Yamaha AEX 500 1999 - Hybrid Acoustic/Jazz - Piezo & Magnetic

1999 Yamaha AEX500 – Brown Sunburst

Here’s a really interesting and increasingly hard-to-find Yamaha from the late 1990s. The AEX500 was designed as a hybrid acoustic/jazz guitar, combining the warmth and immediacy of a traditional electric guitar with the natural acoustic character of a bridge-mounted piezo system. It’s an unusual and very clever design, and one that remains remarkably useful for the player who wants a broad range of sounds from a single instrument.

This example is in very good overall condition, with just a few light playing marks and signs of use. There are no chips or significant dings, and the minor cosmetic wear is shown clearly in the photographs. The frets have no discernible wear, the electronics are working exactly as they should and the guitar has been given a great setup, so it is playing beautifully and is ready for a new home.

This 1999 example is finished in Yamaha’s Brown Sunburst and weighs a wonderfully manageable 6lb 4.5oz. The construction follows Yamaha’s original specification, with a flat spruce top, alder back, bolt-on maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. The 24¾" scale and generous 13¾" fingerboard radius make for a very comfortable playing experience, while the fixed rosewood bridge provides a solid and dependable foundation. There are 20 frets and the guitar has the distinctive semi-hollow body and twin F-hole design that give the AEX500 so much of its character.

The electronics are where the AEX500 really comes into its own. There is an Alnico mini-humbucker paired with Yamaha’s bridge-mounted piezo pickup, with a dedicated three-band EQ for the piezo and a Humbucker/Piezo balance control. The combination gives you everything from warm, rounded jazz and blues tones from the magnetic pickup through to bright, articulate acoustic-style sounds from the piezo, with the ability to blend the two for something genuinely distinctive. Yamaha themselves described the balance between the magnetic and piezo pickups as offering an exceptionally broad tonal palette.

In use, the AEX500 has a wonderfully open and responsive character. The mini-humbucker has plenty of warmth and body without becoming overly dark, while the piezo brings clarity, attack and acoustic-like definition. Blending the two produces a particularly useful sound for jazz, singer-songwriter work, pop, country and more contemporary crossover styles. It is one of those guitars that can sit comfortably in a mix without needing much effort, and its relatively light weight makes it a very enjoyable instrument to play for extended periods.

The Yamaha AEX500 was only produced for a relatively short period around the turn of the millennium, making these an increasingly interesting proposition for players looking for something a little different. A very clever design, a lovely light guitar and a superbly versatile tonal platform.

A really lovely example of a Yamaha AEX500 from 1999, and a guitar that offers considerably more than its understated appearance might suggest.