Yamaha LL 16 D A.R.E NT

I bought it several years ago when I was looking for a better acoustic guitar. After these years I can honestly say that it was a very good choice. The instrument is precisely crafted with many nice details. It is really sturdy and reliable, stays in tune long and has a stable tone. If appropriate strings are used (12s) it tunes as good as it is possible in a guitar with regular frets and relatively high string action. The string action was actually something that I adjusted a bit, slightly lowering it by filing the bridge. The sound is powerful but not "bombastic", it is rather well-balanced (of course, it may depend on your strings) and very analytic: you can easily hear the contribution of each string to your chords. This is excellent for fingerstyle playing and a range of other styles but in some situations you might want to have more "integrated" sound. Maybe it is the question of strings - I use mostly phosphore-bronze ones. But probably it may be partially due to the very stiff bracing which gives an excellent attack but makes your sound a bit "stiffer" as well. Since the strings are thick, I have the feeling that it is more difficult to produce nice tones in higher position - but this may be subjective as well. Nonetheless, the sound is great anyways but perhaps not extremely universal. In sum, it is an excellent, robust instrument that can stay with you for years.

I've been learning to play the guitar for over fifty years and can proudly announce that I know more chords that Status Quo!! I was 13 when I was presented with an early 1960’s Fender Telecaster owned by my brother-in-law. I had joined a ‘professional’ country and western group as lead guitarist. I was forced to sell it to pay for an engagement ring some 5 years later and quit the band. I have only regretted it every single day since and swore I would never be such an idiot again….I have been. However on my walls hang some nice guitars…including Ovations, Fenders, Musicmans etc dating back to the days when I had hair. I still have Roland JC-120’s, Fender Twin Reverbs and so on in my study which have never been turned on during the past 40 years outside of being serviced….and then I saw the reviews on the Yamaha LL16D. Nowadays I only ever play my acoustic balladeer but I do so every day until….I spent a long time trying to convince myself not to buy the Yamaha LL16D and then I bought it. I have some valuable acoustic guitars and the LL16D is not in their price league….but when it arrived I simply played one string at a time….I didn’t tune the guitar….I just played one string at a time….and I have to say I have never heard an acoustic guitar sound anything quite like this before. I have absolutely no reason to say anything other than what I found. Indeed visually I was disappointed that the top was clearly two halves of a different piece of wood because they were different shades but the sound was sublime. I am waiting delivery of the twelve string version. Thank you to both Yamaha and Thomann.