Yamaha LS-TA Transacoustic

GUITARIST SEPTEMBER 2016

he acoustic guitar world has

witnessed many innovations over

the years in terms of pickup design

and amplification. Once upon a time we

put our faith in stick-on transducers, gaffer

tape and lucky heather in order to transmit

our fingerstyle fancies to an audience. But

the world is a rapidly changing place and

innovation has not left the humble acoustic

untouched. Yamaha has always been one of

the front runners as far as advancing the art

is concerned and its latest contribution to the

bold strummers society allows you to play

completely unplugged but with the enhancing

properties of chorus and reverb mysteriously

appearing from out of the soundhole. No, we

haven’t lost our marbles: reverb and chorus

with no amplification or outboard gear at all.

Fascinated? So are we…

But before we get to the clever bit, we’d

better just consider the guitar that’s hosting

all this wizardry. Basically, the LS-TA is what

Yamaha call its ‘Original Jumbo’ body size,

which, as the pictures reveal, is slightly less

first play

YAMAHA LS-TA

TRANSACOUSTIC

£924

WHAT IS IT? An acoustic guitar

with in-built chorus and reverb

that doesn’t require an amp

Words David Mead Photography Joseph Branston

At first sight, an ordinary acoustic – but it has

onboard reverb that can be heard unplugged…

Personal

Effects

GIT411.rev_yam.indd 16 8/4/16 6:15 PM

PAGE 1
f i r st p l ay YAMAHA LS-TA TRANSACOUSTIC £924 WHAT IS IT? An acoustic guitar with in-built chorus and reverb that doesn’t require an amp Personal Effects At first sight, an ordinary acoustic – but it has onboard reverb that can be heard unplugged… Words David Mead Photography Joseph Branston T he acoustic guitar world has witnessed many innovations over the years in terms of pickup design and amplification.
PAGE 2
VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra YAMAHA LS-TA TRANSACOUSTIC first play SEPTEMBER 2016 GUITARIST GIT411.rev_yam.
PAGE 3
first play YAMAHA LS-TA TRANSACOUSTIC 2 1 3 bulbous and more in proportion than jumbos offered by many other companies. The top is Englemann spruce, which has undergone Yamaha’s ARE treatment to give an aged and ‘played in’ sound to the timber, with back and sides made from rosewood. The neck is a five-way laminate of mahogany and rosewood and the fingerboard is ebony.
PAGE 4
VIDEO DEMO YAMAHA LS-TA TRANSACOUSTIC http://bit.ly/guitaristextra first play YAMAHA LS-TA TRANSACOUSTIC 4 to the remarkable innovation that lurks within the belly of the beast… The science behind it sounds deceptively simple but involves some befuddlingly clever electronics. According to Yamaha, it all goes something like this: “An actuator installed on the inner surface of the guitar back vibrates in response to the vibrations of the strings.