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 latest APX600 features a unique undersaddle piezo pickup, Yamaha’s proprietary Pickup-R transducer – the same pickup as featured in the highly acclaimed A Series range and boasting incredible dynamic range, natural tone and the feedback rejection and mix-friendly sound that guitarists need and want. 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.