in and out, has marks on head and body caused by few wrong turns, but nothing ever broken..
Go live, you won't regret it!

No, I has a 1 year warranty and that was 6 years ago.. I'm happy that I didn't have to see those people (for that purpose anyway)..

I have been playing for 10 yrs, I've changed a few guitars and stayed with yamaha.. also have Yamaha RGX 420S, and Yamaha drums.. Planning to buy one Pacifica..
I've tried Ovation, Fender, Martin.. All of them have their good features.. and somewhere in the middle you'll find APX..

It is really a best buy.