Yamaha ERG-121

This was my first guitar which I got in 2004 for about ??160 as a starter pacl. It's cheap solid body strat style electric guitar for beginners really. It's has two humbuckers and one single, tremelo bridge and bolt on neck. Fairly standard stuff.

This is guitar is a cheap beginners guitar so it's not expected to amaze anyone. Though in comparison to other guitars of this catagory (e.g. Squier Strat) the sound is much more satifying to a beginner. The two humbuckers produce a much fatter fuller sound than the singles on the affinity strat.

When I got the guitar, it was not set up very well, and having only just started playing guitar, I hadn't a clue how to do set it up or even that the setup was bad. So my guitar teacher set it up for me and since then it has had a very nice action and play ability for a guitar of that price.

Comparing this to the Squire Affinty Strat again, the Yamaha is definetly a safer bet. I knew many people squire strats so got to play with them alot, and using them (especially with the tremelo), they would not stay in tune, whereas I found the Yamaha was generally very good at staying in tune.
The yamaha has always felt like a very solid guitar and I have never had any problems with it in the 4 years I've owned it.

Never had to use it.

I know I've compared this to the Squire Strat quite alot, but generally buying a starter pack for beginners, it is the Yamaha ERG or Squire Strat. To me the Yamaha is certainly the better buy in this market, especially when it's ??40 cheaper.
I think it is very versatile and looks great.

Mine was made in 2002. It's a good generic H/S/H guitar finished in black. Came as part of a learners kit but I'm only going to talk about the guitar (The amp and lead have both died by the way)

Interestingly mines got two volume knobs. It is a tone pot in its usual place - confuses all my friends when they borrow it.

The gig bag is a little basic. More padding would be nice but this guitar appears to be bullet proof. The pocket could also be a bit larger. There's no room for stomp boxes.

I don't have a particular style and this guitar certianly lets me play whatever I want. The humbuckers are good for anything 'rocky' and can be used clean or distorted. Same goes for the in-between settings and flicking from positions 1 to 2 or 4 to 5 on the selector lever is what I use to move from a more rhythm oriented sound to a 'lead' sound. Never found a use for the single coil on its own.

The bridge saddles have been changed to Graph Tech String Savers. I was surprised by how much difference it made and now can't remember what it sounded like before.

As I said before, the bridge saddles have been changed. The reason for this is that one of the originals had a little nick in it that kept sawing through my strings.

Neck pickup doesn't sit on its mounting. It keeps falling off the screws and sitting on the floor of the cavity. This hasn't affected the balance between the bridge and neck pickups though.

Seems bullet proof. Still my only guitar.

Been playing guitar for 6-7 years now. This guitar has always stood up to any comparison. I'll probably continue to use it even when I get another guitar.

Most of the specs have been covered by the myriad number of reviews posted for this guitar, but it has everything a beginner needs, at a bargain basement price.
Bought it as a starter pack but somehow I got a 15 watt amp instead of the 10W, never received the book though, suppose it was a tradeoff for the better amp. As seems to be common, the lead was as much use as a chocolate teapot and was replaced very early on with a decent one with Neutrik ends, I would recommend buying a good lead if you buy the starter package.

Unlike some reviews, the sound is quite good through the 15W amp, the good lead made a massive difference to the overall tone. I replaced the strings for Roto Blues which give sparkly high notes and booming bass tones. Downside is the tremolo can't cope with heavier strings so the trem was locked up with a nice piece of wood, worked wonders for the sustain.
Personally I like the bridge humbucker with some of the bass rolled off to give a jangly sound.

Overall action, fit and finish are great for the price. Friends with more expensive guitars were well impressed with the guitar considering its price.

No issues so far.

never needed to use them

Lets not forget, this is a beginners guitar for very little money and for that alone you can't fault it. No one wants to spend a fortune to find out that they're never going to be able to play or playing guitar is not for them. I've been playing nine months and I'm now treating myself to something special, a 330 Ric, but I'll always keep the Yam because it was my first guitar. When looking at similar priced guitar packages, my kids piano teacher recommended the Yamaha,in fact he recommended anything Yamaha as they make educational instruments which are economical, durable and have a good sound, he wasn't wrong.
If it was lost or stolen I would probably buy something else but only on the grounds that guitar is for me and the Yamaha served it purpose well.
My boss has a vintage SG complete with broken headstock and he has borrowed it on occasion and he rates it, to the point he has given up trying to get the SG repaired and is buying something new to get back into guitar playing.
If you're looking to take up the guitar, buy the ERG 121 and a good lead, you can't go wrong at the price.

My first electric guitar. Bought as starter pack with practise amp about eighteen months ago. H/S/H configuration which at the time I thought would suit. Controls ( Tone and volume only )very basic as would be expected for a cheap guitar. Gig bag supplied which is quite useful but amplifier lead of very poor quality. Pickups appear to be of Yamaha manufacture. Tremlo not used on advice of a friend who warned me about tuning problems. Scored seven on the basis that you cant expect a lot for what I paid

I love Blues music and really go for the humbucker sound. On this guitar I found neck H/B a big dissapointment which is why I am moving to a SE 350 with H/S/S configuration. Bridge H/B sounds good even through 8 watt amp but middle very week. I solve this problem by buying Marshall MG30DFX which really gave all pickups a lift. It seems a general complaint which I agree with that it is very noisy at bottom end but again what do you expect for this kind of money

Fortunately i have a friend with guitar experience because both pick up height and action required some work but once done it has performed well enough. One of the winding pegs is sloppy and this can cause problems when tuning

Not serious knocks so hard to tell but paint finish seems very good though the guitar would benefit from a pickguard. With exception of tuning peg mentioned above everything seems well put together

Not used

I am getting rid of this guitar which I am replacing with another Yamaha.I only play guitar for my own amusement and this guitar would have suited me for ever but for pickup config which is the reason I have bought a 20 year old SE 350

* A japaneese guitar, yet made in china.
* 22 frets on this baby
with volume control, tone, and a 5-way selector
* the pickup configuration is (H/S/H)
* tremolo

bought it in 2004

any guitar (almost any guitar) can suit your playing with the right amp and effects to i'll comment on the CLEAN sound only, and it's pretty damn good :)

everything's good about the guitar except that the pick-ups fitting sucks. if u play hard or for 8 or 9 straight hours they "fall" into the guitar. u have to "raise them up" a little bit and lock that position with the "pickups-heights-adjusting-bolt" (dunno it's actual name :D) so i can say it's not an A-Class guitar, that's forsure

the guitar fell like a BILLION times and it still sounds good :) so i'd have to say that's a pretty tough bad boy. however it fell bec. of the strap. i dont know it the strap buttons are the problem or the strap itself but it seems it cant hold on for a long time soi would reccomend usin it on gigs :D u dont want your guitar to fall on the ground infront of the crowd :S

the weren't of much help

it is definately the BEST beginners guitar (based in features/ sound /and VALUE) but for more professional playin u might wanna go with something else.

it was made in 2001 I think in japan
22 frets
solid top
volume ; tone ; 5 way selector
H/S/H
pick up's are the same of same ibanez
passive electronics
neck is maple
black
it is like a strato
strato bridge
strato tuners
and strato selector.

I usually play blues or rock
I usually use a matcheless hurricane amp.
with the single coil pickup the sound is clear and quite bright,
with the neck humb. my guitar can make a tipical blues sound
with the bridge humb it can make a rockenroll sound, and
on intermedie positions it makes jazz sounds
I've played lots guitars, like usa tel, custom shop strato, les paul, rickenbacker and musicmaster,
and my little guitar has agood sound.
her sound is too good for the guitar as it is.

the action was very good
the bridge isn't very good, and pickups hurt my pick when i play, because there are 3 pickups
I have to chord my guitar rarely

the giutar is very good to play live performances, but it hasn't 'battipenna' like strato.
I use it with secure strap buttons
I've change one time the 5 way selector with a strato one.

I don't know

I bought this guitar like first guitar, now i've a usa tele, but i usually play with my yamaha
i love this guitar because when youa re playing live you can make lots of sounds, and it has a aggressive or honey sound, it depends

Used ERG 121, generic strat shape, 22 fret, H-S-H configuration, 5-way selector, all black, beautiful finish for a low price guitar, no pickguard. Can't tell what the body wood is but must be cheap, however, not too light, typical nice thin Yamaha neck, cut-price alloy bridge, jack socket on body edge. Not sure what the fretboard is made of, a cheap grade of rosewood or rosewood look-a-like, but smooth feel.

Play this through a Marshall and a decent effects unit - sounds like a more expensive guitar - that's the thing about a some (not all) modern low cost guitars - you can make one guitar sound like another, and save yourself a lot of money. But there's always the name thing - we often buy names and models instead of just buying guitars - advertising and branding are so powerful in the world of guitars, along with snobbery. Still, Yamaha are a good name to consider. This erg121 has a smooth sound, not too bright, the pickups are surprisingly good. Bridge pickup has the typical creamy Yamaha sound, neck humbucker has a bit more growl than single coil in middle. I use light gauge strings, so can't comment on what would happen with heavy gauge strings.

The guitar was in mint condition, just lightly covered in dust from lack of playing use. Pickups set at right height, reasonably low action, frets well finished, no sharp edges (better than some other cheap guitars - watch out!). The only thing is, the fretboard wood smells like wild animal dung!! What is that! Tried lemon oil and other liquids, smell still comes back. Some kind of weird far-eastern jungle thing going on here. Tuners not too bad, bit unstable with prolonged wild string bends, but what you would expect anyway. No real complaints about hardware.

Most players would probably not turn up to a gig with this guitar - not enough "cool" (that word was pretentious and out of date by 1974 - people now using it again!!). No, now you have to arrive at the venue with your battered, crap sound "vintage" plank or a new #2000 "boutique" or custom plank - anything except a low-price guitar which might spoil the "image". Alternatively, find some obscure, hardly-known guitar model from years gone by that keeps 'em all guessing.

Contacted them once to get a replacement trem for a Pacifica - good communication, trem came by first class post, and good price.

Been playing on and off for about 32 - 33 years. If you haven't got a lot of money then consider this guitar - it will serve you well if you don't abuse it. Great guitar for practice, and I wouldn't hesitate to gig it. Yamaha usually have very high quality standards, but if you have any doubts about this guitar there are others made by them, that are not too expensive. Of course, if you try more expensive guitars from Yamaha and other manufacturers, and you like them, then thats your choice if you have the money - there's so many good guitars to choose from these days, at different price ranges. Sometimes it takes a while to know if you like a guitar or not. Sometimes you pick one up in a guitar shop and the assistant has to wrestle you to get it back off you.

General features of a strat rip off, 22 frests, 1 tone 1 volume knob, 5-way-selector, string-thru-body, but with a very $%^&!@ bridge.
Came with Lead, Gig Bag and GA10 amp.

It buzzes, i don't mean fret buzz, I mean it just makes the amp buzz (With any amp) like crap, mainly on the humbucker settings, But it seems to add more distortion.
It's sort of the kind of guitar you'd give a 10-year old going through a rock phase knowing full well it'd be in the back of the warddrobe in a few months.
And there is also a lot of fret buzz. The string tension is awfull.

When I got it I had no idea what action was. So I just played it like that. Eventually I decided to raise the pickups (During a point where I decided I wanted to sound like Rhandy Rhoads).
For a factory set up everything was pretty good. Fret wire perfect, quite a nice fingerboard, nut cut fine. Tremelo was a #$%^& though, it knocks out of tune if you dive.

I think I could throw this out of my window and it only come off with a few dints. Strap buttons are great, finish would last forever, very solid.
Although due to neglect the fingerboard is begining to rot.
Wouldn't gig it. Except for a joke.

Didn't deal with them.

I've been playing a year and only get it out when my younger cousins come around and I don't want them to touch my fender or wesley.
It got me startered on guitar, I don't regret getting it, as my first guitar, it got me a talent. In the future i'd see myself sticking stickers all over it and having it signed by somone and sticking it to my wall.
I loved the sturdyness of this guitar and it's sentimental value. But that's about it.
And it was a christmas present.

2005 Chinese-made 22 fret HSH with volume and tone controls and a five-way selector. Apart from the pickups, this is a purebred Strat knockoff. It came with a gig bag, cheap practice amp and cable, tuner, a few picks, an Allen wrench for truss rod adjustment, and an extra set of strings. For a beginner, this is all you need and a lot more.

I tend to play classic rock (the worst this has been through would be some AC/DC tunes). Don't expect to play live with this unless you want to be laughed at; the low E string will develop a distinct buzz after a month or so (even played open!) and it won't go away no matter how you try to set up the thing. If you can get over that, you'll learn to live with the sound (at least in a practice setting).

Initial setup was mostly ok; I needed to adjust the intonation slightly (this is painful, as the adjustment range on the bridge is pathetic), and the pickups were adjusted a little bit for height to match personal taste. Other than that, I've noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

The finishing has chipped slightly already, and I can see this wearing off extremely quickly (it's a cheap beginner's guitar; do you expect it to last)? As a consequence, I don't expect this to last more than two or three years, and I'll be surprised if I still have it by then. It certainly gives off the impression of being well built otherwise, however.

I haven't needed to deal with them, and probably won't need to do so.

I have had this for two or three months and have been thrilled with it as a starting point, and would not hesitate to recommend this to individuals who are looking to see whether or not they would have an interest in guitar playing. The price combined with the flotilla of accessories it comes with makes the thing a steal. If anybody were desperate enough to steal it (haha, not likely), I'd go out and buy a real Stratocaster (which is probably what I'll do in the future anyways). Still, it has served me well thus far in my capacity as a beginning player and probably will continue to do so.

Made in Taiwan
22 frets
solid-top
Volume, tone, 5-way selector
pickup configuration h/s/h
Yamaha passive pickups
agathis body ( whatever it is) and rosewood neck
Elegant black finish
standard vibrato bridge
yamaha non-locking tuners
25,5 scale
For the price it is a great value. It allows You to try many sounds like double and single coil pickup configutions and vibrato bridge. Thanks to this guitar now i know what kind of guitar I really need. Because of this and price i give it 10.

I was palying difrent kinds of music. Nu-metal, punk, industrial, jazz, blues, You name it. Actually I'm a songwritter in two bands. One is playing pop ( something like mix of the police ang queen), another one plays music like godspeed you black imperror and silver mt zion. My rig is: dunlop crybaby wah, e-bow plus, yamaha dg-stomp, crate gx10 practice amp or marshall
valvestate 100. Noisy only on single coil settings. Bridge pickup very agressive and chunky with 11 strings. Single coil is quite nice, on drive channel sounds like early hed pe ( chad benekos ). Neck pickup is very full and dark, i'm using it only on clean channel. If you play well you can get good harmonics. For the price you get bags of sounds. I like it very much, indeed. But After 5 great years of playing on this i had to get better guitar. I like everything in this instrument. I still play on erg121. For sure better than ibanez low-budget guitars. No regrets.

Action was a little bit to high for my taste. Pickup had to be adjusted.
Great neck for the price. I like manny playbilities in this guitar. Of course it will be hard to do double-tapping on this babe but what begginer would know how to do this trick? No complaints

Played gigs with this. No complaints except pickups selector. When you change it, you can hear noise.

Never had to deal with them

5 years playing this yamaha. If it were stolen i would replace it, especialy the new erg121 looks much better. My favorite feater is manny posibilities in sound. In its own class its a champion. If you are starting playing, buy it. There isn't anything better on the market.

I have here, a yamaha ERG 121. Not a very well known guitar perhaps but decent..Strat type, 22 frets, black gloss finish (without pickguard), trem unit. Made in Indonesia (not Japan as you may expect) and with a choice of three pickups - H S H, most likely generic Yahama made pickups. In so far as I know, the Fretboard is made of some wood which I have never heard of - not Maple or Rosewood and I'm not sure what the body is made of either. The Neck is some odd scale and the guitar came in a beginner's pack with a book and a tacky amp and lead.

I have played many styles as I learned (I am a fairly new guitarist) - but around 15 months of play have lent me some experience. Personally I lean towards the Indie style, and this guitar, although it does not suit it immensely, it is a fairly flexible instrument especially with the three pickups availiable. Now I'm not a tone hound but it is apparent with this guitar that the difference between each pickup is not.. huge and none of the sounds are spectacular. Its all you may expect from an inexpensive starter guitar. Mainly I play it using the amp supplied on the clean setting (I have pedals for effects) and the guitar is decent in most respects. The sound it makes when played clean is not bright and cutting, nor is it exceptionally rich or deep, and on gain settings the neck pickup - although it can produce nice sounds, muddies up... A LOT and the middle pickup has quite alot of noise. The bridge pickup however rings fairly clear. The 5 that I have given it reflects that it is a solid instrument.

SO far as my - not very expert eye can tell, the guitar is easily of merchantable quality, with my main faults being that the low E string buzzes against the fingerboard when played open, and also now my G string has an annoying habit of popping out of the nut when strummed hard enough. The finish gets scratched very easily. As is well known, nowdays even cheap Guitars made in indonesia and CHina can be made to a very high quality once only availiable in expensive instruments with the main difference between a nice Gibson Les Paul and an Epiphone example being probably the woods used (solid mahogany), the carved flame maple top rather than laminate and electronics.

AS yet I do not perform live, although I hope to, however I would probably buy a new guitar for performing. The guitar occassionally goes out of tune while you play, and must be retuned frequently, and at current my machineheads are becoming loose rather than feeling solid and well made. The strap has a tendancy of coming off on occasion meaning that I have nearly dropped my guitar several times.

Never dealt with the company. But I personally trust Yamaha

To be honest although I know enough abot guitars, in terms of playing many different guitars I havent experienced much. I must say that out of all the guitars I've played I like this one the least, but then thats because all the other guitars I've played are mid price ones. I've only been playing a short while and this guitar has been my faithful companion for the whole time so I do not own any other guitars. The main reason I bought this guitar is because it was under 200 Pounds and I did not want to buy the Squier Strat - to be different and because the Yamaha included a tutor book. If it were stolen or lost, I would simply buy a new guitar, not the same. Not because I dont like it but because it is simple a reliable staple guitar to get started; you grow out of it as you get better. A few other things to bring up about the guitar are that The 5 way selector switch is dodgy - if I wish to for example select the neck pickup, if I move the switch to the extreme, the guitar will cut out so to use the neck pickup I must make sure I havent pushed the 5 way selector switch too far. In addition.. I HATE THE BRIDGE, of all the birgdes I have played it id the least comfortable. The screws on the top scratch you palm when you mute and the whole bridge is not comfortable to rest your palm on while you play. one last qualm is the Jack plug, which is also a bit dodgy, however this could have been due to the cable which was supplied with it. however I have now bought a new cable and have nmot yet experienced the same problems. Over all Verdict - a decent guitar to startwith and one I would recommend to any starting guitarist - low price and decent quality and a range of sounds - single coil to humbucker, but the guitar wont take you far. BUY LEARN IMPROVE ENJOY REPLACE!

I've already posted a review of this guitar down below somewhere.
So this is an update.

I'm only going to say what has happened in the meantime.
I've had this guitar for about 16 months now I think.

In the meantime I've modified the guitar in both serious and not-so-serious ways.

Firstly, I've scalloped the neck.
If you don't know what a scalloped neck is - think of there being like a gouge, a valley, between each fret, so that your fingers never actually touch the wood. Great for vibrato and bending, because there's no friction to stop you. I did this with one of those Dremel things, you know, like a drill with a sanding bit on the end. It only took a day, and the results are marvellous, if only I didn't accidentally eat into some of the frets slightly.

I've also done miscellaneous other things, like replace the knobs with white ones (more interesting than stock black) as well as the pickup switch.

I think that's all I've changed.

Thing is, I'm still playing this guitar through the original ten watt Yamaha GA-10 amplifier. Now, I really like this guitar, and it annoys the hell out of me that Yamaha could do this to me, but the amp is nothing short of...think of a really antisocial word and then combine it with useless.
Yes, this is supposed to be about the guitar, I'm just saying that I can't comment because since my last review I have grown in my musical appreciation and no realise just how bad the amp is. It has never heard of high frequencies. So I can't comment on the guitar's sound.

By the way, the scalloping of the neck did not affect the sound in any way that I've noticed.

I can't remember how the guitar was set up originally, but it was basically fine. I think I currently have the action set higher than it was originally because I went the Malmsteen route (did you know he uses sky-high action?) and I've found I like it for bending and vibrato.

I don't know of any flaws that came with the guitar.

Here comes the reason for the review.

The bridge, which is similar to a standard fender "tremolo", seems to have very little range. Even if I push the bar all the way down to the paint the strings still have a lot of tension in them. I've seen other people with other guitars pushing the bar down and the strings actually go slack - they droop. This strikes me as either really cack-handed design or...no, that's all it could be.

But that is not what caused me to write this review.
This is:

I have just broken the whammy bar off.
Through only the occasional heavy use (I hardly even touched the thing for maybe 14 of those 16 months) the arm has just snapped off, leaving the remains of the screw thread in the bridge, which I guess I cannot now get out. So I need a new bridge. Which means I need a new guitar, because there's no point in spending that much money on this one.

I wish this hadn't happened, because otherwise I really like this guitar. I like Yamaha in general, but the revelation that the amp is ridiculous and the bridge was designed badly and didn't work ideally and the whammy bar just broke off kind of leaves me feeling a bit sour, you know?

I would love to recommend this guitar to people, because it plays really well and through a good amp might even sound very good. But if other people have the same trouble with the bridge, it's not worth it.

The bridge is a vital part of the guitar, however, it IS the only thing that has gone wrong. No, it's not, the pickup switch is crackly and somewhat dodgy as well. Otherwise everything is pretty good.

I haven't dealt with the company, and I'm not going to bother either. I've modified the guitar, which is probably not covered by warranty, if the warranty is even still valid, and besides that, I don't think I even have whatever it is I need to claim the warranty.

I've been playing altogether for nearly two years now, had this guitar about 16 months.
I wish to hell I could have tried the amplifier that came with it with someone who really knew what they were talking about so that I would have been told that it was rubbish.
In my other review I said that I tried other amps and guitars which didn't sound any better. I now know that the problem was my treatment of those amps - I didn't understand how they might be better, so it didn't occur to me what was better about them.

If it were stolen now, I'd buy a new, better guitar and amp because my skill has improved.
Damn the bridge. Damn it to hell.

But that's really the one thing I've been disappointed with. If Yamaha announced they had improved the bridge radically, it would be a fabulous guitar.

It's a 'Strat Copy' but with HSH pickups and only 1 volume and 1 tone control. It was made in Indonesia and not Japan. The reason I mention this is because I was extremely impressed at its build quality and craftsmanship; as good as anything in this price range from Japan.

I think there are 2 types you can buy, one comes with 10w amp, lead, gig bag, cd+book and the other also includes a tuner, strap and picks. I got the former, which was a bit naff to start with.

This is a beginners guitar set. However, beware. Keep the CD for the backing tracks and throw away the book immediately, along with the cheap unscreened lead. Buy a professional 20' lead (#6-10). The book merely tries to teach power chords ONLY. On learning the guitar, all beginners must start the same way as all players, with true open chords, using three chord theory and then progress to moveable (barre) chords once proficient. ONLY THEN can you afford to start playing power chords. Fact: You ain't going to learn overnight and it ain't as easy as you thought it would be.

A little note for beginners. If, when practicing, the lesson is beginning to get boring through repetition, it is at this point that you begin to actually build skill, finger memory and your own expressive style. The 'bored' point is in fact the start of the lesson you are on. Don't try too hard to understand, just trust me. To replace the book, go online and download some FREE lessons or just buy a good 'Rythme Guitar book'. You can only truely play lead guitar, with a firm understanding of Rythme. Oh, always, always, always practice with a metronome or beat machine, also downloadable.

I've rated the guitar and amp 6 only because they have basic features and not because they are poor in any way.

I play rock, ballads and blues and this guitar handles each of them very well indeed. At the time of writing this, I was playing AC/DC and White Stripes (WS)and this 'Yammi' performs excellently with the Bridge HB selected. The neck HB is great for the rythme sections of WS although it could have been a tad more powerful. I don't use the 10w amp it came with but instead bought a Peavey 15w Rage III transtube, which really does this axe justice. That said, the 10w amp is perfectly suited for learning on. I just don't like the distortion setting.

It was set up OK, straight out of the box. However, I need fast low action to pull of lead work, runs and improvisation. So I got it set up at my local shop - they did it for nothing (bonus).

I can tell you that, for the beginner, the initial set up will do and your learning will not be hindered, even with the cheap stock strings, until you get to the higher positions. Here, you might want to change to different, quality strings and lower the action (dependant on style).

Note to beginners on strings: if you change the strings to a different guage, you will effect the alround playability of the guitar due to the different tension. This will mean that you may (will) need to alter the action. Once you have settled on your type of string and have set up the guitar how you like, stick to the same guage and brand (I use Gibson strings and buy in bulk - 5 or 10 packs a time because it is cheaper and they are airlocked and so store for ages).

The rest of the guitar is excellent. All hardware is stable and does its job. I don't really use the tremolo arm. The only critical point I have for the hardware is that the single coil pick up is very noisy.

The finish is superb and I like the fact that it has no pick guard; gives it a 'raw' appeal.

I have only owned this guitar for 2 months and don't gig. I'm a house player only (hobbyist). Because of this, I cannot really comment on it's gigging reliability or whether the finish will last with lots of play.

That said, The finish does dent easily if you are not careful. I will also be changing the strap buttons to lockable ones as it has fallen off a couple of times.

The score I have given is reflective of the performance of this guitar for the actual time I have had it and my comments previously.

Never needed to call on them.

Overall, this is a great guitar for both biginner and player on a budget. It is solid enough, has good pickups and can play straight out of the box. There are minimal controls, which is good and you get all you need to start.

The centre single coil pick up is too noisy and the book should be destroyed as it gives the beginner a false understanding of guitar.

This guitar can handle all styles from metallica ballad to AC/DC within the confines of your own home.

If your max budget is less than twice the cost of this set, buy this guitar, and spend some of your considerable change on the recommendations in my review.

I have been playing for 11 years on and off. I have had the following guitars:

1993 - Spanish nylon string - Learnt classical on this.
1994 - Squire sunburst Strat - Japanese.
1996 - Yamaha FG413S - Lovely, bright tone.
1998 - Squire Black Strat - Japanese - sold it for the Aria.
1998 - Aria Pro 2 w/FRT - a very nice beast.
1999 - Squire White Strat - Chinese (Crap) - Bought it and sold it.
1999 - gave it all up and sold all equipment to concentrate on work.
2004 - Yamaha FG413S - Separated from wife and so..... what the hell.
2005 - Yamaha ERG 121 - really getting back into it.
2005 - Korg AX100g multi effects + Peavey Rage III amp.
Future: Take apart ERG 121 and replace pickups with Epiphone LPs.
Save for a Gibson SG - ala AC/DC.

As to when this guitar was made i dont know, but being a yamaha i can tell you it was produced in Japan. The ERG 121 has 5 pic-ups. i think im right in saying it has one humbucker for a neck pic-up. The pic-ups i use mainly are the central and saddle pic-up (the one nearest the saddles). It features a laminated top and has a typical fender shaped body. The strings thread through the body for easy re-stringing and there are no annoying locking tuners. (i say annoying because it takes time to tune with locking. even if it is worth it. they wear down over time). I bought this asian babe from a shop called Jail House Rock which is located in Tenterden, Kent about 4 years ago. It came with a venom lead and squire amp all for the price of #160. It has, obviously, a pic up selector. This let me down about two years ago and since then has had a tendencie to crackle when changing pic up. I sorted this out with some WD 40 but the problem still persists today.

This guitar has a very nice sound and because of its many pic ups can alter to suit many different sounds. I prodominately play rock/grunge(yes, still) and a little of everything else so it goes down a treat. Im currently using a Line 6 Spider 2. The two arnt best suited for each other, and i am currently looking to up-grade to a nicer guitar make. But because the two are so versatile in their sound output i can usually muck around with dials and get a great tone. The pic ups are now giving out alot and feed back is a major problem for me. To fight this i usually turn the master volume down on the guitar to about 7 or 8. this usually solves the problem.

When i first got this guitar (about 4 years ago) it was a fantastically made product. They did it justice in the factory for sure. Everything was where it sould be on fist purchase and as i look at it now i can see how well it has done after what ive put it through. The only flaw i can think of has to be the pic up selector. it didnt last that long. (2 years) considering when i first got the guitar i was just starting out playing. As i said a bit of WD 40 did the trick but it must have been a loose wire connection that made it crackle.

I should think the guitar would at first be great for live performances. now i would be a little cautious because after all the wear and tear the saddles have developed a bough (sharp point) and this cuts the strings right in half. i solved this with a file and just lightly sanded down the saddles but i would definately be worried about it happening live. then, me being only with one electric would have to call the gig off. ouch.

the strap buttons become loose over time but you can fix this just by screwing them on harder. One thing i can say about the finish is that it is as strong as a bull! it hasnt worn down at all! there is no scratch plate so the body is a mess but because it is black you would have to look real close to make out anything.

I have never needed to return this instrument as it has never broken down on me. I have no experience with warrenty or custtomer services.

I have been playing for about 4 years now. I own a great little 75 watt Line 6 amp (spider 2). If it was stolen or lost then i wouldnt get another one, id upgrade to something more in the standard of my playing. i love its durabilty and sound. it was either that or a squire. I had no real experience at the time. but my school had a squire that was all beaten up. i went with the yamaha.

22 frets.
Volume, Tone, 5 way switch for HSH pickups.
"Tremolo" device with string-through. (Non-locking, I guess).
What I'd call a "Yamaha" body style, appropriately. Like a Strat only with deeper cutaways I think.
Comes with 10 Watt Yamaha GA 10 amp, probably about a 3 metre cable, gig bag, some not-so-great learn to play guitar booklet (with cd).

This was my first electric guitar, chosen because it was cheaper than the common opposition. This is worth noting because this is very much a beginner's guitar. I had a good laugh when someone mentioned a vintage Les Paul in the same breath. Yeah, man, because there's not going to be much difference between a 300 euro guitar and a 2,000 euro one! Can't you feeeeel the sarcasm.
So anyway, because this is a beginner's guitar, it is almost perfect, in my opinion. It can provide almost any sound you like, but you might call it jack of all trades, master of none. It can make any sound, just none absolutely brilliantly. If you're a beginner you probably won't know what you're missing, so it doesn't matter. I play a lot of Led Zeppelin stuff, and dear Mr. Jimmy Page has a Les Paul, and I still feel comfortable playing everything of his on this guitar. The neck humbucker makes a great deep, bassy tone that reminds me of a Les Paul. If I come over a bit gentle Mark Knopfler-ish, the centre single coil pickup is fine. For the harder Led Zep stuff and all metal, in fact, the bridge pickup is called for, and it really works for me.
I tend to have the tone control up nearly full all of the time, somewhat negating its value, and now that I have progressed from a pure beginner, only having one volume knob can be frustrating, but you should learn to work around it.
The amp, in my opinion, is pretty good, although I admit that I only really play it in small places (like my bedroom) so it might very well get drowned in a much larger room, but this is a practise amp, after all. It only has master volume, treble and bass knobs, but to me they work brilliantly, providing massive variations in sound. Think of the clean/drive button as being like a limiter. With it in clean mode, you can turn everything up full without distortion, but it might not even be half as loud as maximum on the drive setting. In drive mode you can play clean too, of course, but start turning up the volume on the guitar and with the excessive volume you get distortion. This probably sounds obvious but to a complete beginner (like I was) it's valuable information, methinks. So an 8 for being able to provide masses of variation in sound, without quite being able to make the best of anything. Ask this guitar to sound like Carlos Santana's PRS and it'll look at you blankly. But then, that's a PRS. Loads of variation, but a bit "thin" perhaps.

I didn't adjust anything after getting this guitar, I just went with the flow. Moving to this from a spanish acoustic was incredible, because the neck feels like it's about half as wide on this, which made it much easier for me. Now that I'm more experienced, and my fingers are more used to contorting in strange ways, I find it doesn't matter as much, but it was useful for me as a beginner and I still love it.
Frankly I don't like the tremolo device much, but I don't know whether that's just this one or all trem devices.
The main problem is tuning. Beginners beware, because the strings are connected to springs in the back of the guitar, the tension across all six strings always stays the same. So if the guitar is out of tune, and you "sharpen" one string up to the proper pitch, all the others go flat. Repeat to fade. This is the same, to a greater or lesses extent, with all trem devices, so the question really is whether you want to use it. I'm half thinking of sticking something under the device to lock it in place. This might affect the sound though. My ears might not notice. So a 7 because it's really easy to play, everything's great in that respect, but I personally don't like the trem.

The one thing that appears to have gone wrong is that the pickup selector switch sometimes denies knowledge of the bridge pickup, which would make me a little wary of using it in front of a crowd, but since i don't do that, it doesn't really bother me. A few seconds with a screwdriver in the back of the guitar cured that problem anyway. I just bent the connector plate slightly so that it presses harder against the connectors. It always worked if I jiggled the switch anyway.
I can't say I mistreat this guitar, rather it recieves the utmost caution not to bang it against things, so I don't know whether it'd have any complaint about that, and I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt, so to speak. An 8 because the pickup switch is the only little thing that went wrong and can be cured easily enough, but it's such a simple thing you'd think they'd have made it better.

Never dealt with them. Never had any need to.

I've been playing the guitar altogether for a bit over a year now, I've had this one for about ten months I think. The previous guitar was an acoustic. I still use the original GA 10 amp, which serves me well. Interestingly, the set of strings that came with the guitar lasted me nine months or so. The next set of Ernie Balls lasted two weeks. Strange. I still use Ernie Balls by the way. If they're good enough for Jimmy Page, they're good enough for me.
If this guitar were stolen I dunno what I'd do, considering that I can't afford a new one now. But if I were to get a new one, I'd probably get a different, more expensive one, because this is my beginner's axe. Time to move up to something more expensive. But if I had to make the same decision I did months ago, then yes, I'd most definitely buy this guitar again. It's brilliant for a beginner. I cannot think of anything really that makes it unsuitable.
I've played a few guitars now, one an Epiphone SG and I think (it was a while ago when I didn't know anything about guitars) an Epiphone Les Paul, the latter through a Peavey fairly-decent-sized amp, not sure about the former. Frankly, I though both sounded rubbish compared to the Yamaha, but I didn't have much time with either, I'll admit. Another thing I should tell you is that I rarely have the amp at full volume in clean mode, and I would worry for my ears' safety at anything above halfway on the drive channel with the guitar volume turned up full. It really seems monstrously loud for such a little thing. Oh, one thing. I've tried this amp with a few different sets of headphones and a gold plated adaptor plug and all sound rubbish. I haven't tried this with any other amp, so I don't know whether all amps sound crap through headphones, but this one really doesn't do much justice to itself through them. It's fine for hearing yourself play, in that you can hear notes fine, obviously, but if you want to hear a nice sound, plug out the headphones.
This guitar can go from what I think are beautfiful cleans to stun-gun distortion, although sometimes I do think it would be nice to have even more distortion than it provides. Compared to a Squier something something, also in the Argos catalogue, this is cheaper, comes with a gig bag (but no strap, annoyingly), and can probably make a larger variation in sounds, because the Squier only has single coil pickups. If you want the classic Strat sound, get the Squier, if you want a cheapy Les Paul or you just want to play the damned electric guitar and experiment, get this one. My only personal thing is that I'd prefer if it had a solid bridge instead of a trem.

Already been mentioned loads of times...
came with a Gig bag, and a few leads..

Neck is nice and fast - colour is black so it looks pretty decent.
2 humbuckers so good for metal/rock whatever...
also came with a tremelo which is always good i guess..

Sounds good/average for pretty much anything!
I used to play it thru a shittey amp, but now ive got a second hand Marshall Valvestat VS100 so it sounds fuckin good now..
i Play mostly Metal, rock n shit like that....an i can play all of that shit perfectly fine. Im also in a Band an my other guitarist has an ibanez, but seeeing as my guitar was half the fuckin price i rekon i got a beter deal!

Clean channel isnt the best, but good for metallica n shit like that - it sounds pretty good in general really.

Guitar was made fine!
neck is pretty fuckin fast, strings are kinda basic but what do u expect for the money!
Pickups arent really the best i guess but they are good enuf - put it into the humbucker an im good..
Everything else is good an reliable

never had any problems with this Guitar so far after 2 years...
id use it for a gig probably if my band ever gets good enuf...
The strap buttons arent as good as they could be - every so often the strap would fall off while im playing which fuckin sucks...

Other than that its fuckin awesome! no dents or chips or anything yet! an im always bangin it against stuff!

never had to deal with em, no problems so far....

ive been playing this Guitar for about 2 years, if it were stolen apart from being pretty pissed off - id buy a Jackson, maybe a Jackson Kelly or some sort of ESP (if i can ever get the money)..
This is a fuckin awesome first guitar! good value, youll be rockin in no time!

made in indonesia i believe, 22 frets, laminated top, volume, tone, 5-way selector controls, came with the weakest amp i've ever seen(ga-10), a tuner, cables that lasted about two months...

this is the first guitar i ever bought, so i didnt' really have a sound that i was looking for. everything sounded awful going through the ga-10. ( i later bought a better amp, it still didn't sound up to par.) this is a very weak guitar, it is good for punk, or maybe metal.. dont even think of playing this baby clean.

i'm glad the action is like is, you will become a fast player if you have this guitar. i believe it's only available in black, but it chips and dents easily, covered mine up in stickers.

this guitar did awesome for about a year, although i really wasnt playing it much. the high e tuning peg snapped, the pickup selector makes the most godawful noise when you change pickups. the neck pickup caved in after about a year, theres nothing holding it in but wire, and it would fall forward and hit the strings. i hold it fast with bandaids.

didnt even try.

this was my first guitar. i've been playing for 2 1/2 years. if it were stolen or lost, i would not get a new one. i am really past that stage in my playing. i bought this because the guitar looked good, and so did it's price. it's a great first guitar, but after you learn the basics, you really should look into getting something else. this is not a bad guitar at all, but take it for what it is: a starter. i'm getting a yamaha aes620 here in a few days. yamaha makes quality guitars. but again, this is a starter guitar and for chump change you get a chump guitar.

2 humbucking and 1 single pick-up
5 way sellector
BRILLIANT neck!
good sound
black finish

good sound for my style of music (nirvana, guns n roses, thin lizzy etc.)
i use a mini marshall amp what sucks cock so i need to get a 40watt plus
i like the wiry noise it makes

very well set up
quite small action
every thing in good condition

this guitar lasts for donkeys years, it fell down my stairs in the flat and lived to rock on
not very good original strings so i reccomend elixar coil-wound stings

i dunno

22 frets
1 volume 1 tone 5 way
bridge humbucker, mid single, neck humbucker
black finish

it's the only guitar i've really played so..... i play like grunge and stuff. I hit my guitar on something (i can't remember what, i think it was my head) and the neck pick up came loose on one side so now it just sort of falls into the guitar. No worries though, i never use that pickup

yah

i've had it for about 2 years ago and i've been pretty rough with it (i.e. hitting on verious objects, head butting it, punching it, hitting the strings with an open hand really hard) and it's still good

kah;ierhgn;arhng;adfg

For the specs see the other reviews :) No sence in repeating something already said

Comparing to the other guitars I've played, this one has the best possible sound- rich, wide ranged and clear. Although the single coil is a bit noisy, this guitar gives incredible power and accuracy(unlike some brands costing twice its price like fender). The fretboard is very strong and the frets dont wear out easily. I've had this guitar for an year and a half now and it still sounds as good as I first heard it in the store. I like the ERG a lot more than my Ibanez GSA20. I play the guitar for 14 years now and this is the best guitar I now have. The only exception is the best guitar I've ever had - BC Rich beast http://www.soundpad.co.uk/p_images/1751_photo_1.jpg

Although this black beaty really looks amazing, any kind of dust, fingerprints and so on is very noticible. Unfortunately I accidently hit it on a table and a very ugly scratch appeared, so I've done some artwork to cover it and now it's really cool and unique ;)

When you buy it you MUST correct its setup- you have to adjust the strings and the pickup heights and finely adjust the length of the strings and also the tension on the tremolo bridge in the back of the guitar. Said simply- you have to fit it for your needs and demands. No "fabrically adjusted" equipment should be used "as it is". At this point I have to mention that the single pickup sounds a bit quieter than the HBs, obviously, because its signal can't be as strong as the double pickups. So it should be a bit closer to the strings than the HBs in order to get equal output power.

The only disadvantage, which happens to every possible guitar I've had- including the Beast, ibanez and the stratocaster- the damn switch starts clicking if you push it during performance. It isn't noticible unless you play on a 600W amp system on a gig :) Believe me, don't play with switches on a gig when you're amplified, it could really mess up the fans' ears

The original strings that came with the guitar weren't as strong as I expected and the 1st string broke on a gig, but the guitar hasn't ever let me down. With the proper care it lasts many many years

Never dealt with the company, and I hope I won't need their help :)

As I play many styles- mainly death metal(Chuck Schuldiner is my favourite), melodic black(Dimmu Borgir for ex.), heavy and styles like Joe Satriani, Macalpine and Malmsteen, and very few times hard rock, this guitar has always sounded as I wanted it to sound- in my soloings and in the rhythm themes, I think it is very noticible in front of a whole lot of other brands- even some "most expensive" ones

Ok I've said the specs in Versions 1 + 2 of this post

Now corrected : MDF body is actually Agathis, a close relative of Alder which is as good for making guitars as balsa is for making kickproof furniture. Its about the same density and weight as balsa too. . . Oh, and the neck is great. If you find one second hand, get it for the neck. I wouldnt spend more than #50 on it though. use it for a project or something. Make your own guitar.

Im a grunge guitarist. This passes, but miserably. Its also just about livable for anything. The pickups are pathetic, but then its been trashed about alot so oh well. The single coil broke. the coil wire just snapped short of the connection. Am gonna resolder it.

It was set up fine I guess. finish looks nice on purchase. scratches like hell, chrome doesnt wear off easily though. rubbish hardware but the neck is OK. Get a floyd rose bullet truss nut and fit it to a guitar with an FL trem. . . Oh and the woods a waste of time. mine was badly routed for the neck and the wood is literally as soft as balsa. The spacing between neck and the neck 'bucker broke. Its glueing together on my floor right now. . .

Dont even think about using this guitar as new live. maybe if you change PUs, selector, fix bridge, replace pots, tuners, add an extra string tree, rewire electronics and fit straploks, it might last 2 or 3 gigs before something broke. but I stress this again, the neck is fine. If you build it onto another guitar, then you are rescuing it.

I'm not even gonna bother.

I've been playing 2 years. I've had this guitar 6 months. I'm buying a squier jagmaster. My list of guitars to buy. just dont buy this one. Its not worth mor ethan #50 for the neck.
Grunge: Squier Jagmaster
Metal: " " Fat Stratocaster
jazz: Ibanez Semi acoustic
Blues Squier Affinity Strat
Punk: Vintage Les Paul
Others: Squier Affinity Tele

These are all great guitars, even if they were a higher price. Trust me. This is not the guitar for you. I learned alot wwith it, but If I'd waited and bought a better guitar, It might have lasted alot longer. 6 months is a waste of money forget it.

Made in indonesia
22 frets
solid top
volume,tone and 5 way slector switch
its got 2 humbuckers and a sincgle coil
got a nice maple neack from the luks of it but not sure mite be summin cheaper but its one of the nicest necks ive played on
standard black finish
strat style body
got a strat style bridge, not very nice had to use with a whammy,not pleasent at all
its got poor tuners no very fluent feel rather stuck
neck is nice and thing and really smooth easy to move around on with a rosewood fretboard

with the pickups it has it sounds average nuthin too special on clean it really has no warmth to it on any of the settings,with distortion the guitar comes to life a bit more,but once agen if u want to get a wail of a solo out, this thing wont do it.

the guitar was set up fine, action is fine the pickups are ok not brilliant, the guitar seemed perfectly fine on purchase

well erm dont use this live for ur own good.i have had it a while and many cracks have appeared and dents, also the slector switch has a poor contact with the pickups and it has to be skilfully balanced for it to work,so not good if u wanna change settings quick.but its stays in tune which is a plus

no idea

basically this guitar was my first and it rocked at first,but then afta a year or so i realised it really wasnt good.i mainly use it to practise with now and treat it badly, chukin it about and stuff,but it withstands it all,just the obvious dents and cracks.my evenutal plan for this guitar and peice of advise for neone else with one is to change the pickups to seymour and duncans.and maybe the tuners too and then u will have a really great guitar,new pick ups would make this guitar sing.it has an ace neck and feel to it, so a shame about the poor pickups.

22 frets black guitar with only one volume knob and a 5way selector.
it has a humbucker in bridge and neck position and a single coil in middle. i think those are passive no-name pick-ups.
the body is some "more metall" design.
tuners are not locking.
very thin and good playing fretboard.

it suits my style more or less. cause i play punk and hard rock.
for grunge or alternative i would prefer another, this one is more for hard music.
i run it through a small practice amp it sounds quiet good.
the bridge pu is the best, very nice sound with some kinda reverb. the single coil is very crappy, but not distorted it seems better.

the stock wires were shit. with new good wires it's a better sound.
after a few weeks the selector becomes noisy, but with contactspray i could solve the problem.
anything else is quiet good

i never played it live, just at home.
the hardware is quiet good. but i'm afraid using the tremolo cause it doesn't look very stabile.
i use this guitar now for 1 1/2 year and besides the problem with the selector the motherfucker is tiptop.

never dealt with em cause it's a used guitar

it's quiet a good beginner, intermidate guitar.
more or less for punk and hardrock or metal, but not for blues or jazz. solid body and nice fretboard (very handsome).
the pus could be better but for 40 ? quiet a good deal.

2003 Indonesian MDF guitar with a solid top satin black body, a 21 fret maple neck with rosewood fingerboard HSH passive pickups. Classic Trem (now Locked down) 5 way switch (now replaced by an on/off toggle for each pickup) cheap vol / Tone pots (1 of each) now broken and in need of replacement after 2 months Standard tuners (badly made, uneven movement and now replaced with locking tuners) neck is a slim C-shape with a 25.5" scale length. Came with case (guess what? broken!) cheap unshielded lead (binned) Bad quality strings and tremolo bar. Yamaha GA-10 7 watt amplifier (ibanez clone like the guitar)

I love the way the humbuckers sound on this guitar. I run it through a Boss DS1 distortion, a Rockson CH-40 chorus and a coloursound Original Wah, and finally the original amp. The sound is bright, crunchy yet clear, and silent. until you select the single coil. This makes a nice strat tone, but is the noisiest single coil I've ever heard. And, to make matters worse, Im stuck with it since the threads gone on one of the screws so It's stuck there. At least till I can get it off somehow. . . . . Then I'll put a hot rail in or something.

The guitar was quite well set up at the factory but the bridge was pulled by the strings, meaning that I found it at 10 degrees in the air with the strings buzzing against the frets. now the bridge is locked, It sounds great and plays really well. The wood was of the most poor quality I've ever used, but then its made of MDF so what do you expect. The only real problems that I've found and cant fix are the facts that the body is made of MDF and the screws keep destroying the threads and becoming loose, and that the neck has been fitted a millimetre or so out of place. The only real disadvantage of this is that the strings go over the pickups slightly to one side, although they still go over the poles, and are slightly oddly angled to play.The stiff pickup selector has become the 3 nice toggles, And when I can, I will replace the 2 worn out pots and put new steel covers on them. The jack socket has come loose once or twice but this is two seconds work with a fingernail to tighten so i dont mind.

I have also replaced the strap nuts with locking nuts and a leather fender strap which can lock onto them. This means that i can play live without the guitar falling off. Because of all the replacement components of good quality, This guitar could quite easily withstand a gig. The strings I use are D'addario XLs, heavy to light guage, and make the guitar sound even better, as well as last a long time. There is only one electric guitar in my hands and thats this one. I cannot use a backup, because I dont have one. And anyway, I'm not sure what I'd do with it. . . It just wouldnt be the same. . . . .

Ack, screw them, I'm upgrading it myself.

Ive been playing for 2 years now, I own this guitar and an argoustic (dont ask. . . Its a cheap classical guitar which I changed to look like a steel string when i got bored) I would never replace thhis guitar. I would go out, save up and buy a Fender jazzmaster, and fit it with a fixed bridge and a pair of EMG81 Active humbuckers. I wish this guitar had come a little better made, I'd have gladly paid #200 for the guitar I nearly have now, If it had a better made body. It would be the same design, but in ALder with a metal flake or black finish. A better single coil would be good too, and forget about the amp. That guitar for #200 or even #250 - #300 would be well worth it. I made the mistake of buying this guitar and having to go through this laborious trial and replacemnet. Dont bother. Theres nothing worse than learning on a rubbish guitar and then being stuck with it and having it drag you down. Beginners, Dont buy a cheap guitar like this, buy something like a real mexican fender or a guitar that may cost alot, but trust me: will far outlive and outplay and be in general a hundred times better than something like this. Its a great sounding guitar, but it just wasnt worth the money.

I think this was made in Japan...
22 frets.
Laminated top.
One volume knob, one tone, 5 way PU selector
humbucker - single coil - humbucker

Plenty of features. Nothing spectacular though. I really love being able to switch from SC to HB in the flick of a switch. That's partly what sold me on this guitar.

My style is somewhat similar to Tool and Janes Addiction. I love that thin dry metallic tone. I like my tone to sound brittle and crisp, not lumpy and saturated.

On the SC PU it's quite noisy. If you can find the right position you'll be ok.

The sound is fairly basic. Doesn't really drastically sound like one thing or another. Just neutral...

The actuall look, feel, and durability of the guitar seems just fine. I'm using it in a 'studio' setting only and haven't had many problems.

The one thing that did bother me somewhat is the cable jack. Some internal parts came loose and I had to spend $15 to get it replaced and repaired.

I've had this guitar for 2 years and nothing seems loose or warped. Fairly solid.

I'm not sure if I would want to use this to play live. Considering the problems with the cable jack...
I'm sure that it would be fine without that one problem. And that's probably just me anyway.

The finish hasn't pealed off whatsoever. :)

I wouldn't use it without a backup.

Bought it at a local store. No problems so far.

I've been playing about 8 years. I also own a Yamaha acoustic, a Peavy bass, 2 amps, a delay pedal, and a home studio based on Cool Edit Pro.

If it were lost I would not get a new one. I'd save up my $ for something better. BUT, I would make sure that the new guitar, whatever it is, had the PUs in the exact same configuration as the ERG121.

Ok thes 20 reviews so I wont go into details, but I'm an intermediate but more of a beginner. I've been playing for a year now but I've been limeted in the amount of music I can do because of my guitar. I have a very old spanish, a family heirloom, a playable but barely #35 guitar from argos. I'll play anything from oasis to slipknot if it'll stand still long enough. The band I'm in kinda shares that sentiment, so thats what I do. I dont need a big guitar, and this one to me feels just right. I always liked strats, but they were just too rounded. Which is why I quite like this one. I have very little money, so I needed something that was cheap and came twith an amp. I can tune a guitar, so tuning wasnt a problem. Mine comes on friday of this week. It cost #140 from digital village. This is the standard pack. Frankly, If I find that the middle pickup and 5 way are poor quality, I'll get my guitar teacher to replace thewm for me when I've bought the new parts. I love this guitar. It's like Kurt Cobain when He got his Fender custom. It's my dream guitar. If I think the bridge is crap, I'll buy a floyd rose tremolo and get it fitted. It doesnt bother me too much.

I have no style in particular, and with a warm a crunchy and a clean pickup this is good for me. If there are any tuning or selector problems I'll get them sorted but a friend of mine has this guitar and he finds it fine!

I'll tell you that when i've got it but my friends is fine.

I have no backup! If it failed, We'd play with only a lead guitar. By what I've seen It'll last for as long as I need it. If I become a pro, I'll get a fender custom exactly the same as this one, only with better quality parts (real floyd rose, 2 grand pickups, maple capped body yada yada yada. . .)

Havent got a clue and dont care really, If something fails I'll soup it up when I replace it!!!

I havent finished getting my set up done yet, I dont ecven have the guitar yet, but i'll probably end up with something on the lines of: ERG121, some digital effects box or mebbe a pod, A marshall amp an My #50 phonic mixer for recording or gigs. I've been playing for a year. I need an electric. This is better than a strat. (they're made of MDF for cryin out loud!!!!!) It came complete, it cost #60 less than a strat, I like it better. It sounds better, I just wish the amp was a 10w marshall instead of a yamaha. I love this guitar in all it's glory. If i need to make it better electronics, I will! All hail yamaha for this almighty masterpiece.

This (my first guitar) came in a package which also had a Yamaha G-10 amp (crap), a tutor book + CD, a lead and a gig bag.
The ERG-121 is a black, Ibanez/Strat shape (H/S/H) made from basswood (i think), with a vintage vibrato bridge (strat style), and a slimish maple neck (25.5" scale) with a rosewood fretboard with 22 frets.
It has 2 ceramic humbuckers and 1 single coil in the mid position (all uncovered, non-wax-potted and passive), with a 5-way switch, 1 vol and 1 tone.
They could have included a strap, picks and maybe strings, but the guitar more than makes up for it.

The bridge PU is good for rock, metal and some clean stuff, as it is crisp and full sounding in distortion (my Laney HCM30R). Good when thicker strings are put on. It's a bit honky when digging into the strings hard on clean, but it is none-the-less versaltile.
The bridge/mid opt is good for a funk, strat like tone.
The mid PU is good for rythm (clean or dist) but is a bit thin for lead.The mid/neck is, again, thin sounding, for rythm.
The neck PU is good for blues licks and solos in overdrive etc., but it is quite muddy with chords. It is bassier and smoother than the bridge on clean, and not that muddy. It again, has a crisp kind of tone.
The pickups could have been wax-potted as they are a little noisy, but nothing unbearable.

The build quality of this guitar is above average for its price. I am impressed. The nut, electronics and tuners are all fine. I had to replace the selector switch cos it broke.
I had 10-52 Ernie Ball strings put on for lower tunigs, and it really improved the guitars tone (it came with 09's and a nice, lowish action). The frets are Jumbo or high (easier to play than my Epiphone G-400 with medium frets), and look well done, without any sharp edges. The balance is good too.
The vibrato is ok when used spraringly, but too hard and it affects tuning. I dont use it much anyway.

This guitar seems really solidly built; as above. The finish has several light dents in it. The guitar doesnt go out of tune easily; very good. It is also quite light (compared to eg, a Les Paul).

N/A

I've been playing for 2+ years now, and I still play this guitar. Its really solid and well built, and will seem to last. The black finish is smart, too.
I got this guitar instead of a Squier Strat package, and I'm glad I did. To me, it is more versatile than a Strat (the humbuckers are good) and, although the package was lacking a little, it's a great guitar. I now have an Epiphone G-400 (cherry) and it is not good, though not as versatile as the ERG-121.
If stolen, I would might buy again, but I would probably look into a different Yamaha model (Pacifia or RGX420s/D6).

Made in 2001 in Indonesia. 22 frets, H/S/H etc, etc, etc... See other reviews. Nice black finish. Features are pretty what you'd expect for the price (cheap,) maybe a bit more even.

I play black/death/thrash metal and such. I use a V-Amp2 for recording and occasionally an Ibanez TB15R 15-watt amp. The single coil pickup is awfully noisy but gives a nice clean sounds. The neck humbucker is pretty worthless, too little gain. Bridge pickup sounds rather good, although a tad noisy at times it is what I use and I'm reasonably satisfied with it for the price. With the ridiculous amounts of cheap digital distortion I usually use it's not as if more expensive pickups would really make that much of a difference anyway.

Very easy to play, that's basically it. I can't and won't go into details.

I've had this for more than a year now... What's happened is this:

* Cable jack thingie gets loose very easily. I think it should stay put now though.
* Tone control has become loose. Ironically I probably use the Volume control much more and that works just fine, so I assume that is built better...
* Pickup selector has become noisier and changing to the neck pickup doesn't always work. Not like I ever used that anyway though.
* Low E tuner has become sensitive as fuck. The guitar still stays in tune reasonably well though.

I couldn't really depend on this live for the above mentioned reasons... But it's not really designed for live playing either, and I don't plan on playing live.

Haven't dealt with 'em.

I have been playing more or less for about 3 years. This is my first electric guitar and looking back I wish I had bought something a TAD more expensive perhaps, but then again this was an infinitely better choice than some generic cheapo Strat clone for what I play. If it was stolen, I'd get something better. A not-too-expensive Gibson, Jackson or Ibanez probably. This is good stuff for the price but is not without its share of problems.

2001 Indonesian,
22 fret
voulme, tone and 5 way pickup selector
Pickups: H/S/H passive
Probably a plywood body
Black Double cutaway body, no pickguard
Start style trem
Comes with Gig bag and Yamaha 10W amp.

It is a starter guitar so what can you expect, it sounds worse than a pacifica but better than any squire I know. I started off using the original amp and it was awfull, very low gain, though when using higher gain amps and effects it gets better. Clean is good anyway. The pickups make a lot of noise, expecially the middle single coil. You cant expect much for the price.

One of the best playing guitars Ive ever played, though I learnt on this gutar so its not suprising. Epiphones have a much less comfortable neck, the neck on this guitar is superb. Finish on it is good, basic, but good.

The pickup selector makes a lot of noise after some use but appart from that the only problem Ive had over the last one and half years is the strap button, which I replaced with strap locks anyway, coming loose, pretty solid Id say, though I take care of it.

Never delt with them.

Very good first guitar, could use better pickups and pickup selector, but a very nice guitar to play and well built, Id say the use the same necks as on the pacifica. Ideal starter pack appart from the amp which sounds weak when overdriven.

I think as far as i know it was made in 2000, in a really crappy country (Indonesia, i mean think i bet they are paying little children to mass produce these,) shame really, anyway ill go on. It has 22 frets, two bridge humbuckers and one single coil, black (i think this is the only colour it is available in) with a plastic finish :( , volume and tone control, not sure on the neck or body wood however, although they seem to be average.
Its a strange looking guitar, but as someone said earlier it really does make a nice change from all the damn strat copies. NO PICKGUARD which i will explain how bad it is later.
EXTRAS
GIG BAG (no strap!!! grrr)
CRAPPY CABLE (broke few weeks after i got it)
BOOK (had a look, but it was all REALLY begginer stuff like how to hold a guitar lol, although i think there is some good stuff in there near the end)
CD ( had a listen but i didnt understand it so ill try later :S)
YAMAHA 10W AMP (i would swear to god this isnt ten watt, but other than that its a very reliable little amp, only basic controls but the sound produced is fairly good if you experiment a bit)
WHAMMY BAR (there is no way im sticking this in my guitar, firstly because the strange looking tremolo doesnt look like it could take it and second it looks as if it would break on first try)

Since i play any punk/rock,(mainly NFG Blink Ataris Good Charlotte)the guitar suited my needs with A LOT of configuring of buttons and controls. Irritatingly my cord broke very quickly for no apparent reason :S and i had to get a huge thick one to keep the guitar in place. Since i rarely play clean and now that ive moved onto a Marshal MG series 50WDFX amp i dont suppose ill ever know what the clean sounds like, but the distortion was fantastic when i fixed the bad displacement of the pickups. I have to put the guitar down in the pickup department; at the time of getting the guitar i was a begginer and i didnt know the difference in pickups, however now im at pretty much intermediate level and the pickup quality is poor. I was thinking of gettin seymour duncan invader humbuckers however
it isnt worth the money on this guitar since it isnt a performer and i plan on getting a new one soon. Tuning the damned thing is a nightmare, it is always out of tune and it didnt come with a tuner (and i cant be arsed to go down to the shops and get one) so i have to either tune it by ear (GOD there is nothing mroe annoying) or use the one on my comp which someimes refuses to work. Other than that i think in general this guitar gives off a good sound for its price, but it seriously (unless you muck around with it and buy new things A LOT, which isnt worth the money and effort) is only for Punk/ Rock, or maybe Metal with a new amp.

For the first few months of owning it, i thought it was great in the finish department, and i had no idea it was made in Indonesia. Unfortunatley as time went on i learnt more and more about te guitars stats and origin.Iwas really pissed off when i had bought a new pleck and found HUGE scratches on an area where the pickguard should have been. I have to pay extra for a pickguard now to cover it up because the scratches look so horrible. Lots of little dents, smudges and other things are on the guitars main body (even on the pickups) even though i clean and polish it regularly. Terrible pickup selector (although it doesnt bother me couse i never change pickups, no need to) which only moves if a fair bit of effort is put in, which would probably not be very useful when playing live. The actual strings (which i am guessing are of low quality anyway) have done me well, not one as ever snapped so i never needed to change them. I think people playing this gutiar live (not recommended) would want to change the strings to some Ernie Ball Top Heavy or something similar because the Yamaha Strings were actually designed to play slow songs which wont last for constant violent strumming.

Ive never used this guitar live, although i will test it soon but i cant say it would be a great choice. I would recommend straplocks if you do however, since the strap buttons are REALLY bad and the strap will slip off very easily. For some reason the Input is located on the side of the guitar instead of near the volume controls etc, so if your leg hits it it might be knocked out of place :S. The finish is really bad, the worst thing on the guitar and really pisses me off the amount of scratches that are so easily put onto it.

Luckily have never had to use customer support.

Ive been playing for around a year, at about intermediate Grade 1 level. There is no way i would buy this guitar again if it was lost or stolen, not because of the guitar but simply because i would want to move onto something better.

Likes: the sound, when configured and moved onto a better amp you can really get some good stuff out of a begginers guitar thats pretty cheap.

Dislikes: pickups, strap buttons, finish, whammy bar and indonesian origin (no racism just indonesia isnt known for high quality guitars)

Nice change from millions of wannabe guitarists with strat copies, but i cant say its a fantastic guitar. its just a fairly good thing all round which is good considering its a Yamaha.

The ERG212 is actually made in indonesia ... sorta says it for this guitar huh? I bought it as my first guitar, and knowing nothing about guitars i thought "sweet, looks nice", oh was i wrong. Its got 22 frets wich hardly suited my neo-classicl style, so if your yngwie malmsteen fans kids, DO NOT get the ERG 121! However if you just want it for nu-metal/mainstream/punk rock ... try it out.
The guitars a superstart body with black laminated finish and features 1 tone switch and 1 volume control, and may i say now the pickups and pickup selector are both awful. I had this guitar for about half a year and one of the humbuckers broke :/ and when i went to fit my seymore duncan invader i saw "Indonesia" on the bottom of the pickwich came with the ERG121. Before i fitted the new picked i didnt even play on my neck pickups (where the humbucker was) and i wasnt exactly ruthless with it ... how did it break? poor electrics? I think so!
The guitars neck is made out of rosewood and is horrible for slides, though when your new to guitar i suppose your not to bother about the neck, so hey dont worry.
The bridge on the ERG121 is also poor (suprise suprise) ...and doesnt even compare to any floyd rose products, saying that there both worlds apart.
My ERG121 pack cost #170 English Pounds, i look back and wonder why in the world i paid that. It came with Book/Cd, Gig Bag, Yamaha 10watt amp (wich isnt 10watt at all! its pathetic cracks up at quater volume!)
Also this guitar is the worst guitar to play with live, i mean me and my band were in the midst of Yngwie Malmsteen - Faster Than The Speed Of Light (neo classical guitars look that song up ... now!) and i started to hear my guitar slip outta tune, so i went 2mins with fucked tuning, probably drop c (not exagerating). By the time we were on again i had to retune, maximu count through out the gig of 7 tunings (hehe i should have bought lock in nuts)
I say to all new guitarists spend the extra money and buy a Yamaha Pacifica and amp pack, it worth it, DAMIT dont even consider the ERG121.
My current setup: Yamaha RGX -> DOD PEDAL -> 65Watt Peavey Studio Pro 112 Amp, is rather alot better than what i started with :)

As for suiting my music style, it doesnt, i play Neo-Classical. The ERG121 is far to high gain, horrible pre amp. Produces a fuzzy thick monotanous sound :/

Likes:
.... the distortion when i first bought it for "Bush - Machine Head"

Dislikes:
The Guitar ...?

Again terrible pickups, fit new ones if you buy the ERG121!

Stats: 1 = Terrible - 10 = ooooo whats that in my boxers ><``??

Live Playing: 1
Finish: 3 (dents very easily)
Dependant?: nope not at all
Would i use it for a gig?: you kidding!! no way!

Yamaha are quite helpfull. Ironically had to phone them to enquire about a broken pickup (haha)...

Overall:

Playability: 2
LifeSpan: 1
Character: 0
Sound: -1

Final Words:

Ok for those people just breaking into guitar and finding your sound, soon as your upto scales and modes you contemplate the choice of the ERG121. To all experience players, stay clear (like youd buy it anyway).

- Dan P 2003

About 2000 NOK

Yamaha strat style, black, H\S\H, 5 way megasvitch, Thin and slow neck. Standard bridge, 22 frets, bolt on, 1 volum and 1 tone knob well that should be it, read other rewievs for more detaljs.

It was in pack that i bought for 3-4 years before with:

Gigbag
Amp (GA 10, monster!)
Picks
Tuner
Cable
Extra pack of strings (hella sucked)
Strap

Let's make this thing clear, IT IS FOR BEGINNERS, an experienced player would start to cry if he bought this.

I give it 8 because it is perfeck for beginners. I threw it away after one year.

And please forgive my language, i'm Norwegian.

I play anything from black metal (Dimmu Borgir) too blues. The guitar is very verstile, the pickups suck but they can do for a beginner. I played i throught a zoom 707 - amp, it is noisy on the singlecoil in the middle. The guitar can play deep and high. Again it's for beginners

It was not well set up from the store, the pickups were totally wrong adjusted, the strings was too low and to much fret buzz, that was adjusted easily. the color seem to last. the tuners SUCK, if i leave it alone for 5 min it is out of tune.

This guitar can't withstand live playing, i played it 2 times for the school and i was lucky. The first time we were playing "bad moon rising", i left the guitar on stage before the show and when it our turn I HAD TO TUNE IT FIVE TIMES before it came in tune. The other time went well (only two times). I don't depend on it. If you play too hard it will get out of tune.

Beginners should get a jackson dx10 instead.

I give it 3 because only squirers fall apart.

Haven't tried, can fixs everything myself.

I've played for 3 years now and know every kirk solo. If you have money for only this, save more and get a jackson dx10. Thats it!

Bought it in 2001. 22 frets, 5 way selector 1 volume and 1 tone, H/S/H, passive pickups, Basswood, came with 10 watt Laney amp, good quality bag, strap, cable. AUD$400 (australia) excellent value for money for a beginner.

I play a variety of styles but mainly hard rock/mainstream metal(Incubus,Deftones,SOAD,Ratm).
my setup is Yamaha ERG 121 ----> Boss GT6 multi effects -----> Laney harcore max 10 watt amp
the bridge pickup is excellent for rock/hardrock styles. Neck HB gives a reasonable blues tone when used with GT6. the single coil middle pickup is the only drawback as far as a good beginners tone is concerned. when i use high gain it is very nosiy, and in my opinion sounds terrible. Overall, if you only use the HB's the tone is great for a guitar of this price range

Set up was exellent, the body and fretboard were flawless. i bought this guitar about a year ago and i had little experience so i didn't really notice the pickups. about 7 months after i got it i noticed that a screw from the pickup holder had come off from the neck HB and the pickup become loose. Also after about 9 months the toggle switch made noticible humming noises when i changed pickups. i fixed this by removing the back plate behind the toggle switch and filed the contacts with a bit of sandpaper and tweezers. it fixed the problem reasonable well. Overall very good setup, but the toggle switch is poor.

THis guitar is fairly durable, ive been playing it non stop for the past year and the only defects were the one that i stated previously. ive had no problems with the strap buttons. the finish is definitly good enough to last, has had not signs of wearing. i use it mainly to jam with friends, i haven't played live.

1 year warrenty

Played it for a year and it has done its job outstandingly - which was to raise me from a complete beginner to about an intermediate guitarist. As i am fairly experinced now, if it were stolen i would not buy it again, NOT because it is a poor guitar but because i am at the stage now where i have out growen this beginners guitar. This guitar as a package with an amp is an ideal option for a beginner. Overall i'd say its championship material for the price.

Early 2000's made somewhere in the east.
22 frets
Volume, Tone and 5 way selector
H/S/H
Black finish
RGX and pacifica hybrid styling (not as sharp as the RGX but no pickguard)
Normal Whammy bar
GA-10 amp, gig bag and tutor.

I play metal and any other rock, but my guitar doesnt, I play through the GA-10 amp a BOSS SD-1 and sometimes I put in a zoom 503 for delay, chorus etc. I get lots of feedback because the sound it makes forces me to use both the SD-1 and amp distortion to get a metal sound. I realy hate the sound of it genrally and every guitar Ive played sounds better.

I dont know much about the setup it was my first guitar, but every guitar Ive tried since is easier to play. Finished well but doesnt play well.

Ive never played it live but its quite rugged, the pickup selector stoppeed working but some switch cleaner fixed that, the finish is a tough plastic but scratches do show. The strapp buttons fall off but I jammed a matchstick to fix that, mind you I did change them for straplocks.

Never used it.

Ive been playing for just about a year and Im itching to get a better guitar, one which sounds good and plays easily, but it was cheap. But some strat copies are better even if cheaper.

made in indonesia not sure when
standard guage strings altho i changed mine to 8-38's i like em that way.
22 frets
maple wood neck(smooth back easy sliding :))
1 volume, 1 tone, 5way pick up selector
black,black and black shiny :)
strat style body
very thin neck
came with a gig bag, some random which i have ignored, some beginners book. comes with a CD,
also had a cheapy cable(angled)
NO strap!

all these ratings are considering the price which was dirt cheap!

right i play from the blues, led zep to pumpkins, tool so pretty much everything. Does the job pretty well considering the price.
guitar--->zoom707II--->fender 15R
has a bit of noise but what do you expect for #100
i quite like it as a whole, i can switch from blues to hard rock easily. I used this for my recording coursework and the sound was fine, make sure you are not too close to the equipment and standing at the right andgle to it and you get almost no noise :)

right action is quite high, but that's what i'm used to now :(. the pickups were fine, the pcik up selector does make quite alot of noise when switching between them, the pcik up selector was loose when it arrived, the screw fell out and i didn't find it for months so i had to put up with a loose pick up for a bit.

never played live, but i don't think this will last. The finish is fine and will last some time, back of the neck is still smooth and easily "slidable" after 8 months .but, my pick up selector is buggered(from today) cos i carried it to school. i need to pull it to a certain angle otherwise sound doesn't come thru . should be able to adjust it so it works. Right one thing i now realise why the jack plug socket on all other guitars is on the main body rather than on the side of the guitar(look for pics and you know what i mean). Imagine dropping this guitar, well the jack plug got stuck in the guitar. managed to get it out but plastic is a bit worn, altho it's cheapy plastic so i could easily make a replacement cover. The cover on the back has a small segment of it, nothing major, but bear in mind i have done no live playing only taken it to school to do some recording. The strap buttons suck! that's why i dropped this guitar in the first place! Altho you can depend on this just take care of it like everything else. bumping it around doesn't do any major damage. Fret wear is minimal but noticable.
I would not gig with this, this would be my back up. i don't wanna drop my guitar on stage!

never dealt with them

I've been playing 8 months, i don't own anything else but hey. this is definately a good beginners guitar and the price is amazing. If this were stolen i would get round to buying another guitar, but until then, or until it breaks i will use this. I do like this guitar tho, it is sooooo easy to play. Altho i do wish that yamaha supplied a larger gig bag, it's a tight fit as the extra length of the fret board. In comparison to my pals guitars, this isn't so bad apart from those will fender strats and #500 guitars. But the advantage of this is that it makes a nice change from just seeing the fender/squire. And once again the price is brilliant :)

Its been writen before but you know the drill.... Black cool shape, NO PICK GUARD, 22 frets, nice sized neck for my hands (and everyone else who has played it). Two humbuckers and a single but i never use the neck humbucker or the single, they are Ok tho i just dont find they suit the sound that i am looking for. It came with 10 watt practice amp, lead, strap, pic and learn to play guide.

Yamaha ERG-121 ---> Boss DS-1 ---> GA-10 Watt amp supplied. I find that it is great for my kind of music (nirvana to green day) but then again i dont have a lot of experience. I've been playing for a year now, on this for 10 months, a borrowed acoustic the first two.

Set up pretty well tho the guys at the shop did some work on it too. Pickups came loose but i tightened them up. one problem is fret buzz on the 6th fret on the g b and e stings.

I have dropped it countless times and it is still good. I havent played live yet but i will be doing so soon nad i will use this guitar. i have faith in it! Strap buttons are good, the strap itself is bad. i would have to depend on it in a live situation becasue i couldnt afford another guitar at the moment.

Never dealt with them

I love this guitar and when i try my friends strat it makes me sooooo glad i got this one instead! the neck and body are more comfy and the pickups are better. if lost or stolen, i would search around for a different guitar, but only because my experience has increased. the guitar is fine as it is but it has its limitations in that tjhe pickups arent really top quality and there is that fret buzz problem. One final thing is the strings that it comes with! they are amazing, i've had them for ten months and not one of them has broken (and i play very violently) and they all have top-banana tone to them still!

A YAMAHA ERG 121 IN BLACK!! USUAL SPECS... E.T.C.

AN AVERAGE TYPE OF QUALITY

CHEAP FITTINGS BUT HEY I GOT IT CHEAP AS TO ADD TO MY COLLECTION OF 20 GUITARS... AND BOUGHT IT NEW AS THE WHOLESALERS COULDNT SELL THEM, SO I BOUGHT 10 UNITS AND MADE A PROFITT..

GOOD FOR ME EH!!

I USED IT ON STAGE AT A GIG WITH MY BAND AND SMASHED IT UP DELIBETRATLEY AFTER THE SECOND SONG, CAME BACK ON STAGE WITH AN IDENTICLE ONE THEN THOUGHT FUCK THIS AND BRIOUGHT IN MY BC RICH WARLOCK CUSTOM MADE WITH GOLD PLATED FITTINGS AND NAME INSCRIBED INTO THE FRETBOARD THATS WHEN THE SOUND OF THE BAND SOUNDED HOW IT SHOULD "HARD ROCK HEAVY METAL"

NONE, THEY WONT ACCEPT CUSTOMER DAMAGE "STAGE DAMAGE"

SORRY GUYS DONT TELL YA FRIENDS ABOUT IT OR THEY WILL HATE YOU.

Here is the reviev of my brother's guitar.

Made in Indonesia. Parchaps 2000 year. 22 frets. 5-way selector. H-S-H. Piskups made by Samshin or something like that. Passive electronics. Body basswood. I do not have any idea what is neck made from. Body is black and looks very good. A bit like RGX by Ibanez. Came with a gig bag. It's quite light axe.

Well. This body can produce good sound but not with these pickups. Single coil is noisy, humbuckers are better. I am plying rock and the sound of the humbuckers isn't exatctly what I want, the same about my brother (did I mention that it's his guitar?). But after 4 months he was able to seriously damage bridge humbucker so I replaced it with Schaller Golden 50 and the combination of ERG 121 body and Schaller pickup gives so good sound that I am seriouslu considerating putting the same pickup to my EG 112.
Body - 8/10
Pickups - 6/10

Everything OK, almost everything. Sometimes pickup selector create noise. But after all almost everything was OK.

Heh. The guitar is rock solid. Very reliable. After small tuning it can be used for live playing. My brother can depend on it. It will last forever

I said something about czanging the pickup - my brother was trying to regulate it's position (he wanted it to be deeper inside guitar). But he was using a knife (idiot) and he cut wiring, so it wasn't Yamaha's fault.

There wasn't problems (except for that humbucker).

If it were stolen and I could'nt afoord Pacifica I'd buy it again. But I would change the pickup. But this is god guitars for practicng, and after few modifications it is great also forr experienced players

this is such a kewl guitar! especially if your into heavier music. if your into the softer stuff, i wouldnt recommend getting it (get a squier for a slightly higher price or pacifica for big gay price).
22 frets, very shiny and stuff, vol and tone knobs and 5-way selector, 1 single-coil pickup and 2 humbuckers, basswood body, rosewood and maple neck, black finish.

BY THE WAY ITS AN RGX-STYLE SHAPE

all the stuff u need and a gig bag come with it.
buy this now, stupid.

#117 for guitar

it is, as i say, a heavy harsh evil guitar. and very, very loud.

the pickups werent great. thats all i can say on the negatives.
the finish was superb and it was just the right size.

i only got this a few weeks ago but it looks like itll last for ages. possibly become a family heir loom.

hell, its Yamaha.
but ive obviously never needed any support with the thing so i dunno.

Overall, this is what you should be in order for this to be your guitar-
a kid
a heavy rock fan (eg slipknot etc.)
a newcomer
someone that saw an RGX in a shop, said look at that! then said look at that price tag!
this is a damn good bargain.

things u shud not be
someone old
someone expecting a mellow sound
a 5 year old that is trying to be a rock star

Standard Yamaha ERG-121

-21 frets
-5 way selector, 1 tone, 1 volume
-H/S/H Stock Pickups
-Black Strat(-style) w/Rosewood neck.
-Non-locking tuners
-Inc. 10watt Yamaha Amp, and gig bag.

This guitar suits most styles in terms of beginner levels. My friend uses this with the Yamaha GA10 amp supplied, and a Marshall G30RCD amp at our music centre. (I use a Squier Strat, with Peavy Rage 158/Marshall MG80RCD, which in my opinion is much better.)

Good points of the guitar:

- Good variations on tone due to 5 way selector switch
- Reasonably good (for price) bridge pick-up

Bad points:

- Poor sound difference between humbuckers and single coil
- Bridge humbucker sounds very muddy clean
- Middle pickup sounds very harsh
- Poor sustain
- Pickups are very noisy

Reasonably well set up:

Action is ok, not very high, not great though, could do with lowering.

Pickups are well placed, but not very good unfortunately.

No flaws in the body or neck.

Haha, well, he's got his first gig on Thursday, so we'll see.

Personally I think it is reasonably well built, with only a few qualms.

- Strap buttons do not hold straps very well.
- Gold bridge looks cheap and will probably wear off.

I would never gig without a back up, unfortunately he will have to, as he doesn't have another guitar.

Never dealt with Yamaha

I have been playing 1 1/2 years, my friend (who owns the guitar), about 4 months.

I was not particularly impressed by the guitar overall. To be honest it is mediocre for that price range. In a similar range I feel the Squier Affinity Stratocaster is a much better bargain.

#175
Nice chrome bridge, nothing particularly fancy, 22 frets. Gig back, trem (whammy) bar 10W amp, strings, strap came with it. Simple but very good.

I play nearly every type of music, ill play punk, blues, metal, grunge, anything. I play it through a zoom 505II multi-effects pedal and a Marshall G30OR CD 30W amp. It stands up to anything i play and offers unbelievable sound. Without the Zoom 505II it still sounds brilliant, with sharp tone from the bridge pickup and smooth rythm tone from the neck pickup. Can't believe it was so cheap!

Low action, very easy to play, black finish with chrome accessories.I play it more than 2 hrs every day and i've had it for about 8 months and it's still in mint condition. Still got the same tone + sustain as the day i bought it!

I've played live quite a few times with this guitar and it handels it very well. The hardware seems like it will last forever , no faults yet and i cant see any coming in the near future. No fretboard wearing and i play it a lot!

Never needed it, dont think i ever will.

I own a boston acoustic, i've been playing for about 1 1/2 years and i play regular live gigs with my band. We mainly play metallica and some of our own stuff, i play lead (the solos n stuff) this guitar is perfect. It's a lot better than fenders squire started pack, the tone is so good on this guitar.

Made in Indonesia, 6 string Ibanez/Strat mixture, without a scratchplate, shiny and black, goddam sexy! H/S/H config, 5 way selector and 1 tone and volume knob. Nice Chrome bridge to finish it off. simplistic but nice, if kinda evil looking. Dont know about the wood types, but the action is real close to the board without any buzzing whatsoever, and with the thin neck and low action it is a beast to play.
Comes with a standard tremolo, gig bag, tuner, strings and amp.

i play Metal (pantera, korn, metallica, slipknot and my own stuff). currentlly i run it through a GFX 707 and a marshall G50RCD, and trust me it sounds great, whatever tuning, either standard to dropped B. The humbuckers are fantastic for finger tapping and have a great sustain. Also sounds great clean. pickups are very sensitive, which may be a problem clean, but it depends what ur playing.
there isnt one part i dont like.

Action is great for a guitar that cost around 100 quid. pickups are nicely set, no problems with wiring, no humming etc. got this one as a replacemnt for the EG112 and it rules.

this guitar has been used for at leats an hour a day, often m,ore for the last 8 months. and it still plays as good as the day i got it. no rust on the hardware as yet, still nice n shiny. no problems with the strap as long as its not twisted. as long as the strings hold up to my shredding the guitar will easily withstand a live act. the body itslef seems a little easy to scratch but nothing easily noticable, no dents as yet.

never tried.

have been playing for 18 months and out of a EG112, squire strat and ERG121, the ERG121 rules in sound quality. proper distortion! the humbuckers, as they were from the box seem even better than that of an epiphone les paul, a mere #200 more expensive. Fretboard is fast and takes a lot to get dirty. no knobs have fallen off after 8 months of use and with decent enough attention i reckon it will last for at least 5 more years, or till i can afford a top of the range BC Rich

The Yamaha ERG-121 is a double cutaway, stylized super-strat body style with no pickguard. It has a solid, basswood body and bolt-on maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, 22 frets. The pickup configuration is Humbucker/Single Coil/Humbucker. One volume knob, one tone knob, 5-way selector switch and vintange trem bridge. Inexpensive, but decent chrome hardware. The finish comes in your choice of black, black, or black. ;) The guitar was purchased in January, 2002 as part of Yamaha's new "Gigmaker" Electric package. The package comes with a GA-10 ten watt (actually 7 watts) practice amp, a gig bag, string winder, Yamaha electronic tuner, string winder, 09 strings, nylon strap and a few picks. This is marketed as a "Starter Package," aimed at the low end market. Yamaha's marketing materials even tout the guitar and accessory package as something kids will enjoy without busting the parents' budget. But, with the exception of the basswood body, this is almost the same guitar as Yamaha's RGX series. This may be a low-priced guitar, but it is not a low quality instrument at all. The whole shebang cost $300 US, brand new.

I have no set style. I play everything with a discernible melody and chord progression, including blues and rock, pop, country, jazz and my own stuff. The long scale length, vintage tremolo bridge and H/S/H pickup configuration of this guitar provides a lot of versatility. The 5-way selector allows you to choose the neck humbucker by itself, the neck HB with the single coil, the single coil by itself, the S with the bridge HB, and the bridge HB by itself. You ought to be able to play almost any style of music with this guitar. However, we are not talking about top-of-the-line gear here, so there are some quality issues. For starters, basswood is not the prime choice of tonewoods. It's Ok, but that's it. The single coil PU hums when it's cranked, and the bridge humbucker sounds a little cheesy if you try to get a clean tone out of it. Crank it up and drive it out though, and you'll get plenty of crunch. I've been able to get throbbing bass out of it, clean rock tones, wailing blues and warm, jazzy color. None of these qualities stand out, though. This guitar does many sounds well, but none of them exceptionally. About what you'd expect from a lower end, stock guitar aimed at the mass market.

Factory setup was very nice. The action is low, clean and quick; intonation is right on target. It is very easy to play, with no fret buzz. I've gone over the guitar with a 4x reading glass. There are no visible flaws. Yamaha's quality control has always been exacting, and there is absolutely nothing poorly done with this guitar. It's not top-end, but it's not cheap, either.

The back of the box this thing sells in says that it includes a 'full size, professional quality guitar.' Ok, it is full-sized, but professional quality may be a bit of a stretch. It certainly plays easily enough to pass as professional quality. It looks good enough. But whether it's built well enough to take the constant abuse of professional play (both studio and live gigs) remains to be seen. Durability aside, the factory pickups are definitely NOT professional quality. Replace the pickups with something a little better, and we have a different story. A professional musician probably wouldn't take this axe on the road, except as a backup, an alternate tuning axe for one set, etc. If you only play at home or only intend to jam with friends, this is a great guitar.

Yamaha offers a limited lifetime warranty. I'll probably never need it.

I'm an intermediate acoustic guitarist. This is my first solid body electric. I was looking for a versatile, low-priced, solid-body axe to play around with and expand into electric guitar. After playing Epiphone, Fender and Ibanez 'starter guitars,' I was blown away by this package. It cost about $100 more than I thought I would spend (giving you an idea of just how low-end I was looking for). I could tell very little difference between this guitar and Yamaha's pricier RGX series. From a quality vs. price standpoint, Fender's Squier series isn't even in the same league. Ibanez makes a decent entry level axe, but the sound quality issues killed the deal. Aesthetically, this guitar is sexy and seductive. Yamaha's interpretation of the Super Strat style, the high gloss black finish and chrome hardware just look great. If you're just starting out and need a decent guitar at a decent price, the ERG121 is tough to beat. It sounds Ok. It looks good. It's priced right. The only thing that prevents this guitar from scoring a 10 is that it is a lower-end axe and it's not going to sound like a $1,000 Super Strat or Paul Reed Smith. The humming SC pickup and cheesy tone of the bridge HB are the only significant drawbacks to this guitar. If it were lost or stolen, I'd take the insurance check and get another one (and have new pickups installed). It's a good value.

The ERG121 is a guitare with 22frets. It`s solid with 1 Volume and 1 Tone Leveler, 5-way-switch and two Humbuckers and 1 Single Coile between them. You could choose them with a 5-way-switch. It has got a Tremolo which I don`t used, because I had to tune the guitar after playing with this. The accessories were a gig bag and a 3mtr cable and a tool to convex or concarve the nec.

The sound iss very good. I use it with a Hughes & Kettner thirty and a Zoom effect. I play all kind music (punk,country,hard) and I could play all styles with the guitar.

I had some problems with the switch, because it doesn't work properly after playing a year. But I repaired it with cleaning the switch. The other thing is the tremolo which I never used, because if you use it, you have to tune your guitar always. From factory it is a good guitar. I changed no pickups or so.

It`s easy to play this guitar. It`s ideal for beginners because it has all features which you use, and when you play some years you can buy a new guitar which has the features you only need. I missed no feature when I played the guitar. The guitar is also good as a second gutare with another tuning on stage or as a training guitare at home

I never needed Customer support, and that is the best costumer support which a company can ever give.

Overall it's a good beginner guitare and had all features which you need at first. It's a very good guitar for price I'd paied. So I would buy it again as a beginner or if I wouldn`t have the money to buy me Really good guitar. I played it over a year on every day and took it with me to play with my band.

Double cutaway, Strat-style body (but leaner, more comfortable), 22 frets, humbuckers at neck and bridge, single coil in the middle position, 5-way switch, 1 volume, 1 tone, vintage tremolo bridge.

I play it through a small Crate GX-15 practice amp, all styles of guitar music, I play punk, rock, blues, basically whatever comes to my mind.

The bridge humbucker gives a lot of power for distorsion (which is what I use it for), for clean sound it's a bit too "quacky", I think. Bridge HB together with the middle SC gives a good rock clean sound for single notes and also heavy chord play. Middle SC + neck HB is somehow best for clean chord play, it has depth, warmth, but also snaps if you hit the strings hard, so I pretty much like that setting (play it second most, next to distorted bridge). If you want even more snap in your clean chords (or maybe some softly distorted snap), take the middle SC on it's own, and it just delivers what you ask for (although the bottom end is naturally a bit weaker than with the HBs). Last but not least, the neck HB: it's best for soft blues sound, turn the tone half way down (actually one of the few cases in which I turn down the tone at all) and you get an extremely warm sound, which is great for single note play in blues and jazz style. You may also use the neck HB (with tone at 10) for clean chord play, it will then really make the floor vibrate because of it's massive bottom end, or play it distorted, if you want a bit more "tamed" distorsion than what you get from the bridge.

As you can see the sound of this guitar is very versitile and for it's price I think there is no competition in terms of sound quality (please don't compare this guitar to a 1000 EUR guitar and expect it to sound the same!)

Great action, very easy and comfortable to play (which is maybe the most important thing about a guitar). Black finish looks cool and solid.

Extremely reliable, as far as I can see. I'm probably not the best one to judge this, because I treat it with care, but read the reviews of the EG-112 (very similar guitar, only with SC at neck, which I don't like so much) to get an impression of the durability.

I played some other guitar in that price range in a shop and as far as I can see there is absolutely no competition. I also tried the Yamaha EG-112, which is quite similar but has a SC at the neck and a white pickguard, but I chose the ERG 121, because the neck SC of the EG sounds nearly the same as the middle SC, so it would be quite useless, while the neck HB of the ERG sounds just great and I wouldn't want to miss it. But try for your self.