MusicRadar

• Review

Unlike cutaways, there's not as large a selection of non-cutaway electros and, attracted to the style, we wondered if we could get a high quality guitar of this type without going into four figures. Yamaha has just such a contender: the LLX6A.

The LLX6A marks the entry-point into Yamaha's prestigious LLX electro range. Models LLX26 and LLX36 represent the top-end of the series, with the LLX36 coming in at a whopping £3,779.

But this is no low-end, entry level guitar – on first impression the LLX6A certainly had us admiring its seemingly flawless Chinese construction and expensive aesthetics. It's easy to see why – Yamaha's Chinese facilities share similar construction methods to the revered Japanese Music Craft facility, but make use of reduced labour costs, less costly materials and faster building techniques.

"Rich tones and a boutique, old-school Gibson-ish vibe all at a very reasonable price."

The curvaceous dreadnought (which Yamaha refers to as a 'jumbo') marries an Engelmann spruce top with laminate rosewood back and sides, edged with a vintage-looking cream binding that also appears along the dark ebony fretboard, headstock and heel.

Yamaha has tweaked the LLX6A's shape; giving a slimmer waist and shorter, rounder shoulders than seen on a traditional dread, ditto the lower bout. As a result the LLX6A, not least in its sunburst finish, offers a very 'in vogue' vintage Gibson vibe.

Indeed the smooth gloss tobacco brown sunburst exudes boutique quality, but if it's not to your taste, the guitar is available in three other finishes. Other visual treats include an immaculately presented abalone soundhole rosette, abalone three-dot 12th fret marker and gold-plated enclosed tuners.

A traditional width neck with a smooth satin finish feels very manageable, with a round 'C' profile. And while the string spacing is relatively narrow, in typical Yamaha style, after a few minutes we settled right into a finger-picking groove.

The guitar is stage-ready too, fitted with Yamaha's ART System 57CB, which equates to a three-way pickup system that comprises two side-by-side contact pickups under the saddle, with two additional circular transducer 'sub' pickups placed under bass and treble ends of the ebony bridge.

The main pickups are controlled via the master volume on the rim-mounted preamp, while the two 'sub' pickups have separate bass and treble volume controls. On top of this we also have a three-band EQ and an on-board chromatic tuner, which although accurate and easy to read, doesn't mute the output signal when engaged.

Sounds

Hear it in action: