Yamaha APX600 BL Thin Body Acoustic-Electric Guitar, Black

OK, well I'm a bass player who wanted a little acoustic guitar to mess around with. It needed to be $300 or less. This one came up with great reviews and so I just bought one sight unseenIt's really hard to believe that you can get a guitar of this quality and tone for this price. I have to give it 5 stars with an important caveat.What I like:Well built and solid. I particularly like the plastic edging around the body this keeps it from getting dents.Narrow body. I didn't want some big ole clunker for when I'm plunking around while watching movies.Really great sound, both as an acoustic and when plugged in. It's bright and full - very good steel string sound.The electric features are also very good. There are low, mid, and high tone controls for when plugged in. Also a volume control.The built in tuner is fabulous. Note that it works on AA batteries that are built into small pop out compartment that's built into the body. The tuner allows you the center the intonation very closely and easily. It's easy to always be in perfect tune. i'm not sure if the batteries are required to play amplified e. g. whether its active electric.The finish is cool - a greenish sort of blue sunburst. I also like the inlay around the sound hole.Seem like high quality machine heads. We'll see how they hold - not 100% sure yet, but i'll assume the bestProblem:Right out of the box the action was way too high.. To remedy this I changed the strings to a "light" set (.11 high E). This helped but not enough. So, I tried adjusting the truss rod. This also helped but the action was still to high for me. So, I very carefully removed the strings, removed and shaved the plastic bridge piece on the bottom - about 1 sixteenth of an inch. Then I worked to get the truss rod in a good position with the new lower string setting. I was also prepared to shave the nut which is also easily removable. As it turned out didn't have to take this step. Shaving the bridge and adjusting the truss was enough to bring it into a really really playable level of action - strings over frets. So, that was a lot to do and i had to be very careful doing it, but it's paid off. It now has really great action like a very good electric guitar that's been set up right.If you'r action is too high you might want to consider having an expert do this. if you do it yourself note that you have to be very very careful. Remember that you can always sand off more off the little plastic bridge piece but YOU CAN'T PUT IT BACK ON. So you might have to keep putting the strings back on and then taking them off until you've got it right.At this point i am very happy with this guitar. My only other comment is that, for me anyway, the neck is very narrow. I'm used to bass necks which are much wider or the strings are typically set further apart., I do have to get may fingers bunched up in a pretty tight configuration as for instance when playing a low A major chord. but that's probably just me. But don't expect a wide neck as on a typical nylon string classical guitar. This is more like a telecaster neck or maybe even a little more narrow than that.Again, for the money, its a really great choice and I highly recommend it with the noted caveat.

I'd cracked my guitar neck in December, had it repaired, but found it was buzzing when I received a request to play this Sunday. I sought a new one immediately on a very limited budget in stores locally where choices were $400 (not the best quality), and up!So I turned to the internet! After hours of research I found this newly released model by Yamaha, a reputable name for half the price of store bought, with features that seemed to fit my very personal needs! Thinner body, closer frets and strings, which were steel, with electronic tuner & amping. Being petite with 65 year old shoulders it sounded like a match made in heaven!I then checked to see if Amazon, my very proactive online merchandiser, carried it, they did, and paid extra to guarantee 2 day delivery!Excited, with reservations, I waited my 48 hours and received my package in 42! It looked awesome, but I couldn't get it tuned.I called my guitar guy who was pleased to have the chance to see and handle this new release. He said it was way tuned too low and in 3 minutes he had it tuned and making beautiful music in his experienced hands! He and a fellow musician in the shop had nothing but great things to say about my new purchase, so the word is getting out! And my hubby asked around today (he's a band director) and was really pleased to hear great accounts of ownership by parents and through colleagues!So, I came home and played for 90 minutes with and without my amp. It is everything the write ups said it would be and I am thrilled with the smaller size and amazing sound! My whole life of playing (1st Yamaha bought in 1978 after a no name in high school), I struggled with their sizes! And there were very few bar chords I could play! My last guitar was smaller and I finally conquered some bar chords. Now, I'm hoping my reach will be unlimited!I suggest you read the professional online reviews, as well as the detailed specs to be sure this guitar meets your personal needs! Its size in relation to your size should definitely be taken into consideration!

I love the look and sound if this acoustic guitar. I'm just a beginner after many many years of not playing and the thin body and tuning function are sweet. I get a lot of compliments on the blue. The action is good, the sound is good and it's pretty much right out of the box ready to play. I'd definitely recommend this guitar!

Luckily this one came out of adjustment and couldn't be made better so returned, but don't let that scare you, these yamahas are great. I ended up spending double this on the next level up of Yamaha and it is a HUGE difference in sound quality un amped but that's not what this guitar is for! For what it is it's awesome. Thinnest body is super comfy to play with a strap, my new concert size is a pain when switcging from my strat or PRS. And if you amp this up you can do whatever you want with the sound. A bit of reverb and it sound's like an orchestra. Un-amped...meh, but still fun and completely servicable sound! Action is great, quality product, if I could have both I would, but the 800 dollar Yamaha I got blows 1000 dollar martins away. I played them a bunch so I know. Been playing since all the greats were still doing heroin in the 70's, trust me :)