Hey guys, it's me again.
In this post I'm going to make a
short review about the acoustic 12-string Westernguitar of Yamaha out of the APX
line. It's my latest addition to my guitar rig, and I'm crazy about it! Check it out!
Since the beginning of Seasplash, I've always
played 12-string accoustic guitars. Not surpising, that my first accoustic
guitar was a Yamaha. As you may remember, on tour we play Takamines EF341 SC (6-string version) and EF381 C (12-string) though the latter I once gave away. I regret that! But
now I have again a fantastic 12-string guitar - this Yamaha. As you remember,
Yamaha is one of my favourit brands for music stuff. More or less everything coming out by this brand is
solid, made of good quality, and has a fair price. Let's start with the review.
The very first time, I unpacked the guitar I
was shocked. The bodysize of the guitar was much smaller and thinner than a commom 6-string
guitar has. Even in lenght with the 12-string head. I mean, normally 12-string
heads are twice as long than 6-string heads. But this guitar was shorter and
smaller. Besides, I searched for some flaws over the guitar but couldn't find anything. The wood was prepared solidly. After putting in the batteries, I tuned
all strings by the assimilated tuner. The tuning pegs work great as well. The strings do not detune a lot. Then I started to play.
Rightaway, I was shocked again. I would
never have thought that this guitar brings out such a sound. It sounded more
transparent and lovely than the Takamine EF381 did. It's like playing a 6-string guitar that sounds like a harp. What a gear! I kept on
playing. And the funny thing is, it is easier to play than a normal 6-string
guitar. So you are able to make every chord that exists without leaving out
strings. Your hand does not even start to cramp after playing a while. Of course this has something to do with the neck size which is smaller
as well as common 12-strings are, but still have a good size. Though I wouldn't
recommend the guitar for fellows with huge hands, this guitar is basically made to be
played by everyone. The bridge and the nut accord with each other perfectly, so the strings lay optimally over the neck. Same for the frets. There is no fret that distorts the vibration of the strings, not even slightly.
One big plus in addition is the Piezzo pickup.
Usually, they are not always convincing in sound transmition. But this time,
they are very solid. They sound warm, transparent, and bright. Because of the
small bodyshape, the guitar doesn't generate much of deep frequenzies which is
an advantage for mixing because you don't have deep bad frequenzies to cut out. In
our mix, I put the Piezzo straight (cut out a bit of high-mids by point) and it
works perfect.The highs are coming out straight with now addition necessary. And like I mentioned above, the tuner is also assimilated into the pickup board and works precisely. Because of the reasons that the sound hole is not in a round shape, Yamaha gives a tailored feedback buster already included in the package.
In sum, this guitar is another evidence for
Yamaha's work and quality. Everything is made precise and solid, from the preparation of
the body over the frets to the tuner pegs. But remember, this guitar is made for being played live. That's the reason of the whole set up of the gear. For recording, in case you work with condenser microphonees, I wouldn't recommend the guitar because the deep mellow sound of a normal sized acoustic guitar does not come out of this bodyshape. Still, try it and you love it.
And all of it for 650.- Swissfrancs. What do you want more?!
Stay tuned for more posts.
Enjoy Seasplash!
