Customer Reviews

Yamaha FG700S Acoustic Guitar

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I played a Johnson dreadnought in highschool and was told that my fingers would stop hurting eventually. They never did do to the really high action (distance from fretboard to string). After 2yrs I finally gave up guitar. Recently I was having a 1/4 life crisis (im 25) and wanted to learn guitar. I broke out the old johnson from the closet and played for 2 weeks and again the finger problem. I went to Guitar Center and talked to a couple of the guys and started playing as many guitars as i could. I found that every single one was easier on my fingers than the johnson. I tried out the yamaha and a few others in this range. The yamaha just felt so much better. The action was perfect for a newbie but after asking another customer to test it for me (guy was freaking awesome on a guitar) I realized this one was amazing on really advanced stuff and you could strum the heck out of it and it still sounds amazing. Please if you are looking at playing guitar. PLEASE start with something like this instead of the $99-189 range... This is a 350 guitar hiding behind a 199 price tag. I know most ppl just want a guitar now but if you get a cheaper one you will quit playing because you can only take so much pain.

Pros:
Great Look!
Perfect action for a beginner
Quality instrument for really cheap!

Cons:
Been playing for 3 weeks and I have yet to find one
No wolf notes, nor anything else. Solid Solid instrument

I got this guitar about a year ago as a birthday present from my girlfriend. Because ears are so subjective, we went to Guitar Center to try out a whole slew of makes and models. Pretty much anything they had in the sub-$500 range. I tried Martins, Fenders, Epiphones, Gibsons, Taylors, Ovations, Yamahas-- you name it, I tried it. Most sounded pretty good, but you could tell they were budget guitars. Just no balance. Some had great deep tone but no treble. Others were very bright but had no bottom end. I was about ready to settle on a $350 Yamaha (which looked BEAUTIFUL) and had a decent balance, but then my girlfriend found this FG700S hiding behind some boxes. I played it and...WOW. Rich lows and bright highs. Needless to say, that's the one I picked. My fingers hurt at first from playing it so much, but I got used to it pretty quick. I kept the same strings Yamaha had originally put on it for about 6 months before they started to turn dark with corrosion. I don't know how long the guitar sat in their showroom for, but my guess is about 6 months based on the build date (I got from calling Yamaha). Get one of these brand new and I bet the strings will last you a year. I played and still play my FG700 more than my $500 Epiphone Les Paul, even when practicing. I just like the sound that much.

Then after doing some research in March I had a guitar shop put in a bone saddle (the white part that the strings bend over right before they go into the body) and I couldn't believe my ears! What was already a great sounding guitar now sounds as good as anything up into the $800 range, easily. All for roughly $270 ($180 guitar + $90 saddle).

To me, this thing is an investment. They say that guitars age kind of like wine. You take good care of it and it will just sound better and better the older it gets. My father's got an FG110 from the 70's and it sounds amazing now. I figure that give this thing 20 years and it will sound as good as anything out there.

Pro's: Great sound especially for $200, nice finish, easy playability, very good factory strings.

Con's: Action can be a little high if you play a lot at the higher frets (you can have that adjusted), it's a jumbo acoustic: so for smaller people the body can be a little oversized.

After many years of thinking about it, I finally decided to actually pick up the guitar so received a hand me down Sigma from the 70's and started plucking away. After a few months of killing my fingers I figured I would spend a few bucks and get it fixed. In about 30 seconds Billy from B & D Repair (highly recommended if you are in the Phoenix area) said in all reality this was a money pit that would never get anywhere.

After a good discussion of what my playing level was and where I wanted to go with my guitar experience he recommended the Yamaha FG700S as a top level entry instrument.

Immediately after picking the guitar up my playing improved, mainly due to the strings actually being close to the fret board as opposed to a few inches away. I have been playing it pretty solidly every day for the past 4 months and have really enjoyed this guitar.

Sound stays true during light strumming as well as through hard and fast pieces. No real distortion of the sound during hard playing. Unit has a nice full sound as well for a wide variety of songs. Guitar comes with coated strings, so is nice and easy to play, as well tuning stays true. I am a bit of a nut so I tune it frequently, but it is not really needed that frequently as the unit maintains its tuning quite well.

For me this has been the perfect affordable beginner guitar.

I've been wanting a guitar for a while but the thought of walking into a guitar shop having no prior knowledge or experience of playing was really daunting for me. I looked up some different guitars online and after looking at all the reviews and weighing pros and cons, I decided to shell out a bit more money for this one and take a leap of faith. And I'm very glad I did.

I was surprised at how shiny it was when I pulled it out. Everything was in tip-top shape and after tuning the strings to the right pitches, got straight away to playing with it. The sound is rich, full, and resonant even just by lightly finger-plucking the strings. I was a pianist for 14 years and a violinist for 5 so I can tell when sound quality is good or not and this guitar certainly didn't disappoint. I'm an absolute beginner on the guitar and this is a fine instrument for beginners who aspire to hopefully play more advanced stuff in the future. In reviews of other guitars, I read stuff like 'the action was too high' or 'the strings kept buzzing' or 'the alignment of the guitar was all wrong' so I was a little afraid I'd have to make adjustments but based on my own experience, I thought everything was just fine the way the guitar came out of the box.

At first, the guitar felt bigger and bulkier than I had expected and I felt like my fingers were too small to hold all the right chords. But after a few weeks, my body learned to adjust to a new playing position (which was a bit more difficult for me, having sat upright with my arms out in front to play piano for so long). It's hard at first but with a little practice, you'll get the hang of it. I leave my guitar out where I can see it so anytime I get bored, I'll sit down and practice a few chords. All in all, a beautiful instrument with great sound! I love it. :)

I've played for 3 months and I've had this guitar for 2 months. It is the first guitar I've bought and I'm very happy with it. I'm planning on having a bone nut and saddle put in because I believe this guitar is worth investing into. Maybe 10 years down the road I'll get a "pro" guitar but I don't plan on ever getting rid of this baby unless I give it to a real good friend.

6/27/10 update: I put in bone bridge pins and bone saddle from Bob Colosi online. I highly recommend you check him out just google his name to get his website. The guitar sounds a lot better and brighter! D'Addario strings also helped I didn't like the stock strings very much. This guitar really rings now! The bridge pins made a greater difference than I ever thought. I didn't put in a bone nut because it only helps tone for open strings and I don't like inconsistency in sound from open strings to closed ones. The bone pins gives the guitar more "punch" and call me crazy but with those pins the strings sound better the older they get. The punchiness gets better and better until a string breaks.

My personal qualifications for writing this review are "none". I'm a total and complete beginner. However, I know what I like to hear, and that's what counts for me. I tried several guitars before making my selection and this one had the cleanest and longest sustaining notes of any of them.

Also, several people at work play and I respect their opinions. They "tried it out" when I brought it back into the office after a lunch time purchase instead of leaving it in the car and all were very enthusiastic. One said it sounded better than any of his guitars that cost at least 2-3 times as much. Another compared it favorably with his $700 Taylor. The third, a professional bass player, whipped a pick out of his wallet, sat on the floor cross-legged, and proceeded to go crazy.

I have had my Yamaha for a couple of years.I just love it.It sounds great,looks great,and is a pleasure to play.I was going to buy a more expensive guitar but was told that this was the absolute best guitar for the price by far.I have to agree.You can pay a lot more but not get a better sound,this is a rock solid value.Its great!

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Love the Guitar, as it sounds great and is easy to play. I'm not a highly skilled player by any stretch of the imagination, but I love this guitar. It was an excellent purchase. It arrived earlier than promised in great shape. It's Hard to believe the high quality of this guitar at such a low price. Hats off to Yamaha! Yamaha FG700S Acoustic Guitar

I've been a musician for the past 13 years. In May 2010, however, I decided to add the guitar to my repertoire of instruments. I did quite a bit of web research, and the FG700S came up everywhere. I decided to go for it, and I bought it from Amazon.

When I took it out of the box, the first thing I noticed is how attractive it is. It doesn't really "look" like a beginner guitar. It's very classy, and the build quality is fantastic. I strummed a few notes on it and was amazed at the bright highs and resonant lows. It is a BEAUTIFULLY sounding instrument.

It's been about 10 months since I bought (and started playing) the guitar, and my opinion of it has only improved. The sound is very rich, perhaps even richer than when I first started on it. I'm getting the hang of the guitar, and I'm loving the feel of the Yamaha. I've only tried 3 other guitars - two Taylors and one other brand I don't remember. They were all three hundreds of dollars more expensive than my Yamaha, and I still liked the sound of the FG700S more. It's got a sonorous richness that isn't easily replicable.

Each guitar has it's own unique sound, and I'm happy that my unique sound comes from this faithful Yamaha.

This is only my second guitar ever, but I have to say it feels great. It sounds so much better than the first one i got here off amazon. Couldn't be happier with it. Word of advice to people looking for their first guitar; if you plan on playing guitar for more than, say a year, it's better off going with something like this. I bought a $100 dollar guitar for my first one and almost immediately regretted not springing the extra cash for something like this, something that'll last me a while. this is just my own experience as a broke ass college student. anyways this guitar rocks.