Yamaha APX-5 CBS

Recent model acoustic/electric cutaway with 22 frets. Shape looks exactly like an APX-4, not sure what the difference is, and no clue what the "CBS" stands for (maybe cutaway, burst, spruce?). It is a beautiful, transparent cinnamon to black-cherry gloss, burst top with cream binding around top and back. Sides and back are mahogany laminate in a matte transparent burgandy - beautiful. Body is compact and thin at 3"by neck, to 3.25"at butt. Oval soundhole with raised rosette. Under saddle (mono) piezo pickup. Gold sealed tuners. 3 band eq with a mid shape knob, volume and mute. Pop-out 9v battery.

This turned out to be everything I was looking for at a killer price. It has a small but pleasant sound unplugged. Good enough for solo practicing, but wouldn't be much good to jam with other 'regular' guitars without amping it. Rating for its acoustic sound would be pretty low - maybe 5 at best. Since I live in an apartment and like to play at all hours, this ends up being a bonus as it doesn't wake the neighbors. Now, plug this baby into an acoustic amp or a PA system and you've got a fire breathing dragon! What a huge sound! Picks up every pull-off and nuance. Stellar sustain, bite, balance, harmonics, and totally acoustic sounding. Sounds like Tesla on their "Five Man Acoustic Jam" album. No noise either. absolute silence till you hit that first note. I run bass and treble full and about a quarter midrange with about a quarter AMF. Reversing that to full mids and reduced highs and lows gives a surprising resemblance to a resonator. Very cool. Get out your finger picks! Purists may say this has the 'typical' piezo sound. It does. I happen to like that. If I had $1000+ to spend on an upgrade model with a blender system, I might be more critical in my rating. This is not an elitist guitar. It's a straightforward, rugged, hardworkin', great sounding AXE that rates a solid 10 in my book.

There's a reason why I got this guitar so cheap. It was an ebay item described as having suffered a headstock break that had been repaired and was stable with a 'good' action.

Define 'good'.

The seller asured me the neck was straight and the truss rod fully functional, so the action could be adjusted to wherever I chose. At a final price of just $102 plus shipping I decided to take a gamble. Was I ever surprised when I got the shipment. It looked like a brand new guitar! Turn it over and there's the painted spot on the back of the neck - nice smooth repair - turn it over again, here's a tiny ding, there's a even tinier ding, and that's it. No playwear at ALL on the neck. Not a pick scratch. Smells like new inside. Basically cherry. (Stamped USED on the back of the headstock). Binding, frets, hardware, and finish all perfect. The Action was indeed (quite) high, which, after a quick plug-in test to check the pee-your-pants great sound, I set about correcting. Pop off the truss rod not cover, give it a couple cranks, sight it in, crank it again, and my action's just where I want it. Whew.

The reason I told the story is others out there may be aprehensive about considering repaired merchandise. I think it will always be a gamble - especially if buying in an auction situation where you can't try it out. BUT, sometimes if the price is low enough, just go for it. I now own a virtually new guitar for about 1/6 its 'going' price. From all appearances, if purchased new, this would have rated a 10 for the fit and finish.

This was MADE for performing in my opinion. Others I've talked to, familiar with the APX line, swear by their durability. In the few weeks I've owned this it hasn't developed a single hint of so much as a pick scratch. It's a tuff finish. Strap buttons solid. Seems ready for anything I could ask of it. but too soon to really tell for sure, so I'll withold a rating.

Been playing since forever, but this is my first acoustic-electric cutaway. I also have a Jasmine dreadnaught and a DeArmond M75 electric. I have a funky Heathkit TA-16 60 watt amp and a DOD VGS-50 multi effects processor. By the way, the DeArmond is a joy if you are into electrics, check them out. This APX sounds too electric through that Heath amp without some major tweaking. Since I don't have a real acoustic amp or a PA system, I run it into a Yamaha RM602 recording mixer and straight out to my home stereo. That allows all the tone to come through, and anything I record onto the mixer's 4-track cassette are pure and faithful. I would but any of these APX models again. I'd especially like to play with the APX 10's stereo output.