Yamaha LL16D ARE Original Jumbo - Natural Reviews

I am going to be quick on this review. I always rely on Sweetwater to choose between gear I can't try and all it has been said here about this guitar It's just true.
This guitar is so reach, loud but with an incredible dynamic I can't believe my ears.
Never played a guitar like this at this price point.

Don't look at the big names on the headstock just trust your ears.

It's just an amazing great sounding guitar. Totally love it!!

Having this guitar no 30 days I can tell you it improves after you have it for a while. a person can ask the question after the woods on this guitar have already been treated will their sound improve ? in my case yes ! one of the questions I had was - why buy the $ model instead of the $ one . all I can say is the tone is warm and truly sounds like real acoustic guitar .

Who wouldn't want a thirty-five hundred dollar guitar (and a top notch one, to boot) for around a grand? I wasn't even looking for a new guitar but found this one impossible to pass up. Everything posted in all the previous reviews is true. AND IT COMES WITH A VERY NICE HARD CASE!

I've had this a few weeks now and it keeps sounding better. Actually the best guitar I have bought for under $. I have eight other acoustics that cost 4-5 times more but this one holds it's own among them. It is usually the first one I start with in the evening as I progress through the others and I am impressed by the tone and build quality and looks of this Yamaha. I would recommend this to anyone wanting a great guitar for under $.

this guitar has a warm full sound to it . I've only had it 5 day , it's lived up to the warm I hope it wold have . at 67 it may be one of my last purchases.

Awesome workmanship,great projection,sweet deep base, clear mids ,a little light on highs but a bone saddle and nut and pins should make this nice and bright.out of the box this guitar is awesome.I played a D 28 at a guitar store and I like this Guitar over that.My Martin D special Ovangkol sounds spectacular compared to the D28.

I got mine with Tusq upgrades done. Better, but not ideal.

Just got bone nut and saddle installed and had previously added buffalo horn pins.

Now this guitar rings for days and has so much depth. The upgrades bring you into LL26 territory.

The workmanship is superb. No worries with the Chinese-Japanese partnership. The workmanship exceeds many vaunted US manufacturers. I did switch to Martin Tommy Emmanuel strings and the voice, the loudness and tone are all much improved over the stock 80/20s.

This is my only rosewood guitar and I have no need of another.

I am not going to repeat what has already been said about this instrument...I however did not do all the mods that have been spoken about earlier...I played the black one at Sweetwater...and decided to order this one because it has a superb hard shell case.I have owned T and M guitars...all fine instruments. This instrument does something that I have never experienced..when you play a chord,or play a note...most guitars will decay the sound pretty quickly. Not the LL16D !!! It's as if a compressor was inside the guitar...the notes actually start sustaining and picking up a bit of volume. I did change the strings to Elixir Custom Lights 11/52...for my old fingers.

As stated, this is an excellent guitar. A jumbo guitar was the size last on my list. I researched to the point of paralysis by analysis. Played around 50 guitars of all sizes, from all the names and in the $500-$5000 range. This literally sounds like you're in the tower ringing the bell. It's loud. Real loud. The sustain is incredible. I play mostly fingerstyle and this works just fine for that and everything else. Only issue you might have is the fact it's a jumbo and not ideal for fingerstyle in that regard. The sound and playability is every bit as good as a $2000-$3000 Taylor or Martin. The A.R.E actually does make a difference. It rings and sings like it's at least a 35 year old woman trying to make it on the streets of Dublin. Any way, you need to play it to understand fully. I can say all the typical things people say about guitars and their sound. Like when the descriptions sound like you're reading 16th century poetry. But you never know, until you know. Worth every penny, even if you spent your last one avoiding the Chinese virus.

best value on an all solid wood acoustic.Im in singer songwriter heaven with this axe.

I have been playing guitar for almost 40 years. I have owned Ovations, an Alvarez-Yairi, a Fender, a custom-built Martin HD-35, and two other Yamaha acoustics - an LS16M and an LL16TA. I have played and demo'd countless others - Gibsons, Epiphones, Taylors, Martins, Larrivees, Breedloves, Ibanez, Fenders, Guilds, and Takamines. My point? Never - I repeat, never - have I played an acoustic guitar that made me sit up and exclaim, "what the.....". After just one or two strums, this guitar made me realize I had something very, very special indeed in my hands. This impeccably built offering from Yamaha is bright, crisp, and loud, and rings and sustains like no acoustic I've ever played before! Two of my friends, who also play guitar, after hearing me play this LL16D, immediately said to me, "let me see that!" - they had to play it for themselves because they, too, heard the same astounding tones I was hearing! I believe there are times in the selection of materials and the subsequent building process, that the planets align and everything comes together in perfect harmony, and I think that I am the recipient of one of these instances! I cannot say whether every LL16D sounds this good, but I can say that I have never been disappointed whatsoever with any of my Yamaha acoustics. This company builds superb guitars and delivers them at consumer-friendly prices. Bang-for-your-buck, feature-for-feature, Yamaha cannot be beat - it's that simple!

Finally came Sun morning after having ordered it at the end of Dec (was out of stock). This honey was worth the wait! Came double boxed would have withstood a trainwreck. Was very nearly in tune (I tune Eb - Eb ). The volume and sustain is superb. Bar chords ring out as well as open chords. Very responsive to hammer ons and pull offs. Love the smooth satin finish neck no friction. Frets are perfect. I got the natural finish it has to be seen in person to be appreciated. The spruce top almost has a 3 dimensional look to it. Absolutely not a flaw any where. I had Sweetwater install a bone nut and saddle, tusq abalone bridge pins, elixir 12-53 strings (wow no finger squeak, my 1st coated strings) , gold grover locking tuners and Schaller gold strap locks and a stap button on the heel neck area. They called me to discuss my preferred set up and i told them just get it reasonably close with no fret buzz as I'm a hard strummer((I have pretty strong hands being a 6'2 250 # farm boy). I would of liked a Martin hd28e or gibson sj200 but they are out of my price range now. This is my second Yamaha acoustic I have a fg411ce marine blue I bought in 1997 and it still plays well. Very tough guitar that can take a lot of abuse. I also have a Gibson Les paul silverburst i bought about 1982,a cherry red es335 Gibson in 1999, a fender 70s reissue natural ash strat mim i bought in 2000 which are all nice guitars but this ll16d holds its own very nicely. So if you want an acoustic guitar that will compete with the 3500-7000 dollar guitars this 1 will do it for a bit over a thousand. Even with all my upgrades its 1/4 to 1/3 of a Martin Gibson or Taylor. This really is the golden age of guitars especially the low to mid priced range way better than when i was starting out in the 70s. Shout out to Chris Kress my sales engineer was with me every step of the way and kept me updated through the whole process. Very knowledgeable and understood everything i was concerned with and wanted. Happy trails!

I have had this guitar for about 3 months now so I figured it was about time to give my thoughts on it. It is really a great sounding guitar. I did have to make a couple of changes to the guitar. The plastic saddle had to go and I also had to replace the stock pick up with a K&K pure mini, but once I did that this things sounds great. I guess if you can find a better sounding guitar than this for the bucks. I think you should probably buy it. I will never sell this one.

Was delivered around six hours ago and I just sit it down. The first five minutes or so was spent admiring the craftsmanship and beautiful it is. And it plays and sounds absolutely amazing and you can feel it resonate and I mean it really resonates like crazy and rings like a bell not to mention the sustain seems endless. The action was pretty good straight out if the box, the action was a tad high for my taste but no big deal at all there, easy fix. I"ve played guitars at the $5,000 range that doesn"t hold a light to this guitar play wise and sound wise. And the guys at Sweetwater are amazing, especially Ben Rys, he helped me a ton with this guitar and answered my every question. I highly recommend this guitar to anyone. Hope this helps. Cheers

First of all, the customer service at Sweetwater is second to none. Hat"s off to Shawn Fitzgerald. I"ve had this guitar for more than a year now and couldn"t be happier. In my opinion this guitar is on par with other guitars costing three times as much, and maybe even better. It"s a very playable, beautiful sounding guitar, right out of the box. That being said, I recently sent it back to Sweetwater and had it Plek"d. They also replaced the nut and saddle bone/bone, and changed the plastic bridge pins out in favor of ebony/abalone pins. I"ve tried out multiple sets of strings on this guitar, and have settled on Ernie Ball Aluminum Bronze 11-52"s. It has insane sustain. It"s a fairly large guitar with a lot of air. Don"t buy this guitar if you"re looking for quiet. Every time I pick it up, I"m simply amazed that a guitar like this can be made at this price point. Purchase with confidence. You will not regret your purchas, and by all means, purchase it from Sweetwater; no one holds a candle to them.

Very well made guitar is extraordinary, it projects very well and is very easy to play... I thank TAD very much for his help He had chosen extraordinary instruments, He is a real asset for Sweet water and the customers, Thank you Luis

I've officially had this guitar over a year and in that time it's been recorded and played live numerous times. I can saw, without a doubt, that this was a fantastic purchase. I bought this sight unseen and once I took it out of the packaging, I knew I had chosen wisely. At the time it was between this and something from Taylor's 200 series lineup. I had a budget, so I couldn't go all out. I chose this guitar because of the solid wood aspect, where as the Taylor used "layered" (read "composite") wood. I wanted solid top, sides, and back. This guitar more than delivers on the sound. This guitar sounds fantastic live when I use it in my solo acoustic sets."What kind of guitar is that?" is the most popular question asked when I get off stage. I wasn't worried about the lack of a preamp because I already had a L.R. Baggs Venue DI/preamp in my live setup, and that just amplifies this guitar's excellent sound. Are there more expensive guitars? Yes. Do those guitars sound better? In some cases, yes. Is this a great sound guitar for the money? Most definitely. I can't imagine anyone being disappointed with this guitar.

Beautiful, sounds great, plays easily. The extra nut width helps a lot for fingerpicking. Extremely happy with my purchase!!

Received this the other day, and am thrilled with it. Right out of the box it is a stunning guitar; absolutely beautiful. No adjustment needed for the action. The highs are bright (not tinny), the lows are strong, and the sustain is incredible. I had purchased a Martin Custom D Classic from another store a few months back, but just wasn't happy with it. Nice guitar, but lacked what I wanted, and a bit too large. Now I can return it, and get the classical guitar I've had an eye on. This one is a keeper!!

I love Yamaha guitars. I own a few alongside my Taylors and Martins. I had been on the fence about this beauty for a while. Not because of it's price but because I was 'overstocked' as my wife puts it. Well, I ordered it anyway and it showed up yesterday. WOW.... The inlays are amazing, the action is great and the overall feel of this Yammie is solid...... As for the sound.... makes my Martin HD35 blush. Deep, crisp and even. Bass, mid and treble all even across the board. Then I plugged it in..... yup, still sounds like a $3000 guitar. Just amazing.

A big shout out to Kurt and staff at Sweetwater. The setup was perfection..... the guitar was still in tune when it arrived and was packed to withstand a meteor impact.....

I bought this guitar in Nov last year and have played it sparingly up to now. The guitar has an amazing tone and lots of volume unplugged, and the neck is real nice after I lowered the action about 3/32". The passive pickup sounded ok plugged in but wasn't practical for stage with no vol control. I fixed that today by installing a Baggs Anthem system in the Yamaha. Now the unplugged and the plugged in sound of this guitar both blow me away. This will be my stage acoustic from now on. My Martin and my Gibson will be staying at home.

I bought this guitar several months ago, and wanted to put it through several sets of strings before writing a review. I tend to like Monel strings for my vintage Martin D-42 but found they were not right on the Yamaha. After trying four different sets of strings and wearing all four sets out, I restrung my vintage Martin and the Yamaha LL16D with identical sets for an honest evaluation. I used top quality Ph. Bronze.
Sadly, the LL16 blew my vintage Martin D42 away. It also embarrassed a new Martin M35 and a 000-42. While its terrific to now own a camp guitar that is awesome, I am a bit annoyed to have $10,000.00 worth of guitars sitting in cases and not being played. This is the best sounding guitar I've played in 35 years, the only two better were a 1910 Washburn and an early Guild F50, both long gone.
For the money it is like getting a free high end Martin or Taylor and only paying the interest on the financing. Oh, and Mark Chapman was absolutely great help getting the guitar to me. A wonderful guy, So 5 stars plus, plus.

Let me just say that this one of the best acoustic guitars for the money that you will get anywhere, I've played guitars that cost 3 times as much and this one plays and sounds better, I know that people have a tendency to say that because they purchased it but its 100% true with this one, I've owned this for a little over a month and spent much time trying to find a flaw with it and could not, the sound quality is amazing, cosmetically beautiful and even though it has a passive pickup, plugged in, it still is in a league of it's own and of course Sweetwater always does a awesome job with it's inspection and shipping

Great tone right out of the box. Plays like butter with no adjustment needed. The ARE is the real deal. Thank you Mr. Israel Foster for you hard work and attention to customer-based details.

This is an amazing instrument. The sound is so balanced, clear and LOUD that it really should be in a whole other category, well beyond it's $1000 price point. I have a $3000 Taylor 612CE that has not left it's case since getting this guitar two months ago, and I don't expect it to ever be played again by me, as long as I have this Yamaha. The difference in tone and projection is just night and day. The sustain of the Yamaha goes on a loooooong time. The bass range is deep and solid, the midrange is equally present and the high strings are clear and bell like. I have had comments from others already on this instrument, from guitarists and non-musicians alike who are blown away that a $1000 guitar can sound this good. This is a stupid good value. Buy it, try it, you can't go wrong.

A couple things I would note that are drawbacks of this guitar are that the body is rather deep and can be a bit cumbersome as compared to slimmer models, so if you are a smaller sized player be advised. Also, the Piezo saddle pickup has the characteristic quacking which can be a problem for recording, although when amplified, it is not quite as noticeable but still there. I intend to remedy this with a Fishman Aura Spectrum which should be perfectly suited for this style pickup to make it sound awesome in either setting.

I recently purchased the LL16ARE, which is the same guitar without the abalone binding. At a first glance, workmanship is flawless, which is expected from Yamaha. They built their own plant in China (they don't use local factories that supplies multiple brands) and have a quality control system that surpasses most North American companies. This is because of the Japanese mentality of building top notch, high quality products. I am a big fan of Japanese guitars, especially the steel string and the classical. I also like the Taylors and the Martins, but cannot stand the poor quality control of Gibson.
My LL16ARE was built in May 2014 and came with a beautiful Engelmann spruce top and perfect Indian Rosewood back and sides.
Playability is superb and the neck feels right for normal or large hands. It's a 5-ply neck, which improves sustain.
The sound is amazing. Bright, not brittle. Powerful bass, but not too boomy (it's not exactly a dreadnought). The mids are well balanced. The whole spectrum is there. It allows the player to create his/her own sound. Perfect for studio as well. Put some phosphor-bronze Elixir and the guitar will sound even better.
The ARE treatment, which was previously done for the most expensive guitars, is now available on the LL series. It's their 40th anniversary, so they decided to upgrade everything in the LL series. The passive pick-up is a bonus.
An all-solid instrument, with one of the best workmanship available in the market, at a reasonable price. By the way, check the March 2014 issue of the UK's Acoustic Magazine. They have a comprehensive article on Yamaha, and another one on the LL series. I suggest you also check the video of Daria Semikina on YouTube. She plays a bunch of beautiful pieces on a LS16 (different shape from the LL model, but same quality and materials).
I don't see a reason to pay twice or three times more for a similar US model, unless you want that specific sound. You are just paying for wages and benefits in the US. Try the Yamaha and you will not be disappointed. I have several guitars, from classical to electric (made in the US, Europe and Asia), and the Yamahas are one of my favourite acoustics.

Love It!!!

This guitar is the best sounding ive ever had. Love the engelmann & rosewood combo, it provides a rich and deep sound and the high end sounds like a song bird on a sunday morn.. plays as smooth as grannies gravy over a butter biscuit!! Could NOT say enough about the staff. Followed up with me in every step. Made sure it got here safe and even gave a lil treat for the kids.Thanks Stuart and the whole staff from sales tech to guy in shipping , yall are top notch!!!

I've played and loved mahogany guitars for several years. I've owned several solid wood mahogany guitars, but wanted to buy a good rosewood guitar.
My sales engineer, Victor Gomez, helped me arrive at a great starting point. I bought a Yamaha LL16d. Right out of the box, the set up was,for me, perfect! The bass sounds rich, and the trebles chime with a nice clarity. Then, the englemann spruce top to my ear lends a softness, or a warmth to the overall tone of the guitar when strumming. I own an LL16M, so it wasn't a big gamble for me to try this guitar in rosewood. It came with some nice upgrades, compared to the LL16M, including a hard case.
I own more expensive guitars, but for the money, this guitar is now my best value. Number one, it is a joy to play. Number two, the set up is wonderful. Number three, it sounds great. Number four, it looks great. I'll play it for a bit just like it is, and will very likely change out the pins and the saddle, but it sounds so good right now, I'm leaving it alone.

I had been on the hunt for another acoustic guitar. I had a number of pretty high-end acoustics in mind and perhaps I'll still get around grabbing one. Specifically I was looking at a Martin D41 in the guild 55 handful of others in that range. I've also always been intrigued by these LL guitars from Yamaha, I have a soft spot for Yamahas; in my personal view they make some of the best sounding guitars at any price range and because They primarily market student and starter guitars in the US the brand doesn't have the reputation that it deserves. Jack Wellington my amazing Sweetwater sales rep had been keeping his eyes peeled for any of the aforementioned acoustics. He and I were chatting and he suggested that I give the LL16 a try. I had watched all the YouTube videos I could find and read all the reviews I could find on the guitar and people typically love them with a number of complaints, mostly that they have a plastic nut and saddle, plastic bridge pins, and crappy tuners (knock off grover milk bottles). I expressed these concerns to Jack. Jack suggested that I have Sweetwater change all of those things for me. Where we got to was an LL16D With Graphtec open gear tuners a bone nut and saddle new strings and Ebony/Abalone bridge pins. Obviously it cost a bit more than the guitar alone, but the guys at Sweetwater didn't amazing job. Understanding that all of this is very subjective I will say that the guitar that arrived is the best sounding acoustic guitar I've ever owned and in the top 5 I've played. Before buying this Yamaha my primary acoustic was a 2015 Gibson SJ200 Which candidly I've never been happy with. I understand part of it is that the Gibson has a bit more of a percussive bluesy sound, but it is always felt somewhat dead to me. It's strange but it's one of the least resonant, least musical acoustic guitars I've ever played again at any price and the Yamaha puts it to shame. The LL 16 Looks beautiful plays beautifully, has wonderful sweet tone great volume. It both picks well and strums well, you play an open G and the guitar actually sings. I don't know (because I did not have the opportunity to do an before/ after test) how much the upgraded nut, saddle, pins and tuners contributed to the sound (although it looks way better) But I couldn't be happier. As I said before I may still pick up the Martin or the Guild (if they're ever available) but having played lots of them and lots of other very high-end acoustics this little Yamaha gives them all a run for their money. If you've read this far and the guitar is in stock I highly recommend you give it a try cheers

This guitar is beautiful a real piece of quality craftsmanship, the tone is a little too bright straight out of the case, if you fingerpick it's great, if your a heavy strummer like me, you need to make some changes, like I did with this beauty. It comes with 80/20 Elixer strings which are bright, and plastic bridge pins and plastic nut, plastic saddle, that is my only complaint, they should have used bone when you spend this much money. However I replaced the plastic bridge pins with ebony pins with abalone inlays from Crosby, with a little sanding they fit amazingly well, order the 3 degree taper .210 diameter pins, not only are they attractive but they took some of the brightness away, giving the guitar a fuller richer tone with more sustain. I also put on phosphor bronze Elixer strings, which sound more full and rich than the 80/20 brass Elixers that add too much treble on this guitar. My next project is installing a bone nut and saddle. But I would highly recommend this guitar to anyone. For $, your getting a guitar that if it had a different brand name it would cost in the $3,000 -$4,000 range. This guitar is ready for the stage, plug it in and jam!

The guitar sounded great compared to my old FG735S. The tuner pegs held stayed tuned up until now without going out of tune.
Af first glance the cosmetics seems fine but I notice there was some very light scratched on the finish at lower side (lap). Guitar polish fixed it so fine there. The guitar was already sounding great but I replayed the saddle with a tusq and the guitar sounded even better.
When I connect LL16 to an amp then you can hear the amplification of the natural sound of the guitar (perhaps the amp and cable combo were also good, no humming).
My modifications to LL16: Pinz brass bridge pins and tusq saddle.

This guitar looks fancy but the sound is nothing special. It sounded similar to FG800. The passive puck is just that "passive " no life. I even used a preamp but I couldn't make it sound better. I had to return it and I got the FGX5 instead.