Yamaha Guitars

[Tames D]

Anyone have an opinion on Yamaha guitars? Good, Bad, Ugly? I'd like to hear about their quality, etc.

 

[Sukerkin]

From my perspective, they are decent enough to learn on but once you climb out of the 'Learner' years then I think you'll start to want something a bit better.

 

[Tames D]

I kinda thought the same thing Suk. I got one for Christmas and it seems to be pretty good quality. But I'm no expert.

 

[Jaeimseu]

I can't comment on Yamaha guitars specifically, but there are many good starter guitars out there from many manufacturers these days, at reasonable prices.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Yamaha guitars are not bad I have always kind of liked them however I have an Alvarez at the moment

 

[Carol]

Yamaha builds musical equipment that is decent and consistent. Their gear is perhaps unspectacular but it is not bad either.

Personally I think their acoustic guitars are better than their electrics, they learned a lot about the acoustics of sound from building and improving upon their pianos.

 

[Tames D]

http://www.zzounds.com/item--YAMFGX700SC

Mine is an acoustic/electric. I really like it. Of course I'm a beginner, so what do I know . I learned to play when I was a kid but for some reason gave it up. At any rate, I think it's a nice gift from a friend. Not a Gibson, but hey...

 

[Carol]

That is a very nice guitar! It has a solid spruce top, that will give you a very nice, warm sound. That could very well be a guitar that you never outgrow. :asian:

Congrats! And enjoy

 

[Omar B]

You gotta be more specific. Yamaha if a big company and many of their instrumentsa are made all over the place. From India to Pakistan to Korea, China and Japan. It really depends on the type of guitar you want, how it's made and where it's made. Personally I have never come across a factory guitar made outside of US or Japan that was any good. I had a Yamaha acoustic when I was younger back in my classical gutiar days that was nice, but then I had an RG model (which they don't make anymore) wich was an amazing guitar top to bottom, but then it was made in the '80's when guitars were made right.

RG Then -

24 Frets, Floyd Rose locking trem, dual Duncan humbuckers, neck tru construction, 13 degree angled headstock, Alder body

RG now -

22 Frets, non-locking trem, 2 humbuckers and a single coil of no decernable brand, bold on neck, straight headstock, poplar body

RGX (the supposed, upgraded, modern version of the RG) -

22 Frets, bolt on neck, hardtail bridge, soapbar pickups, for some reason they changed the headstock.

My advice. Play them and feel for yourself. If you wanna not spend much on a student guitar then sure. As for their more high end models that people actually want to play, they stopped making those a while ago. I used the RG as an example because I liked these. But it's the same story for bassists John Myung, John Pattatucci or guitar god Frank Gambale leaving the company and their signature models.

 

[Omar B]

A few players I love who jumped ship from Yamaha in recent years. Remember, when you have a big company that makes lawn mowers as well as guitars ... one of these won't be top notch. I cannot speak highly enough of the original RG series (though a blatant copy of the Ibanez RG series guitars), but then it was a product of the 80's when all the great guitar companies were doing well.

John Myung (Dream Theater) Yamaha Infinity bass

JM's post Yamaha Ernie Ball Music Man Bongo Bass

Frank Gambale with his Yamaha Signature model AES

FG with his new Carvin (my favorite guitars) FG1 Signature Model

Sammy Hager Signature Model Cabo Wabo AES model

Sammy's nedw Gibson Les Paul Red Rocker Signature model

 

[Tames D]

Thanks Omar, good info. I linked the acoustic/electric model i received as a gift in post #7.

 

[Omar B]

Thanks. I'm not gonna comment on acoustic guitars since I have not played one since I was like 15 so that is quite a few years ago. Remember, electric and acoustic guitars are completely different instruments that just happen to play by the same rules. You can't judge a company's acoustics based on their electrics or vice versa. Things like numbers of frets, neck attachments bridge construction and placement, action (string hight), etc. I could go on. Only way to know if a guitar is any good is to play it, sucky part is, you can never truly advise a beginner because you gotta know how to play. I've had quite a few crap guitars in my time, now I just play Carvin and Jackson.