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Yamaha AC3R ARE Concert Cutaway - Vintage Natural

6-string Acoustic-electric Guitar with Solid Sitka Spruce Top, Solid Rosewood Back and Sides, Mahogany Neck, and Ebony Fingerboard - Vintage Natural
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Yamaha AC3R ARE Concert Cutaway - Vintage Natural
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Solid-top Acoustic-electric with Vintage Vibe and a Big Voice

In the Yamaha AC3R Concert acoustic-electric guitar, Yamaha offers a vintage look with enhanced volume in the low-mid ranges, due to new scalloped bracing for the top and shorter bracing on the dreadnought's back. With a solid Sitka spruce top and solid rosewood back and sides, this concert-sized guitar sounds fantastic. It also benefits from Yamaha's A.R.E. wood torrefaction, a high-heat treatment that gives the guitar top greater stability and an aged, vintage hue. The Yamaha AC3R Concert takes full advantage of Yamaha's unobtrusive and versatile SRT2 pickup system for recording and stage performance. You get volume, treble, and bass controls (with auto feedback reduction), and Blend Control allows you to balance between the piezo and SRT2 preamp, for your own distinctive tone.

Modern audio engineering with vintage style

While the Yamaha AC3R Concert has a traditional western body cutaway, its lows and highs resonate even more fully than those generated by conventional designs, thanks to new scalloped top bracing and shorter back board bracing. These modifications allow the top and back to resonate more naturally and with greater volume in the low-mid ranges. The western cutaway gives it a classic look, but an all-new brace design definitely brings the Yamaha AC3R Concert into the twenty-first century — and the Sweetwater showroom!

Quality wood plus innovation equals brilliant sound

Sitka spruce is highly valued for guitar tops — and for good reason. This select grade of stiff but elastic softwood is gorgeous and is equally suited to aggressive strumming, flatpicking, and even fingerpicking styles of play. The Yamaha AC3R Concert features a solid Sitka top treated at high heat to remove moisture and volatiles (the A.R.E. process), resulting in greater stability and beautiful aged color. Its solid rosewood back and sides also produce warm, balanced tones from low to high. The Yamaha AC3R Concert is a guitar that looks, plays, and sounds great.

Studio sound onstage

Normally you can best hear a guitar's subtle nuances in the studio while miked, but the Yamaha AC3R Concert has Yamaha's SRT2 pickup system, which brings those wonderful acoustic sounds to the stage. With blend control, you can balance the output from the under-bridge piezo pickup with the modeling of either a Neumann KM 56 small-diaphragm condenser mic or a Royer R-122 active ribbon mic, creating your own unique tone with natural clarity.

Yamaha AC3R Concert Acoustic-electric Guitar Features:

  • 6-string acoustic-electric with traditional western cutaway
  • Solid Sitka spruce top and solid rosewood back and sides for bright, warm tone
  • A.R.E. wood torrefaction provides greater stability and attractive aged color
  • SRT2 system allows you to blend between piezo and SRT2 preamp signals for a personalized sound

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Tech Specs

  • String Type: Steel
  • Number of Strings: 6
  • Left-/Right-handed: Right-handed
  • Body Shape: Concert
  • Back & Sides Wood: Solid Rosewood
  • Top Wood: Solid Sitka Spruce
  • Finish: A.R.E. treated top
  • Color: Vintage Natural
  • Body Bracing: Scalloped bracing
  • Binding: Mahogany
  • Neck Wood: 3-piece Mahogany
  • Fingerboard Material: Ebony
  • Fingerboard Inlay: Dots
  • Number of Frets: 20
  • Scale Length: 25.5"
  • Nut Width: 1.692"
  • Bridge Material: Ebony
  • Tuning Machines: Die-cast chrome
  • Electronics: SRT2 preamp with saddle pickup
  • Case/Gig Bag: Softshell Case
  • Manufacturer Part Number: AC3R VN

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Customer Reviews

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Rated 5/5

Super Nice Yamaha Acoustic

Big shout out to my man Nick Ozden. This is a very serious acoustic guitar, great neck and playability. Plugged in sound is fantastic. All solid wood construction. Oh by the way I also own a Taylor 214 ce. This Yamaha is equally as nice in every way and $ less. Nice gig bag too.
Music background: Long time player
Rated 5/5

Sunburst winner!

I was shopping for a stage guitar for a new project and stumbled upon this one from Yamaha. I'm so glad I did. After 30 years of gigging in folk and acoustic/yacht rock type bands while playing high end guitars from Martin, Taylor, Guild and Larrivee, I never thought I'd perform with a guitar from Yamaha.

I'd read some good things and the price was very attractive given the high quality features... all solid woods including spruce, rosewood, ebony and mahogany, wood binding with rolled fretboard edges, torrefied spruce top, and an attractive onboard preamp with anti-feedback reduction and image modeling. And no upcharge for the sunburst finish!

This guitar sounds real good plugged in. It was easy to dial in a realistic acoustic sound with no quack or metallic tones. The neck is really sweet and plays great, intonation is spot on and the build quality is excellent, I can't find any blemishes or issues. And played acoustically it sounds good, responsive and articulate with a balanced tone. And plenty of volume.

The guitar needed a setup, but that's to be expected. The nut was cut too high, the saddle needed a touch of shaving, and a tweak of the truss rod got this playing like "butta" all the way up the fretboard.

Don't overlook this one, folks. I'm sure glad I didn't.
Rated 5/5

Just a great guitar......

This instrument plays like a guitar twice its price. And I have them all...Martin...Gibson...Taylor. You cannot go wrong with this machine!
Rated 5/5

AA Batteries!

Yes, this guitar is amazing right out of the box. One thing I didn't see anywhere that I was pleasantly suprised to find out, this thing takes AA batteries! No more, costly, 9v's!
Rated 5/5

Much better than I expected!

I finally decided to replace my 25 year old Takamine Acoustic Electric. I have a D18 but no electronics and I need that for most of the gigging I do. Plus the Takamine was not as expensive as the Martin so it has gotten dinged up over the years. I was starting to get shorts in the wiring and I needed a reason to buy a new guitar and that was it. I have mostly Dreadnaughts so I was interested in the concert body style. I have used Sweetwater for many purchases so I got a hold of Stephen because I have worked with him before. I have owned Taylors as well and don't like them so I threw out some brands to see if he had an opinion. I was looking to spend around $1000. When he came back emphatically with the Yamaha recommendation I wasn't to sure but after researching I decided to go for it. Yamaha may not have the sexy name but the build quality and solid tone woods are just remarkable for the price. Unplugged it has a much bigger sound than I expected from the concert body size. But the real fun starts when you plug it in. Straight into the amp or PA just dial up your sound between the pickup and mic choices and it is a smooth balance sound that is just delicious. The action was a tad high when I got it but that was an easy fix. I feel like this guitar is a good as guitars costing 2 or 3 times a much. I couldn't be happier.
Music background: 40 years in many types of music groups and styles
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