Yamaha APX500 Electro Acoustic Guitar

Top - Spruce
Body - Nato
Fingerboard - Rosewood, 22 Frets
Scale - 650mm
Machines - Chrome
Bridge - Rosewood
Pickup - System55TA under saddle Piezo pickup (1-way system)
Controls - 3 Band EQ, Volume, Tuner

If you are looking for an electro acoustic guitar with a fantastic tone at a reasonable price, the Yamaha APX500 is your choice.
The cheapest of the three new APX guitars sports a spruce top and Nato back an sides, Rosewood fingerboard and attractive styling.
Powered punch is guaranteed with a piezo pickup mounted under the saddle in combination with a 3-Band EQ with integrated tuner.
The APX500 has a long and slender headstock, a gloss finish to the front with Yamaha's logo and an attractive crest in shiny white Abolone.
The rear is plain with a gloss finish, and 2 rows of 3-a-side tuners, unbranded, die-cast enclosed Chrome style, with large buttons.
The neck feels very slim, a nice D profile, with a Rosewood fingerboard, fully bound in white plastic. Fretwork is very neat and tidy, and the board itself is also of a decent quality, making for a nice player.
The gloss finished neck joins the Nato body at the 14th fret on the bass side, and the 17th on the treble thanks to the deep cutaway that gives access to about the 19th. On the non cutaway side lies the battery compartment, and around the corner a bit further, Yamaha new AMF pickup system.
Nut width on the APX500 is 43mm, action height at the 12th fret is 4mm on the bass side, 3mm on the treble and string spacing at the nut is 49mm.
The body has a heavy gloss finish, either in Natural or Black, the Natural showing the grain of the Nato body and Spruce top off very nicely. Both the top and back are fully bound, the front in 5 ply white and black.
There is a useful straphook at the back of the neck joint, and the output socket is built into the lower straphook.
The top features a very nice soundhole rosette, a raised black plastic disc with plenty of posh green and purpel Abolone. The soundhole itself is oval.
The APX range have super slim bodies, tapering from 80mm at the neck to 90mm at the bottom. You may think this would hinder tonal response and volume, but not at all. In fact it has a beautiful and rewarding sweet tone, plenty of the character and chime that have made this range so popular for so many years.
The pickup is Yamaha's own AMF piezo system. It has a built in LED chromatic tuner, 3 band EQ and presence on slider controls, and a rotary volume. It's works a treat as well, accurately amplifying the sweet sound of the APX500 with no hum, distortion or feedback.
An excellent introduction to Yamaha's electro acoustic guitar range, great value being a whole load cheaper than the APX700 which has a solid Spruce top.
There's really very little difference between the 2, a few cosmetic changes and the solid top, the EQ is the same, and this model is just as playable. Highly recommended.

£245