PSA: Yamaha L-series MIJ model blowout at Yamaha Music London

Universal8 · July 2020

Modellista said:

Universal8 said:

My LJ26 is going back. All along the edge of the fretboard the finish (lacquer ?) has lifted , looks like its dried out . Flaking in places and it feels roughy by the 3-4th fret. Not the quality I was expecting. No more Yamaha’s for me, that’s 2 in a row that were poorly finished.

Ouch. Disappointing. Looking at mine I can't even imagine what's going on, the finish is such a thin matte that it looks like there's nothing to lift. Something's obviously gone astray with yours. Having tried a fair few in the flesh they were all essentially perfect cosmetically (apart from the LL36 in the showroom which had picked up a few unfortunate dings).

My one was the last one left. Can’t imagine why.........

artiebear · July 2020

Universal8 said:

My LJ26 is going back. All along the edge of the fretboard the finish (lacquer ?) has lifted , looks like its dried out . Flaking in places and it feels roughy by the 3-4th fret. Not the quality I was expecting. No more Yamaha’s for me, that’s 2 in a row that were poorly finished.

That's disappointing. As @Modellista has said, it's hard to see what could have happened there, maybe the board contracting then expanding as is in the nature of ebony ? I assume that the 26 has the same very thin matte finish as the 56 ?

Whitecat · July 2020

artiebear said:

Universal8 said:

My LJ26 is going back. All along the edge of the fretboard the finish (lacquer ?) has lifted , looks like its dried out . Flaking in places and it feels roughy by the 3-4th fret. Not the quality I was expecting. No more Yamaha’s for me, that’s 2 in a row that were poorly finished.

That disappointing. As @Modellista has said, it's hard to see what could have happened there, maybe the board contracting then expanding as is in the nature of ebony ? I assume that the 26 has the same very thin matte finish as the 56 ?

The 26 is not lacquer... only the 36 and higher get that (nitro) - the 26 is some sort of thin poly, so hard to see what could have caused it but anything is possible. I think it’s unlikely it would have left the factory that way, probably environmental factors in the interim for sure. Disappointing either way of course!

artiebear · July 2020

Whitecat said:

artiebear said:

Universal8 said:

My LJ26 is going back. All along the edge of the fretboard the finish (lacquer ?) has lifted , looks like its dried out . Flaking in places and it feels roughy by the 3-4th fret. Not the quality I was expecting. No more Yamaha’s for me, that’s 2 in a row that were poorly finished.

That disappointing. As @Modellista has said, it's hard to see what could have happened there, maybe the board contracting then expanding as is in the nature of ebony ? I assume that the 26 has the same very thin matte finish as the 56 ?

The 26 is not lacquer... only the 36 and higher get that (nitro) - the 26 is some sort of thin poly, so hard to see what could have caused it but anything is possible. I think it’s unlikely it would have left the factory that way, probably environmental factors in the interim for sure. Disappointing either way of course!

If anything, I would have expected the nitro finished guitars to be more volatile and prone to cracks etc. As you say, there is next to zero chance of a QC issue at Yamaha. Sadly, it sounds more like the guitar has "settled" after being displayed in typically dry showroom conditions. If the board contracted causing the binding to shift, that could explain the lacquer issue along the edge. Whatever was happened, really disappointed for @Universal8. ;

Modellista · July 2020

artiebear said:

Whitecat said:

artiebear said:

Universal8 said:

My LJ26 is going back. All along the edge of the fretboard the finish (lacquer ?) has lifted , looks like its dried out . Flaking in places and it feels roughy by the 3-4th fret. Not the quality I was expecting. No more Yamaha’s for me, that’s 2 in a row that were poorly finished.

That disappointing. As @Modellista has said, it's hard to see what could have happened there, maybe the board contracting then expanding as is in the nature of ebony ? I assume that the 26 has the same very thin matte finish as the 56 ?

The 26 is not lacquer... only the 36 and higher get that (nitro) - the 26 is some sort of thin poly, so hard to see what could have caused it but anything is possible. I think it’s unlikely it would have left the factory that way, probably environmental factors in the interim for sure. Disappointing either way of course!

If anything, I would have expected the nitro finished guitars to be more volatile and prone to cracks etc. As you say, there is next to zero chance of a QC issue at Yamaha. Sadly, it sounds more like the guitar has "settled" after being displayed in typically dry showroom conditions. If the board contracted causing the binding to shift, that could explain the lacquer issue along the edge. Whatever was happened, really disappointed for @Universal8. ;

The 26 doesn't have a bound 'board. Would be interesting to see a photo of this just because I can't imagine what it looks like! Indeed very disappointing.

sunshinewelly · July 2020

Disappointed for you. Mine was immaculate

FreddieVanHalen · July 2020

Very disappointing, commiserations indeed. Not worth keeping for a decent discount?

Universal8 · July 2020

FreddieVanHalen said:

Very disappointing, commiserations indeed. Not worth keeping for a decent discount?

Haven’t been offered one. They said they would repair or pay for repairs. That’s of no interest to me.

FreddieVanHalen · July 2020

Universal8 said:

FreddieVanHalen said:

Very disappointing, commiserations indeed. Not worth keeping for a decent discount?

Haven’t been offered one. They said they would repair or pay for repairs. That’s of no interest to me.

Fair enough, I know on some of my guitars something like that would bug the hell out of me, it's all very personal.

Universal8 · July 2020

FreddieVanHalen said:

Universal8 said:

FreddieVanHalen said:

Very disappointing, commiserations indeed. Not worth keeping for a decent discount?

Haven’t been offered one. They said they would repair or pay for repairs. That’s of no interest to me.

Fair enough, I know on some of my guitars something like that would bug the hell out of me, it's all very personal.

I have asked for a discount just to see what they offer. I’ll find out on Monday.

sunshinewelly · July 2020

Do you have photos of the issue

Universal8 · July 2020

Universal8 said:

FreddieVanHalen said:

Universal8 said:

FreddieVanHalen said:

Very disappointing, commiserations indeed. Not worth keeping for a decent discount?

Haven’t been offered one. They said they would repair or pay for repairs. That’s of no interest to me.

Fair enough, I know on some of my guitars something like that would bug the hell out of me, it's all very personal.

I have asked for a discount just to see what they offer. I’ll find out on Monday.

Email from Yamaha today. No further discount offered. I either keep it or send it back.

sunshinewelly · July 2020

thats a bit strange of them and not exactly customer friendly - makes me think my price match request on a 12 string LL16 will be rejected. probably will not bother using them down the line

most retailers would be happy to give a discount on a defective product

peach gave me a discount on my martin and it seems the issues were not as bad as those on the Yamaha but peach were still decent enough to offer a discount.

Whitecat · July 2020

It is strange - either they will have to pay to repair it, or sell it as B-stock at a reduced price anyway, or possibly both... if they just flip it back up for sale then they are being very naughty... bummer.

sunshinewelly · July 2020

thats why i find it odd they will not offer some discount. Ultimately it would cost them something to rectify it in the end unless they do just flip it back up for sale which would be worrying

Universal8 · July 2020

It’s bizarre. Must be easier for them to knock a bit off and hope I keep it than mess about with it.

FreddieVanHalen · July 2020

Only reason I can think of is as a blanket policy to dissuade the criminal or disingenuous from deliberately damaging something to obtain a discount.

Otherwise, For all those of us that are honest And for Yamaha itself it seems like a perverse decision for Yamaha to have made.

sunshinewelly · July 2020

do people actually do that - ie damage to get a discount - seems odd behaviour,.

however i have been attempting to get hold of yamaha for the last 5 days now regarding a purchase and their price promise and a price match and they are impossible to get hold of. dont think they have heard of how to respond to email. possibly the worst customer service i have come across in trying to spend money with a store.

danny_777 · July 2020

Universal8 said:

It’s bizarre. Must be easier for them to knock a bit off and hope I keep it than mess about with it.

Well, to me that's quite commendable. Of course it would be easier to throw you £100, but they clearly would rather spend the money and time doing a proper job and getting the guitar up to scratch,

danny_777 · August 2020

How's everyone enjoying their Yamahas? I've just put some new Elixirs on my LS26 and it has come to LIFE!!

artiebear · August 2020

Loving my LJ56. A few string changes ( my regular D'addario EJ16's ) in now and already sounding more played in while retaining a nice high end shimmer. As work is starting to pick up after the initial lockdown, it has helped me put 8 new songs and two soundtrack pieces together to the point of finished tracks. It records very well indeed both in a sparce acoustic mix as well as part of a bigger orchestrated mix.
In terms of the guitar settling down to it's new environment etc. It has been incredibly stable.It is currently sitting beside the couch along with an adirondack / braz Sobell and a sitka / braz Northwood, I would hate to try to decide between the 3 but the LJ is getting a lot of playing time.

chor808 · August 2020

Not changed strings yet but loving it. It definitely makes me focus more as any mistake rings out. What a deal these are..

artiebear · August 2020

chor808 said:

Not changed strings yet but loving it. It definitely makes me focus more as any mistake rings out. What a deal these are..

Still can't get over the deal either. Everything I had heard and experienced told me that buying blind on one of these would be a no brainer. Having plenty of high end guitars already, time is proving to me that my LJ is as good as any guitar could be at those specs ( and beyond ). I mentioned earlier in the thread that I had been looking for a small jumbo style guitar ( Collings etc ) with a longer scale length than my Gibson J185 Koa. I was looking at £6.5k and upwards for fairly basic spec. Admittedly the 56 series were right up there at previous pricing, in fact they still are in other territories, but at the deal price for that level of craftsmanship, tone and quality, the deal was unbelievable.

As an aside, I just noticed that the sound bar /sub woofer that came as a freebie with the guitar has just won an award for Yamaha this weekend. It's a case of "if Carlsberg did guitar shop deals........etc"

Whitecat · December 2022

Bumping an old thread because I just stumbled across this quite by accident -

https://www.yamahamusiclondon.com/LJ36-ARE-II-Acoustic-Guitar/pidYAM-LJ36AREII

With inflation having done what it has done over the past 2+ years this is in some ways an even better deal than before!

Edit: it's gone! Did one of you lot snag it?

tomjax · December 2022

Out of stock already

chor808 · December 2022

They must find the odd one in the warehouse. My 36 will be dragged out of my dead hands, it's just amazing.

danishbacon · December 2022

Whitecat said:

Bumping an old thread because I just stumbled across this quite by accident -

https://www.yamahamusiclondon.com/LJ36-ARE-II-Acoustic-Guitar/pidYAM-LJ36AREII

With inflation having done what it has done over the past 2+ years this is in some ways an even better deal than before!

Edit: it's gone! Did one of you lot snag it?

I did @Whitecat, thank you, they are superb instruments but I ended up sending this one back. Action was set to over 3mm and I think shaving the saddle to get it to 2-2.5mm would have taken it down quite a bit. Rosewood had an unusual bright purple tint to it.

@chor808 it had a 2022 serial number, so either it sat unfinished for a number of years or they are making new ones of these.

Whitecat · December 2022

danishbacon said:

Whitecat said:

Bumping an old thread because I just stumbled across this quite by accident -

https://www.yamahamusiclondon.com/LJ36-ARE-II-Acoustic-Guitar/pidYAM-LJ36AREII

With inflation having done what it has done over the past 2+ years this is in some ways an even better deal than before!

Edit: it's gone! Did one of you lot snag it?

I did @Whitecat, thank you, they are superb instruments but I ended up sending this one back. Action was set to over 3mm and I think shaving the saddle to get it to 2-2.5mm would have taken it down quite a bit. Rosewood had an unusual bright purple tint to it.

@chor808 it had a 2022 serial number, so either it sat unfinished for a number of years or they are making new ones of these.

Oh dear, very strange and definitely not acceptable even at the reduced price... sad it didn't work out. Maybe some more stragglers will appear... still reading mixed things about whether they are making many of these if any anymore at all. Perhaps they are using up materials...

chor808 · December 2022

danishbacon said:

Whitecat said:

Bumping an old thread because I just stumbled across this quite by accident -

https://www.yamahamusiclondon.com/LJ36-ARE-II-Acoustic-Guitar/pidYAM-LJ36AREII

With inflation having done what it has done over the past 2+ years this is in some ways an even better deal than before!

Edit: it's gone! Did one of you lot snag it?

I did @Whitecat, thank you, they are superb instruments but I ended up sending this one back. Action was set to over 3mm and I think shaving the saddle to get it to 2-2.5mm would have taken it down quite a bit. Rosewood had an unusual bright purple tint to it.

@chor808 it had a 2022 serial number, so either it sat unfinished for a number of years or they are making new ones of these.

I was pretty sure they stopped making them. Trying to work out when mine was made from the serial but gave up.

danishbacon · December 2022

chor808 said:

danishbacon said:

Whitecat said:

Bumping an old thread because I just stumbled across this quite by accident -

https://www.yamahamusiclondon.com/LJ36-ARE-II-Acoustic-Guitar/pidYAM-LJ36AREII

With inflation having done what it has done over the past 2+ years this is in some ways an even better deal than before!

Edit: it's gone! Did one of you lot snag it?

I did @Whitecat, thank you, they are superb instruments but I ended up sending this one back. Action was set to over 3mm and I think shaving the saddle to get it to 2-2.5mm would have taken it down quite a bit. Rosewood had an unusual bright purple tint to it.

@chor808 it had a 2022 serial number, so either it sat unfinished for a number of years or they are making new ones of these.

I was pretty sure they stopped making them. Trying to work out when mine was made from the serial but gave up.

Likewise, that was my understanding - but the tags/labels on the box and the serial number both indicated a January 2022 production date. Bax has them available on their website, as special order.

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PSA: Yamaha L-series MIJ model blowout at Yamaha Music London

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