yammy aex series

[varmonter]

Heard one of these last night.
The piezo hmbucker combo intrigued me.
Any one here own one.whats your opinion

This was aex 500. But the piezo is in the 1500 as well.

[jricc]

Originally Posted by varmonter

Heard one of these last night.
The piezo hmbucker combo intrigued me.
Any one here own one.whats your opinion

This was aex 500. But the piezo is in the 1500 as well.

I have a AEX500, and I love it. It's very easy to play, I changed out the stock mini humbucker to a GFS Nashville Vintage Filtertron-Style Humbucker.
A couple of things, it's not an archtop, it has a flat top. The 1500 is an archtop. The piezo is VERY bright, I have to tame the treble on the 3 band eq. The blend control between the piezo and humbucker is very nice. I keep it 75% humbucker, 25% piezo. So it's a nice clean tone, not super acoustic, but gets you in the ballpark. It's a real versatile, hybrid guitar. I'm surprised it didn't sell very well, but it was discontinued after 2-3 years.
Hope this helps.

[Eldergreene]

I too have an AEX 500, which has been my main gigging guitar since I bought it new however many years ago - I play in a couple of outfits which range from bluegrass/ blues/J J Cale to 20s jazz/Tin Pan Alley, & it copes with it all; I string it with stock Ernie Ball slinky 10 - 46, but substitute a wound 3rd, which allows a better acoustic amplified tone - also swapped out the plastic bridge saddle & nut for bone, which helped the tone a lot. I use mostly about 90 - 95% piezo, & reckon the Yamaha USP is really good - the EQ allows wide variation of tone, & I've had many compliments over the years on its sound.
A few years ago, when I realised I was never going to part with it, I got radical & contoured the body, chamfering it like a strat, so it tucks really snugly into my body when I play - sacrilege to some, I'm sure, but it's the primary tool by which I earn my living, so I like it optimal! It also has fitted a gismo called a Timara string-drop, which allows instant lever-action detuning of the E-string down to D...what else? Well, a mention of the neck, which, like almost Yammys I've played, I find very comfortable & fast.
I've always been a bit puzzled as to why these were not more popular, & have noticed that the prices have been steadily going up - maybe they were just ahead of their time?

[jricc]

Originally Posted by Eldergreene

I too have an AEX 500, which has been my main gigging guitar since I bought it new however many years ago - I play in a couple of outfits which range from bluegrass/ blues/J J Cale to 20s jazz/Tin Pan Alley, & it copes with it all; I string it with stock Ernie Ball slinky 10 - 46, but substitute a wound 3rd, which allows a better acoustic amplified tone - also swapped out the plastic bridge saddle & nut for bone, which helped the tone a lot. I use mostly about 90 - 95% piezo, & reckon the Yamaha USP is really good - the EQ allows wide variation of tone, & I've had many compliments over the years on its sound.
A few years ago, when I realised I was never going to part with it, I got radical & contoured the body, chamfering it like a strat, so it tucks really snugly into my body when I play - sacrilege to some, I'm sure, but it's the primary tool by which I earn my living, so I like it optimal! It also has fitted a gismo called a Timara string-drop, which allows instant lever-action detuning of the E-string down to D...what else? Well, a mention of the neck, which, like almost Yammys I've played, I find very comfortable & fast.
I've always been a bit puzzled as to why these were not more popular, & have noticed that the prices have been steadily going up - maybe they were just ahead of their time?

Yes you reminded me, I have a wound G on mine as well, my strings are 11-49. Now you have me wondering, should I change my plastic saddle out for bone? hmmmm....

[Kitchen Guitars]

Another AEX 500 fan! Making a bone nut and saddle for mine now.

[Eldergreene]

Just a hint - not all bone is equal - when I used bleached bone ( for the saddle ) the string-to-string balance went haywire, but with unbleached it's fine, & definitely adds 'meat' to the tone..