Yamaha CPX8-12 12-String

the infinitly adjustable pickup/mic combination is unbeatable sound qualituy wise. amplified it simpoy soumds like a very well mic'd acoustic guitar. Solit top is a very nice AAA spruce with a nice ring to it. but lack of a buitl in tuner is a bit of a bummer.

as above, nice ringing tone fro country blues, not quite the bottom for serious bluegrass but not bad for the price. Where htis guitar clearly shines thought is plugged in.

finish is far above average, out of the box action was very good and the neck profile is very playable.

I'm still playing a 1977 fg-412 yamaha that I bought in '77 and it has stood the test of time all that I ever had to replace was fret wires, so pbased on this I'll give yamaha a solid 10. THis guitar sems even better built.

never had any problem so I don't know how they are.

I've been playing nearly 40 years, own 1960 Gibson j-45, a '63 es-335 yamaha fg 412. If it wre stolen or lost I would probably buy another, having tried hundreds of 12 strings and only found a very few that I liked. I like its playability, tone. I compared it to 12's by guild, gibson, taylor, and ovation. Jusat wish it had a tuner.

This is a review for the Yamaha CPX8-12 acoustic-electric 12-String guitar, part of the Compass series of Yamaha guitars that include the CPX5, CPX8, and CPX8-SY, all 6-strings. Made in Taiwan in 2004. Bought new from Sam Ash, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania in 2004.

It would seem to be a grand auditorium size (the body is only about 3?? deep), definitely smaller than a dreadnought, but seemingly larger than a grand concert size (or orchestra model as Martin calls it). It comes equipped with sealed, gold-plated tuners, 20 frets, 25?? scale, a solid spruce top, laminated rosewood back and sides, a Venetian cutaway, mahogany neck, and rosewood fingerboard, with pearl/abalone squiggle inlays on the fingerboard and a beautiful wood and abalone compass rose inlay on the headstock, which is faced with rosewood. A beautiful natural gloss finish on the body and headstock facing, and satin finish on the neck. It has a transparent pickguard, and although I don?t particularly like them, they can be fairly easily replaced with a celluloid or vinyl one in any style you wish, which I might do in the future (I love the look of tortoise-shell).

The body and neck are fully bound with ivoroid. There is not only a strap button on the end of the guitar (which doubles as the jack for the guitar cord), but a strap button is also already installed on the back of the heel (yeaaa!). Equipped with Yamaha?s proprietary System 45 two-way preamp system, which combines an under-saddle piezoelectric pickup with condensor microphone installed in the body on a gooseneck for position adjustment. The battery compartment is on the upper bout, and the preamp controls are in the waist area. They include the usual 3-band equalizer controlled by sliders, as well as a volume control, and a slider controlling the sweep of the mids, and also a volume control for the microphone, which essentially serves as a blend control with the piezo pickup.

The rosewood bridge anchors the 12 strings with endpins. Mine only came with a hex adjustment wrench to be used on the trussrod accessable on the headstock (under a trussrod cover that says ?Compass?), and a rubber soundhole cover to be used in higher-volume amplified situations to mitigage feedback when using the condensor mike in the body.

The sound is quite excellent. Unlike larger-bodied 12-strings, this guitar lacks some of the bottom end thump that you get with a jumbo or dreadnought, but still puts out enough to give a very balanced sound with the shimmering and ringing highs you would expect with a 12-string. I tried every 12-string I could find, and with the possible exception of a Taylor 555 or a Guild JF30-12 that I tried, I would say this one sounds the best. It definitely sounded better in A-B comparisons than the following higher-end 12-strings I tried: old Martin D12-28, Martin DM-12, old Gibson B-45, and any Ovation. It helps that I got a guitar that has a list price of $1300 for only about $550. I love value! Comparable street price 12-strings like Garrisons, Washburns, and Takamines sounded good, but this one outclassed them easily.

I would call my style ?blue twang,? which really means I play a mixture of roots music (blues, bluegrass, country, and folk) and classic rock. This guitar has the goods to meet any of those styles and shine. Want to do Supertramp, Beatles, Byrds, Weavers, or Tom Petty? Got it. Want to do Leadbelly? Got it, too. (Although it probably sounds too polite for real gutbucket blues or honky-tonk.)

Unplugged alone it sounds awesome, but plugged in it is simply astonishing. Although bright and shimmering, it didn?t have any of the harsh or brittle tones found with a lot of piezo-equipped guitars, and the in-body mike helps smooth out the sound and warm it up at the same time.

Again, it doesn?t have the lower end thump that a dreadnought or jumbo 12-string would have, but I really don?t miss that very much, since with the exception of higher-end Taylors, a certain boomyness also comes in with those guitars when slapped a bit too hard (I play with a lot of hybrid picking, which sometimes means I get a little carried away with string thumping).

The guitar seemed to be perfectly set up. One thing I didn?t mention is that this is a highly-playable 12-string. Although I think people are a bit wussy in their reactions to 12-strings (?why can?t I do double stops on a 12-string? Wah, wah!?), there is simply no fatigue in playing on this thing. The neck is a comfortable size profile, and the action is wonderful, with little to no fret buzzing. Intonation, the real bugaboo with even good 12-strings, is hardly an issue, so chords played in different inversions all over the neck sound remarkably uniform and clear.

Although the store where I purchased it had two left, the other one had a defective volume slider, which means its going back to the factory. There is the slightest imperfection in the spruce top (duplicated because it is bookmatched), but it is hardly noticeable. The laminated rosewood back and sides is stunningly beautiful. (And this from a man who also has a Brazilian rosewood Giannini.) All parts fit together perfectly. All tuners are smooth and precise.

Although I don?t particularly like the gold finish (it tends to rub off after a few years), the only real gold hardware are the tuners. The binding and inlays are flawlessly installed, the frets are even, properly seated and wonderfully rolled on the edges. There are only a couple of small flaws in the finish along edges of the body where it meets the neck, but you practically have to use a magnifying glass to locate them. A cursory view inside the soundhole reveals the interior to be neat, without excess glue or sawdust, and the kerfing and bracing are cleanly cut and installed.

All the controls operate smoothly with no crackling or noise.

This guitar, with its laminated back and sides and gloss finish would defnitely stand up to live playing, which I hope to do in our church band. Again, with the exception of the long-term problems with gold-plated hardware, everything on this guitar looks like it will easily stand the test of time and use.

Although I have tended to be a ?buy American first? type, I am greatly impressed with Yamaha?s consistent quality in their musical instruments. Their guitars have tended to be more of the ho-hum, basically competent styles and construction, but they have definitely made great strides in the last ten years in both their acoustics and electrics.

Gigging without a backup is always a cost-risk-benefit analysis, but of most guitars available today, it comes about closest to the you-can-gig-without-a-backup category of instruments.

I have never dealt with Yamaha before, but their website provides little to no information about the models. Very, very dissappointing considering that this company has often been a bit cutting edge in their devlopment of musical instrument electronics and technology. (Their DG-series digital modelling amps are among the best today, although they are being phased out.) They definitely get demerits for this category.

It comes with a limited lifetime warranty for the top, neck, back, and sides. There is a one year warranty for electronics, tuners, and bridge. I don?t expect to have to use the warranty, but always good to have it. I felt confident in declining the retailer?s extended warranty coverage.

I have been playing for 27 years. Although I don?t have the skill level of a pro (I wouldn?t even consider quitting my day job even if I did), I feel like I know a fair bit about guitars, about what is good or not good, and what is good value or not. This guitar, for the price I paid, is an outstanding value, and a great find.

I also own: a 2001 Larrivee D-03 Mahogany Standard, a 1976 Giannini AWS-740 Brazilian Rosewood dreadnought, a 2001 Fender American Double Fat Strat Hard Tail, and I play the electric through a DigiTech RP300.

This is not a collector?s guitar. It is not a one-of-a-kind or once-in-a-lifetime guitar. If stolen, I would curse the thief unto the seventh generation, feel sorry that the thief has accumulated some bad karma, but I would take the insurance money and purchase something comparable, which might be hard to find. Despite my equanimity, I would sorely miss it, even though I have had it for a very short time. I now have the "jingle-jangle morning," shimmering 12-string ringing-in-my-ears that I have sought for so long....

Peace.