APX500 vs V300

Adam Black guitars are getting a good rep'.

This sounded nice to me...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8-WbI13ky8

I owned an APX4a a few years ago and it was ok if a little souless.

My son has a V300 and it is a very nice, very playable little guitar.

I`d go for the Vintage

Fender wise, dont ignore the GC23s I doubt you will see many around second hand though I have had mine about 15 years from new and would never part with it.

I'm perfectly happy with my APX700, but that doesn't seem to be the general view ;)

I think the 700s are considerably fuller (deeper) bodied than the 500s Paul...........would make quite a bit of difference to the unplugged tone certainly

So I've bought a V300 from eBay now, decent price too!
Hopefully we'll see how it fairs this week :)

Hi all,

I have owned Yammy APX 500 and 700 and I own a Vintage V300.

FWIW, the Yamahas are not bad stage guitars, but as they both use undersaddle elements they are a bit quacky. The pickups on the higher range APXs are much nicer, but I couldn't afford one. Unplugged I found the 500 too quiet so I exchanged it for a 700. Louder acoustically, but lacking bass. Other than that it was nice, but I wanted some bottom end and swapped it for a Sigma DM-15 to which I added a pickup. I am now happy!

I also have an EKO Ranger 6 reissue and... a Vintage V300.

The V300 is very nice. Frets are fine, but mine does have a couple of other QC issues. When I stripped off the pickguard there is an unsightly dark blemish in the grain of the spruce. I guess that any owner who left the pickguard as nature intended would never know or care. Come to think of it, I don't care. I play them, not stare at them.

The other issue is neck angle. On mine it is too shallow and when I lowered action at the saddle to give standard action at 12th fret (about .090 low E, .070 high E) I had to cut grooves in the front of the bridge to give the strings clearance. Also had to ramp the pin holes to give decent break angle over the lowered saddle.

So the thing now looks like Frankenguitar (especially as I fitted Quickstring and dispensed with bridge pins), but it plays and sounds absolutely wonderful!

Despite the warts I would buy another.

I've got a Yamaha APX 500II, best thing I ever bought, just can't put it down, it's so playable.