Customer Reviews

Yamaha Gigmaker Standard Acoustic Guitar Pack, Natural

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I got this guitar to replace my Mitchell guitar based on reviews.
The price was good.
Also, it is the Yamaha brand name.
The sound, I was told by my teacher, was very good and he said it was a good buy.
The tuner is OK....better to buy a Korg tuner from Amazon.
Haven't tried the DVD yet.

I have only two complaints:
1) The bag, as pointed out by another review, is very flimsy. It has no straps, no padding. It just has a carry handle. You would want to buy another gig bag

2) The worksmanship is lacking at certain points....e.g. where the neck extends on to the body of the guitar, you see glue that was squeezed out from under. I am a stickler for aesthetics. Some people are not bothered with such stuff.

OVERALL A VERY GOOD GUITAR

PS - You might want to check out the GigMaker Deluxe...similar guitar but has a solid spruce top and is only $10-$20 extra. I did not know about it otherwise would have bought that.
However, as I came to know later, solid wood tops sound good but need to be kept in controlled humidity whereas the laminate tops don't care about humidity. If you want to control humidity, you can buy a little humidifier (no electricity needed) that drops into the sound hole of the guitar.

I'd never played guitar until I bought this one last month, so I can't compare this to others, but it's a great deal for the price. Yamaha quality and consistency are worth the few extra dollars you'll spend over cheap starter guitars.

If you're buying this as a gift for a beginner who has nothing, this is probably an awesome deal. If you're buying this for yourself, the extras may not be worth the extra money, unless you're a complete beginner who isn't sure if you'll stay with it, in which case the DVD alone is probably worth it.

Concerning the glue issue raised by another reviewer, mine did not have any unsightly extra glue squeezed out from where the neck extends onto the body. Sure, it's evident that glue was used, but only upon extremely up-close inspection.

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PRICE
The guitar alone (F325 Acoustic Guitar) is currently $17 less on Amazon, so you're essentially paying that much for the extras. From what I've seen looking about at DVDs for learning, the DVD is worth that if not more. Unless you decide that playing guitar isn't for you though, you'll most likely be replacing other extras, so, except for the extra set of strings, I wouldn't factor those much into the price.

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EXTRAS
Some thoughts on the extras:

DVD: Excellent -- professionally done and doesn't seem to be available without the kit. Teaches the basics like how to hold it, tuning, strumming, etc. The Chord Dictionary is pretty nice -- shows various chords and finger positions for them. The Chord Studio is pretty cool -- you play chords you've learned with a backup band, which makes practicing fun. The only negative thing I'll say is that the initial intro had me worried about the quality of the rest of the DVD, but it turned out to be great (the instructor seems much more comfortable showing you things than he does just standing there and speaking at the beginning).

Digital Tuner: The one included in the kit is the Qwik Tune Electronic Guitar and Bass Tuner ' QWIQT11. Based on reviews, you're probably going to want a Korg, as another reviewer said. You can the higher-rated Korg GA-30 Ultra Compact Guitar and Bass Tuner currently for less than $11, or pay a few dollars more for a large-display model like the Korg GA-40 Large Display Guitar and Bass Tuner or Korg TM-40 Large Display Digital Tuner and Metronome (which both had "add to cart" pricing as of this review).

Extra Strings: You'll need them, eventually. Worth a few bucks, anyway.

Picks: You can buy these for next to nothing, but it's nice to have a few to start with.

Guitar Strap: It's not pictured in the non-kit F325, so not sure if it's a true extra. At any rate, I'm not convinced this would last more than a few months before starting to look ratty. It's a strap though and functions as one.

Gig Bag: Like someone said, it's not worth much, but for this price, I wouldn't expect much either. It might keep your guitar from getting scratched -- or might not (since it's not padded or lined, I wouldn't be surprised if putting it in and out of the bag won't do more harm than good over time.). It's not going to protect the guitar if you intend to travel about with it and it's not useful for carrying anything but the guitar. Check out the World Tour WG20D Deluxe 20mm Acoustic Guitar Gig Bag or Musicians Gear Deluxe Dreadnought Case, Black for a couple of high-rated, economic options.

Overall, I'm thrilled with my purchase, even though I've added a hard case, strap and tuner to my wish list for Christmas.

I shopped around at music stores to price a good starter guitar. I was told about this product. After I went home I looked it up on line and the price was much less here through Amazon. I am very happy with the guitar so far.

I have owned this guitar for about 1 year. This is a very nice starter guitar in this price range. The guitar is well built and has a very nice tone. This kit really does include everything you need to get started. I like playing this guitar, and still play it every day.

We bought this last year for our son who wanted to learn the guitar. Let's just say I was pleasantly pleased with the quality of this guitar to say the least. Great quality with great sound... not an "el cheepo". I recommend this HIGHLY to anyone wanting to buy for a beginner, or even a amateur player.

The guitar arrived exactly on time and in mint condition. My husband loves it and it is easy to tune. Great guitar for a beginner.

I got this a couple months ago as my first guitar, and at first I was very pleased with it. Once you get it tuned properly it produces a good sound just strumming the strings openly. But as you get better and begin to play more complicated chords and songs, the flaws of this guitar become clear. The action is very poor, and the frets are cheap, as you would expect for the price. The fretboard of my guitar is fairly smooth and comfortable for a guitar of this class, but I know three other people who have this guitar and each one feels different, and the wood on theirs was rougher, so who knows what you will get. However, this is a good guitar for a beginner to learn on, especially because the entire package is a great deal. I've seen complaints about the tuner, but mine works fine. The bag provided is truly a waste, it does nothing for protecting the guitar, so if you plan on moving it around a lot you should consider buying a padded gig bag separately. I haven't used the strap much, but beware that the strap holder on the bottom comes out very easily. I didn't use the second set of strings they provided, so I can't really speak on that (I purchased Ernie Ball Earthwoods, which I would highly recommend). Basically, if you are just starting out this is a good package for you to get, but if you have experience I suggest you spend the extra cash and get a higher quality guitar, it makes a big difference.

I purchased this item as a gift for my 16 daughter who said she wanted a guitar. The accessories that come with the guitar are wonderful. You would end up paying a whole lot more if you had to buy them extra. She loves the guitar. It is great for a beginner or for someone who is advancing. The sound is beautiful and the quality of the guitar itself is very high.

I bought this exact kit at guitar center for 250 dollars. I did however get a two year warranty, but I would have gladly traded that for a price like this.

I bought this value pack over a year ago to find out if I actually enjoyed playing the guitar and I didn't want to spend too much money on something that I didn't like. It does come with all the necessary items that every beginner should have BUT I quickly found out that they are cheap and needed to be upgraded to items of better quality.

Gig Bag - It's made out of a thin, cheap type of material and does nothing to protect your guitar except keep dust off of it.

Strap - Also made out of cheap material - I ended up throwing mine away and replacing it with a better quality one for like $8.00.

Tuner - I found it to be very useless; I spent a few extra dollars and bought this: Planet Waves PW-CT-09 Universal II Chromatic Tuner - which is awesome.

Strings - The ones that come with the pack are not that great. I've tried over 10 - 15 brands and types of strings and I found the best ones for this guitar are the Martin SPs - Phosphorous Bronze and the Ernie Ball - Slinky - Phosphorous Bronze. DO NOT get Elixirs - they sound horrible on this guitar and I think it's b/c the guitar is on the cheaper side.

Picks - The ones that come with it sound good with the Martin SPs. I also used Dunlop - Tortex which were great.

Instructional DVD - I used it very little b/c I ended up taking lessons. It looks good and the guys goes slow, which helps if you're a beginner.

Now to the guitar. This is actually a great beginner's guitar once you've changed the strings, bought a capo, and use better picks. However, after awhile you will start to notice the cheap quality of it and decide you want a better one. Overall, it is a good guitar, the accessories pretty much suck and you're going to have to revamp it to fit your style.