Yamaha apx500ii: set up or sell?

Jetfire · March 2018

Ive got an Yamaha apx as it says in the title which i bought a fee years ago and its been fine, the neck suited me for bashing out chords for the occasional wedding song etc. But after playing a few of the more pricey Yamahas at the guitar show, Im wonder if its time for an upgrade. I know a good set up would help but am i better off selling it to get something abit less entry level. Thoughts?

TonyR · March 2018

I bought a Yamaha APX500iii just over a year ago (didn’t want to lug my jumbo around!) and it’s been a great little guitar - nice and easy to play, great action and stays in tune.

I don’t tend to play it plugged in and more recently I found it wasn’t quite loud enough for my needs so tried a few other guitars - and when you start that game you realise the deficiencies of the APX500 in terms of sound.

I’ve now got a Taylor GS Mini (for the purpose I was using the APX). It sounds much bigger than it’s diminutive size would suggest.

I’m not sure what a setup would do in terms of improving the sound of your guitar, after all the construction and materials used that contribute a great deal to the sound - and no setup can change those - after all the 500 is really an ‘entry level’ guitar.

Upgrade would be my advice.

Some of the higher end APX Series guitars are very nice guitars, however acoustic guitars are a very subjective topic, and, as I was advised, the best thing to do is try as many different ones as you can before deciding on your next purchase.

Good luck.

Funkfingers · March 2018

You are perfectly capable of making truss rod and bridge adjustments yourself. The only costs would be your time and a new pack of strings.

Testing the pricier Yamaha guitars at TGS should have demonstrated the benefits of solid woods over the all-laminate body construction of the APX500ii. IMO, if you can hear any difference, the time has come to upgrade. All you need is cash.

ICBM · March 2018

APX500s are functional electro-acoustics, no more than that. They play easily and are small and comfortable, but sound... er, not very good

. A bit thin and artificial even plugged in, and have no real depth or fullness unplugged. They're actually quite good in a band mix because they cut through quite well and don't need a lot of work to prevent feedback, but once you've heard a proper acoustic guitar then they always seem a bit lacking, I think.

Jetfire · March 2018

^^ this is whats happened i think.

Damn you The Guitar Show and your Yamaha stand

TimmyO · March 2018

Jetfire said:

^^ this is whats happened i think.

Damn you The Guitar Show and your Yamaha stand

Which ones did you try/like?

I was quite taken with the A3CR / A3CM

crunchman · March 2018

If you are in the market for a higher end acoustic it's worth trying a few others as well. Don't just restrict yourself to Yamaha. I think there are better acoustic guitars out there. Yamaha are competent, but I've never been blown away by how good they sound.

Jetfire · March 2018

Ill be trying a few before i buy, its just those yamahas i tried set me down this road ...

@timmyo i dint remember tbh. They were down stairs and about 800 quid lol

TimmyO · March 2018

Jetfire said:

Ill be trying a few before i buy, its just those yamahas i tried set me down this road ...

@timmyo i dint remember tbh. They were down stairs and about 800 quid lol

Brown? hole in the middle? I know the ones

Snags · March 2018

crunchman said:

If you are in the market for a higher end acoustic it's worth trying a few others as well. Don't just restrict yourself to Yamaha. I think there are better acoustic guitars out there. Yamaha are competent, but I've never been blown away by how good they sound.

I went down this road a few years ago, starting from a much-abused Takamine EG332 laminate job.

Looked at Yamaha long and hard because they're reliable and usually good value for money etc. and then after doing a lot of research (i.e. looking at guitar porn at every opportunity, pissing away hours on YouTube, and traipsing around a few shops) I suddenly realised that whilst they were always impressive bits of kit, Yamaha stuff just didn't connect with me emotionally. They were a sensible choice, but they didn't particularly excite me in any way.

All of which led to some dreadful mission creep and <cough>what budget?</cough> moments, and the arrival of a Furch+Fishman arrangement. Which has been a thoroughly happy conclusion. Although I still have the horn for a dreadnought (ended up with a G) which could cause some domestic friction in due course.

Funkfingers · March 2018

Snags said:
All of which led to some dreadful mission creep and <cough>what budget?</cough> moments and the arrival of a Furch+Fishman arrangement. Which has been a thoroughly happy conclusion.

Sounds familiar except that I chose an L.R. Baggs transducer.

ICBM said:

a proper acoustic guitar

Er, in your opinion, is there anything retailing under £1K that falls into this category?

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Yamaha apx500ii: set up or sell?

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