Yamaha APX 600 Natural

I have been gigging this guitar for 3 months as one of my go-to acoustics ( I keep 2 on stage).

I was able to (without any modification) play an open-air City festival show with this instrument, literally on the same day that it arrived at my door. The pickup system was correctly installed from the factory on mine (all strings are creating a balanced output). I knocked it on quality because the components could be better. The preamp seems a bit thin in part of the mids; which can be corrected with a 4 band EQ on a house mixer (or you can live with it). The construction is typical asian factory work, with uneven internal wood joints etc etc. Also, the frets are going fast. I will in fact contact someone to ask about the frets and if anything that can be done on that regarding quality of components for warranty work. At least the frets came properly dressed, and the fingerboard was quite playable from the factory.

Overall, the thing works pretty darned well. For a guy who is used to modifying instruments (due to poor construction choices or workmanship) I literally did nothing, and I have been able to play the thing 3 months straight as a work instrument.

I would recommend it as a cost-effective choice to get a usable guitar in hand. I have a M. Grand Performance, which I do not like to take to the places I take this Yamaha instrument (due to the rough environments). The cheap price tag also means that if some drunk guy bashes the thing while I'm offstage, then I don't need to break the bank to replace it.

Go for it.

I played music for 11 years before picking up a guitar for the first time, and this is the first guitar that I bought myself after playing for a few months on a borrowed old nylon-string.

Out of the box, the sound was... okay. In my opinion, the standard strings sounded very stiff and "steely" (although I have heard that this becomes better as you keep playing). Furthermore, the string height was very high and I thus had difficulty playing with the same accuracy as I did on my borrowed guitar.

After changing strings to some D'Addario EXP11 and drastically lowering the string height, however, the sound is now fantastic and the guitar is very playable. In my ears, the sound easily rivals that of guitars twice the price. It resonates beautifully and the build quality is solid.

Overall, a great value guitar that I will keep for many years. Be aware, however, that you may need to adjust it to your liking.