Yamaha APX500III Thinline Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Guitar, Spruce Top, Thin Body, Natural

First of all, let me state that I am not a "musician" or experienced player. I approach purchasing a guitar from two perspectives: 1st - looks, 2nd playability. I consider guitars works of art as much as I do musical instruments. Fortunately or unfortunately, my budget would not allow me to purchase Picasso's if I were actually buying art, I'd be more of the Sunday morning side walk buyer at the the starving artist sale, or the occasional purchaser of an up and coming artist's piece at a tourist town art gallery. As such, my budget usually limits me to guitars under $1000.00, and most often what I purchase is under $500.00. As far as musical quality, I play for my own entertainment, but still want a guitar that will not fall apart, will not lose tuning, and would sound good and last for many years if I were planning on entertaining others with it. Thus regardless of how attracted I am to a guitar's looks, I will scour the internet for reviews of it's construction and playability and if the reviews are bad, I won't buy it. Okay, all that said, after wanting to purchase my first "quality" acoustic (I own all solid body electric guitars except for my Stratacoustic which I purchased years ago when I first started learning how to play) I decided I wanted a blue finish and started my due diligence in reading reviews about this guitar. Although not a "high end, full bodied, acoustic" this guitar got very good reviews from every site I read about it. So I made the plunge and ordered it from Amazon. I was not disappointed. The low and high tones unplugged are great (to me anyway) although it obviously does not equal the deep base attainable with a full body dreadnought or jumbo counterpart. But unless you are recording professionally or playing on stage in a band you and your audience will likely never be able to tell the difference. The onboard tuner works great as well as the electronics, and once plugged into my amp, I have so much dual control for effects from both the guitar and the amp that I can create almost any sound I want. And most remarkably, as an electric guitar player, I am usually put off by the height of the strings on most acoustics that I have picked up and played around with. This fretboard however, was perfect for me. Right out of the box, the string height was comfortably low for me, and after a simple tune up, I was playing the same scale patterns and performing bends just as easily on my new Yamaha acoustic as I could on all my electrics. And as far as fit and finish, it is a beautiful guitar. I own a few "blue" guitars, and unless you are purchasing a light blue finish, blue can be tricky. All photos on the internet are taken under very bright lights, but unless you live in a retail store with fluorescent lighting, some blue finishes in normal lighting in a home actually look dark purple or black. This blue however and the subsequent gloss finish actually reflect just what you see in the advertised photo of the product - a very nice starburst fade from black on the edge to blue in the center, with the blue being a nice deep but not dark ocean blue even in low light. All in all , I have no complaints with the guitar or Amazon. The delivery was as expected. The packaging was sufficient to prevent any light mishandling, and I would recommend this guitar to anyone with our without experience. I am very happy with the purchase.

The Yamaha APX500II is a decent guitar, perhaps a great guitar if you are a beginner. I purchased this guitar for use at church in our chidlren's large group environment. The guitar is plugged directly into the PA, and if I do play it unplugged, it's in front of a very small group. I do not use it for fingerpicking - lots of kids songs and worship songs. These are important points to mention because the APX does not have a "big" sound. Quality of tone is very subjective. In this case, the thinline shape and smaller body make for a very bright, almost thin sound. When plugged in, it's simply fantastic. The Yamaha electronics (Piezo Pick Up)are top notch. Articulate and full come to mind. Unplugged, it's quiet and has less low end than you might expect from an acoustic. The neck width is narrower than a full size and it is probably not ideal for a finger picker. The built in tuner and equalizer are nice, but not remarkable. I don't want to make it out to be all bad though. I am an electric guy and the APX plays very similiar to those guitars. The smaller body is comfortable, the bound neck is very fast compared to most acoustic guitars and when using standard amp (I use a Vox or Orange), the feedback is easier to control becuase of the smaller body. Finally, the smaller size is easy for my kids to handle and still have a "real" guitar as opposed to the small children's guitars that are typically not much better than a toy. Quality with Yamaha is not a concern at all. Why only three stars? This is not a solid top guitar, the sound is very small for an acoustic and long term, anyone serious about playing will probably upgrade. There are also several competitors made by reputable brands that can boast bigger and better tones and better tuners or EQ's. Also, due to the smaller size fingerpicking, a big part of many acoustic players repertoire is tougher.

Loving this guitar. It's a lot of guitar for the money I think. The tuner comes handy and is pretty easy to use. The guitar sounds great by itself but plugged is the real beauty. Stays in tune and is very light. Looks, feels and sounds great. Don't be fooled into thinking it's a kids guitar or just a small travel guitar. This a amazing guitar for anybody, any age.

This Yamaha APX500II guitar stays in tune for long time, sound is wonderful but low without amps but is OK for me. It is perfect for someone with short arms.

The Guitar arrived on time and in perfect condition. It sounds amazing, an absolutely beautiful musical instrument. Of course with the musicians in the house one of the strings broke after playing for a few minutes. But my husband plays with med-thick strings anyways. Over all best guitar for the price and quality! And by the way, the built in tuner is FABULOUS!!

Recently bought one of these at Guitar Center, because the ratings were so high. I’ve never heard a worse sounding guitar, ever. I tried replacing the strings, still bad. It’s hard to describe, but it sounds tinny and out of tune.

Very nice looking guitar but came with a lot of damage to the front bottom part of the body. About 6-8 inches of what looks like someone using a crowbar to pry it open.

Impressive guitar! The built in tuner works amazing you will never want to use another tuner again. The finish is amazing, it has great big sound bug fits nicely to your body. I would recommend this guitar to anyone at any level. It is truly a treat to play.