Built in Japan from 1994 to 1999, the Yamaha AEX1500 is a single-cutaway archtop electric guitar originally designed by Yamaha and British jazz guitarist Martin Taylor. Taylor used these guitars as his touring instruments. While these models were sold in North America as the AEX1500, in Europe and the UK they were called the “Martin Taylor” model. The Yamaha AEX1500 is built, like many other professional grade archtop electrics, with Laminated Maple for the top, back and sides. The use of laminates improves both physical stability and feedback rejection at stage volumes. The neck is Maple, with Ebony for the fingerboard and bridge and Indian Rosewood for the head plate. For hardware, the AEX1500 sports a Yamaha ‘Johnny Smith’ style humbucker plus a Yamaha piezo pickup set in the Ebony bridge. A preamp is mounted on the upper bass side with the 9v battery box near the strap pin, and the top carries a 3-way toggle switch and master Volume and Tone controls. The Yamaha tuners and trapeze tailpiece are gold-finished. This guitar is in excellent condition