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Your cart is empty.Crafted using time-honored techniques and construction, the L Series builds on Yamaha’s enduring heritage of acoustic instrument design to create instruments that meet and exceed the demands of today’s guitarists. Featuring a classic shape and exquisite mother-of-pearl inlays, these guitars possess the unique combination of well-rounded tone, superb playability and excellent dynamic range exemplified by the L Series. For stage performances, high-quality pickups capture every nuance of your playing, giving you the perfect vehicle to harness your inspiration and let your creativity flow.
David N.
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2024
This guitar blew me away as soon as I opened the box.First, the product images do not faithfully represent just how beautiful this guitar is. It came with Brand New Elixir Strings, Not sure if 80/20 or Phosphor bronze, but after tuning the sound was just insanely beautiful. The intonation and sustain are out of this world for this price. The neck feels smooth and easy to play. The action is not as low as I'd like, but it's low enough to play without much effort.I have had several other guitars, and they do not reach this level of quality for this price range... if you want a beautiful sounding guitar, with a beautiful finish (I'm a sucker for Sunbursts) at a price that you just cannot beat... stop looking, this is it.
Fred Dougherty
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2024
This LS16 guitar is incredible. Absolutely amazing workmanship, flawless, and I’m picky. The LS size has fantastic tonal balance with beautiful sound and incredibly long sustain from E to . Wow so nice I didn’t want to travel with it and bought a FG850 mahogany as backup. Yamaha is totally rocking their customers with incredible instruments. I first heard and played full sized top of the line Yamaha in 1973. It was amazing, but these 2 guitars are far better. Both have the action set up higher than what a great luthier recommends, but I quickly realized the no buzz reasoning. Both incredible instruments that will be carefully taken care of and played frequently . Thank you Yamaha and The Music Zoo!
The Shovel
Reviewed in Canada on September 6, 2023
When I got this I did an A/B comparison with my other guitar, a Yamaha A5R ARE. The A5R is a fine sounding instrument, and every musician I know who has tried it ranks it very high - much higher than its price would lead one to believe.The LS16 did not sound as good. The difference was quite noticeable, but unlike the LS16, the A5R came with Graph Tech nut and saddle. I swapped out the urea nut, saddle and plastic pins on the LS16 and replaced them with a bone nut (Graph Tech does not make a pre-slotted nut that fits) and with Graph Tech saddle and pins. What a transformation! The LS16 is a smaller body than the A5R, but with the upgraded parts it sounds almost as good. Full, rich, melodic, and with amazing sustain. Now, musicians who come to visit me try both guitars and have to switch back and forth a few times to say which one they like better.Get an LS16 and replace the plastic parts with bone or Graph Tech, and I'm sure you'll find it to be a very good sounding guitar for the price.The LS16 comes with a soft case. It may not be as protective as a hard case, but I'm not so sure about that. I much prefer the soft case for everyday use. But I would hesitate about shipping the guitar in the soft case.
Average Joe
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2023
My title pretty much sums it up. It's a nicely made guitar, with almost perfect intonation, and excellent playability but that's about as far as it goes. I think the finish is too thick, and the top could benefit greatly from scalloped bracing. Just like my Yamaha fsta, this guitar is pretty to look at, inspiring to hold but sonically dead. I do like the smaller uper bout, but it's an awful heavy guitar. There's not much tone to be heard or talked about. Never even got around to plug it in as I didn't think the tone was worth amplifying. I couldn't find any of these to play locally, so I took a shot in the dark ordering one from Amazon. I don't like returning stuff, but this one doesn't sound good enough for me to keep. It's a nice guitar for a beginner, and will surely hold up well to some abuse but that's about it. You can get better tonewoods and specs all around for a similar price. I own a Yamaha 172sf classical guitar that really sings but perhaps that one's an anomaly. Overall this one gets a solid, "meh." Here's hoping I get my money back.
Lynn E
Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2023
This LS6 is the perfect size for my hands and style of playing. I tried a Yamaha FSX830C which is basically the same concert body size but this LS6 has a longer scale (neck 9/16" longer) and wider nut (44mm) so it is much easier for me to get my fingers on the frets and to finger pick. It isn't a huge difference but it really changes the playability for the better.The sound from the LS6 (rosewood laminate) is really bright and has a nice sustain. Everything looks well built and even the action didn't come too high. I'll probably get it adjusted after a few months but it is definitely within normal range.I'm super pleased and love the look of the guitar as well! Awesome value from Yamaha guitars and the aged spruce top gives it great a sound. Love it!
Voodoo Dolly
Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2021
This is for the Yamaha L-Series LL16 12-string acoustic, which has a solid Engelmann spruce top with solid rosewood back & sides. I've been playing for 30 years. I've bought and sold countless guitars just for myself -- both six and twelve-string. This Yamaha is the best guitar I've owned; I'll never get rid of it. If a giant asteroid ever takes aim at Earth, this guitar is the only thing I'll grab before escaping to another planet. Although it's the most expensive instrument I've bought yet, other guitars that have an all-solid wood body and a torrified top cost more. I took a chance buying it without having played one because it had a "Free returns for any reason" shipping policy. I had nothing to lose by auditioning it in my own home. Luckily, I love it. When a guitar is the size of a dreadnought yet has the wide lower bout and tighter waist of a jumbo, you get the best of both worlds. The action and intonation are perfect -- barre chords are a breeze, and all the notes are in tune, even at the 20th fret. The die-cast gold tuners are beautiful, as is the abalone ring around the soundhole. Also, it's the most versatile 12-string I've owned; you can play anything on it, not just "Wish You Were Here" or "Wanted Dead or Alive." It sounds fantastic, amazing, spectacular, incredible, and uncanny -- all those corny comic-book adjectives and more!
Stephen E.
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2020
I was very worried about ordering this guitar online; let alone on Amazon. It came in a traiangular shaped box that had a semi-soft padded case. I actually like the case for church but this guitar will not be going back in the case. It deserves a hard case. I opened it up and inspected the guitar, came with strings loosely installed. It doesn't have a single flaw. It is perfect, adorned with what looks like abalone inlay, gold tuners, and the action is perfect. It came with a tool to adjust the neck, I just bought a Martin DX 12 string and I totally expected to hae to adjust it. I didn't have to. The wood grain rosewood is just awesome. Thi thing sounds amazing. Best guitar purchase ever. It isn't even close to sound compared to the Martin HPL. This thing makes the Martin sound like a toy guitar. I have a thing for the deep bass resonance with rosewood bodied guitars. I own a Taylor 214CE Rosewood and it used to be the nicest guitar I've ever had until this one. I've always wanted an HD-28 and although I think they are great guitars still, I'm gonna save some money and buy the 6 string version of this. It's a beautiful sounding guitar with sustain for days. Great for strumming and fingerpicking. Oh I also plugged it into my Boes L1 Compact and it sound just as good throught that thing. I absolutely love it!
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