APX series guitars are designed with a focus on playability. Their thin bodies and cutaways that provide greater access to the upper frets, offer smoother switching between electric and acoustic instruments. The special APX bracing design delivers excellent response with a thicker mid and high range tone. Another plus, along with the APX’s great playability, is its capability for smooth lead playing.

As an electric guitarist in the 1980s, if you wanted to play acoustic on stage there were few options for you that really worked. In 1987, Yamaha made the first acoustic guitar that could be taken from a guitar rack, plugged in and played at volume, problem free; no more howling feedback, misplaced mics or the dreaded extended sound check….

The APX series didn’t just focus on sound – every element was tweaked to be an easy switch for an electric player on-stage, from the stylish finishes to the cutaway body and the slim, electric-guitar style neck.

In any electro-acoustic, the combination of the guitar’s acoustic sound and its pickup is the heart of the sound. The APX700 features ART Contact Pickup fitted directly beneath the top board and captures sound from both the guitar’s top and the air inside the body so the natural resonance of the guitar is faithfully reproduced. Yamaha’s legendary active preamp is still a big feature of APX, and being built by Yamaha’s audio-visual division, the sound quality is everything you’d expect from the world’s number one.

Styles have changed a little since 1987, but the essence of APX is the same as ever. Today’s APX guitars boast a more natural look, 5mm deeper body for better bass response and greater volume and, under the hood, a new non-scalloped bracing pattern for a responsive, dynamic tone.