Yamaha FG700S Acoustic

Everybody wants to get the most bang for their buck, and guitarist are no exception. If there’s a deal to be had, they’ll find. Well you needn’t look further, you’ve struck gold!

To say that the Yamaha FG700S acoustic guitar is a bargain, is an understatement. This is one of our best selling guitars at Andy’s Music, and there’s no secret as to why! It sounds great and costs little – $199.00. When you consider the quality of woods, and the quality of manufacture, the FG700S could sell for much, much more. After all, it is a handmade guitar.

Our Uncle Andy has been in the Yamaha factory that makes this instrument, and has seen first-hand the TLC Yamaha luthiers put into this guitar. If you like, take a look at this short Yamaha Guitar Factory video for a glimpse at the guitar making process.

What’s the moral of this story? If you want to buy a great sounding Yamaha six string acoustic guitar with your lunch money, get the FG700S!

Keep on picking.

Ibanez MSC350BK

The new Ibanez Montage MSC350 acoustic electric guitar is a simplfied version of the original Montage series, and features a 3-way switch that enables you to get both acoustic and electric guitar sounds. Both sounds have individual controls.

The under saddle pickup on the MSC350, along with 3-band EQ and the anti-feedback system, deliver clear acoustic tone without compromise. The magnetic pickup and gain control give you distorted electric guitar sound instantly.

• Body Shape: Ibanez Original MSC Body
• Top: Spruce
• Back & Sides: Mahogany
• Neck: Mahogany
• Pickup: Ibanez AP10 Magnetic Pickup & Ibanez Under Saddle Pickup
• Preamp: Ibanez Original M300 Preamp with 3-band EQ and onboard tuner
• Tuning Machines: Die Cast Chrome Ibanez Smooth Tuners
• Nut & Saddles: Ibanez Ivorex II
• Bridge pins: Ibanez Advantage Bridge Pins
• Strap button: Ibanez Strap Button for Acoustic Guitars
• Fretboard: Rosewood
• Strings: D’Addario EXP
• Finish: Black high gloss

Mike Summers of MusiCorp completes a restring for Jason Abraham

Andy’s Music, Mobile, Alabama, hosted a free guitar and bass restringing session on Saturday, July 11. With the donation of a canned good to benefit the Penelope House, customers received a free restring and setup of their guitar. Both acoustic and electric guitars, as well as basses were restrung during this event.

The event was very successful, with more than 36 guitars restrung and two large boxes filled with food. Penelope House is a non-profit organization established in 1979 by the Daughters of Penelope to help victims of domestic violence regain social and economic independence. The Family Violence Center is the only shelter for battered women and children in Mobile, Alabama, although services currently span across Mobile and Washington counties in Alabama.

This free guitar restring was sponsored by MusiCorp and Dean Markley strings. We are grateful for their donations and participation, especially to Mike Summers who setup and participated in this event.

Yamaha has led the field in the number of acoustic guitar units sold for some time, but just one year ago, Yamaha ranked fourth behind Martin, Taylor, and Ibanez in dollar volume, according to Dennis Webster, marketing manager for Yamaha Guitars. Not anymore.

“The easy part is over,” Webster, said, “we want to celebrate our 40 years in the U.S., but now comes the tough work of staying competitive in the future.”

The Yamaha FG series is one of the best selling acoustic guitars, according to Webster, a feat that is not lost on Yamaha’s guitar marketing team. For its 40th anniversary, Yamaha has commissioned a limited-edition FG to celebrate, and only 40 guitars were made. Each will include a plaque on the back of the headstock and be individually numbered.

For information on Yamaha guitars and other musical instruments, visit www.AndysMusicOnline.com, or call Andy’s Music at 251-633-8944.

(Reprinted from Music Inc. Magazine, July 2009).

The NX Series has six models and includes a choice of NT contemporary thinline or NC traditional body styles, traditional classical or crossover neck profiles, body wood options and spec levels, from the workhorse NTX700 to the handcrafted NCX2000, complete with Yamaha’s Acoustic Resonance Enhancement (ARE) technology. This technology gives guitars a more matured sound (as in aged), right out of the box!

Benefiting from Yamaha’s class-leading construction including premium tonewoods, ultra-thin finishes and professional setups, the NX range also features the latest version of the exclusive ART (Acoustic Resonance Transducer) pickup system, in a truly nylon-specific configuration.

Yamaha NX guitars were created to provide a range of performance instruments that not only prove nylon strings are a tone every guitarist should have in their palette, but makes those tones more accessible and usable than ever before.

Eligible Yamaha guitars include the FG and CG series, and electric guitars and basses. The guitar and bass packs are excluded (they already include the gig bag and other accessories).

So don’t stare there gawking at the screen, click this link – Yamaha Guitars – and claim your free Axe Pack. It’s not often you get something for nothing!.

The Fender Stratocaster first appeared in 1954, and incorporated many design innovations based on feedback from professional musicians, Fender staff and Leo Fender himself. The Strat’s third single-coil pickup offered more tonal possibilities than the two on the Tele, and its sleekly contoured body made it more comfortable. The double cutaway design of the Stratocaster made access to upper registers much easier.

The most important innovation on the Strat, however, was the addition of the new Fender vibrato (or “tremolo”) bridge, an innovation originally intended to let guitarists bend strings, thus achieving the pedal steel-like effect so popular among country music artists of the day.

Nobody could have foreseen then how the Fender Stratocaster would go on to revolutionize popular music. Essentially unchanged since its 1954 debut, the Strat is the most popular and influential Fender electric guitar ever, and players at all levels and in all genres continue to rely on its sound, playability and versatility to this day.

Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC) is the world’s foremost manufacturer of guitars, amplifiers and related equipment since 1946. The Fender name has become synonymous with all things rock ‘n’ roll. Iconic Fender® instruments such as the Telecaster, Stratocaster, Precision Bass and Jazz Bass guitars are known worldwide as the instruments that started the rock revolution, and they continue to be highly prized by today’s guitarists and collectors.

Fender has touched and transformed music worldwide and in nearly every genre: rock ‘n’ roll, country and western, jazz, rhythm and blues and many others. Everyone from beginners and hobbyists to the world’s most acclaimed artists and performers have used Fender guitars and amps. Legendary Fender guitars like the Telecaster® and Stratocaster® guitars and Precision® and Jazz® bass guitars are universally acclaimed as design classics.

Now Yamaha has revisited pickup technology again to achieve another milestone in the path to perfection. Their unique A.R.T (Acoustic Resonance Transducer) system uses purpose-specific multi-layer contact pickups and powerful new preamps to produce clear, natural amplified sounds.

The small-bodied, performance-focused APX, and the fuller-bodied CPX guitars fitted with A.R.T systems provide exceptionally organic amplified tone – closer than ever before to the natural acoustic sound of the guitar.

With a solid spruce top, the Yamaha APX700 projects a warm, mature tone with rich, ringing sustain both acoustically and amplified. The small body and slim neck ensure that, like all Yamaha APX guitars, the performance experience is perfect.

The 1-way A.R.T pickup system in combination with the System 56 preamp delivers a clear, controllable sound thanks to its ultra-musical EQ and adjustable mid frequency control for precise tone shaping.

The Yamaha APX500 electric acoustic guitar is steeped in the family tradition of superb playability, stunning looks and strong amplified tone. With a spruce top and nato back and sides, the APX 500 is the ideal guitar for those looking for a solid, reliable performance electro-acoustic.

A simple, effective 1-way under-saddle pickup system provides the tone, complemented by the System 55TA preamp with 3-band EQ and built-in tuner.

To produce its warm tone and even bass response, the Yamaha CPX700 acoustic electric guitar features a unique body size, slightly smaller than a full-size jumbo, for the perfect combination of sound, looks and comfort. The guitar features a solid spruce top and nato back and sides and produces a bright, richly textured sound – one that, thanks to the solid spruce top, will mature with age.

The 1-way pickup is matched to the System 56 preamp, featuring our ultra-musical 3-band EQ and adjustable mid frequency control for powerful, versatile tone-shaping. Like all the other CPX and APX guitars, an integrated tuner is always available.

At the top of the APX range, the Yamaha APX900 is equipped with the new 3-way A.R.T. pickup system, the result of years of experience in electro-acoustic design and the key to the most natural electro-acoustic sound imaginable. With a high-grade flamed maple back and sides and a solid spruce top, it delivers a bright, mature tone, with a punchy projection and powerful sustain.

The Yamaha unique 3-way pickup system is coupled with the System 57 preamp that allows independent control over the main, bass and treble pickups and features our performance tuned 3-band EQ and on-board chromatic tuner.

The new Yamaha FG700S acoustic guitar is an excellent choice for a guitarist who’s just starting, or someone wanting to move up from a lesser quality guitar. It sounds very good because it has a solid spruce top. A solid top instrument will sound better – most often – than a guitar with a plywood top, and it will also improve in sound quality and volume over time, if it’s played.

In addition to the solid spruce top, the FG700S features Nato (part of the mahogany family) back and sides, rosewood fingerboard and bridge, black and white body binding, diecast tuning machines and a natural finish. The FG700S is a lot of guitar for $199 and it has a Limited Lifetime Warranty! Click the link above and check it out.

Now let’s jump to the other end of the price scale and take a brief look at the Yamaha Handcrafted Guitars. When most people think of Yamaha guitars, they think of guitars in the $200 – $400 price range, but Yamaha makes guitars costing thousands of dollars. The Yamaha LL16 handcrafted acoustic is a good example. It features all solid wood construction, comes with hard case, and sells for $899.99! It has to be the bargain of the century.

The Yamaha LL16 Handcrafted acoustic guitar has a solid Engelmann Spruce top and solid Rosewood back and sides. It also features a new non-scalloped bracing design that delivers a beautiful and well balanced tone. Choice materials and Yamaha’s unique ability to blend traditional skills with advanced manufacturing make the Yamaha LL16 an exceptional guitar at a price that’s hard to beat.

If you would like more information on Yamaha guitars, visit our website www.AndysMusicOnline.com, or give us a call at 251-633-8944.

“Yamaha Guitars have paralleled music trends since 1966,” says Tom Sumner, vice president and general manager, Yamaha Pro Audio & Combo Division. “Innovations that we created have helped shape the guitar industry as we know it.”

In 1966, Yamaha began producing the first FG series acoustic guitars at Yamaha’s custom shop in Hamamatsu, Japan. The legendary Yamaha FG line has been a staple in the music industry and has provided millions of musicians the inspiration to create music.

The 1970s saw the rise of Yamaha’s electric guitars, most notably the SG guitars made famous by artists like Carlos Santana. “Of all the excellent – and generally unheralded – guitars built by Yamaha over the years, none has achieved quite the legendary status as the Yamaha SG-2000,” wrote Vintage Guitar magazine.

Yamaha’s prominence in the bass world came in the 1980s with the birth of the celebrated BB Series basses with their stellar endorsers such as Michael Anthony, Nathan East, Billy Sheehan, and Tony Kanal.

Yamaha established an artist/R&D facility in 1990 in the heart of the music industry in Hollywood, California: Yamaha Guitar Development. YGD not only modified and customized artists’ guitars, but also created all-new models and prototypes that would later be produced for worldwide distribution. One particular YGD design that proved incredibly successful in the 90s through today is the Pacifica Series. The Pacifica brought to Yamaha artists like Michael Lee Firkins, Mike Stern, and Sheldon Reynolds.

The new millennium has already seen revolutionary technology found in the Silent Guitar and the RGXA2′s A.I.R. construction and original designs found in the AES Series.

In 2005, Hal Leonard published a comprehensive book entitled The History of Yamaha Guitars, by Mark Kasulen and Matt Blackett, which chronicles the company’s distinguished guitar-making traditions.

“This is definitely a momentous occasion, but it’s only the beginning,” said Bryan Savage, Yamaha Guitars marketing manager. “I’m excited to see where the next 40 years will take us.”

For more information, visit www.AndysMusicOnline.com.