Yamaha APX700 Electro Acoustic Guitar

Top - Solid Spruce
Body - Nato
Fingerboard - Rosewood, 22 Frets
Scale - 650mm
Machines - Chrome
Bridge - Rosewood
Pickup - SYSTEM56 - New Contact Pickups (1 way system)
Controls - 3 Band EQ, Volume, Tuner

Like all APX guitars, the APX700 has been designed for optimum performance and tone. The solid spruce top - known for its warm, mature overtones - is partnered by Nato back and sides and delivers a rich voicing, with a long ringing sustain.
A new designed one-way pickup system in combination with an effective 3-Band EQ’s (with integrated tuner) provides a perfect amplified sound.
The APX700 has a long and slender headstock, gloss black to the front with Yamaha's logo and an attractive crest in shiny white Abolone, fully bound in cream celluloid.
The rear is plain with a satin 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, again, fully bound in cream. Fretwork is very neat and tidy, and the board itself is also of a decent quality, making for a nice player.
The satin 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 APX700 is 44mm, action height at the 12th fret is 4mm on the bass side, 3mm on the treble and string spacing at the nut is 54mm.
The body has a heavy gloss finish, either in Natural or Dusk Sun Red, and both show the grain of the Nato body and solid Spruce top off very nicely. Both the top and back are fully bound, the front in 5 ply cream 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, aided no doubt my the solid Spruce top, 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 APX700 with no hum, distortion or feedback.
A nice guitar to play, small and slim bodied with a great sound, great pickup and pretty good value. Nicely decorated and well made, if you're after a cutaway electro, make sure this is on your shortlist.

£429