Yamaha FG700S as a Beginner Guitar?

poochierockz

Hiya Folks...
Looking into buying the Yamaha FG700S from XMusic. I know absolutely nothing about guitars but this one seems to be recommended by quite a few. Should I take their advice? I'm a poor ole girl so I can't spend too much and even this is pushing it but I don't want to go ahead and get a crappy one that I won't end up keeping for long. Would love some opinions on whether or not I should dish out the cash for this or if another cheaper one would do..if so, any suggestions??
Can't wait to start getting those raw bloody fingers!!

Blackhorse Slim

Yamaha guitars tend to be very solid and good value, and make excellent beginner/intermediate guitars. I'm sure you could get a cheaper model that "would do", but if you are serious about learning you should get the best you can afford. I haven't played an FG series, but they look like a good choice.

A couple of suggestions;

Get a guitar with a solid top, not laminate. If the back and/or sides are laminate it's not such a big deal, but the top really must be solid wood. The one you mentioned is solid top, and looks like it is solid back and sides too, so full marks there

When you go to the shop, try a few different guitars. Even if you can't play anything, at least sit and hold the guitar as if you were playing. There are a few different shapes and sizes, find which one feels comfortable - dreadnought is the most common, jumbo is more rounded, grand auditorium (00 or 000) are a little smaller and easier to handle.

Good luck!

poochierockz

Blackhorse Slim wrote: »

Yamaha guitars tend to be very solid and good value, and make excellent beginner/intermediate guitars. I'm sure you could get a cheaper model that "would do", but if you are serious about learning you should get the best you can afford. I haven't played an FG series, but they look like a good choice.

A couple of suggestions;

Get a guitar with a solid top, not laminate. If the back and/or sides are laminate it's not such a big deal, but the top really must be solid wood. The one you mentioned is solid top, and looks like it is solid back and sides too, so full marks there

When you go to the shop, try a few different guitars. Even if you can't play anything, at least sit and hold the guitar as if you were playing. There are a few different shapes and sizes, find which one feels comfortable - dreadnought is the most common, jumbo is more rounded, grand auditorium (00 or 000) are a little smaller and easier to handle.

Good luck!

ahh cheers, thanks a million for that!! Definitely some great advice there. I was gonna head into Xmusic but when i looked online originally, they had the yamaha fg that I was looking for but now it doesnt seem to be on their website anymore.. any other music shops I can head to that might carry it? I'm new to town so I've no idea where to go!

Blackhorse Slim

http://www.goodwinsmusic.ie/acoustic_guitars/acoustic_guitars_/Yamaha_FG700S_acoustic_guitar_ireland


If you really want the FG700s, looks like they have it in Goodwins, Capel St.

poochierockz

Blackhorse Slim wrote: »

http://www.goodwinsmusic.ie/acoustic_guitars/acoustic_guitars_/Yamaha_FG700S_acoustic_guitar_ireland


If you really want the FG700s, looks like they have it in Goodwins, Capel St.

magic, thanks! will check it out so.

sarkozy

I'd recommend the FG700S. I bought it as an 'it will do but sounds good enough for recording' guitar as I was moving to Africa and wanted a backup guitar - I didn't want anything happening my 1970s Ibanez.

For your information, the 'S' stands for 'solid top', the top is pine and the back, sides and neck are Nato, a hard wood similar to rosewood (incidentally, the next step up is a pine and rosewood).

I bought it because it gave me that feeling in my belly. For the price, excellent tone, balanced, good volume, lovely action, good machine heads, easy to string. I mainly play fingerpicking (travis style, American Folk/Primitive) so I needed good balance and resonance from bass to treble strings, and for each string to ring like piano chords when I'd need it. This gave me that range without spending too much money.

Overall, it's very good value for money but I have noticed my frets wearing away. I play a lot and this still shouldn't happen so quickly, but it also depends on your style of play.

My advice, though, is if you havent already tried out similar guitars in that price range, do so. It all comes down to personal preference, so it's worth trying out Tanglewood, Ibanez. Glossed, unglossed, pine versus cedar top (but NEVER laminate top, always solid - the sound of laminates don't mature). I tried out loads of guitars before I settled on the FG700S but it was well worth the effort for my purposes.

poochierockz

sarkozy wrote: »

I'd recommend the FG700S. I bought it as an 'it will do but sounds good enough for recording' guitar as I was moving to Africa and wanted a backup guitar - I didn't want anything happening my 1970s Ibanez.

For your information, the 'S' stands for 'solid top', the top is pine and the back, sides and neck are Nato, a hard wood similar to rosewood (incidentally, the next step up is a pine and rosewood).

I bought it because it gave me that feeling in my belly. For the price, excellent tone, balanced, good volume, lovely action, good machine heads, easy to string. I mainly play fingerpicking (travis style, American Folk/Primitive) so I needed good balance and resonance from bass to treble strings, and for each string to ring like piano chords when I'd need it. This gave me that range without spending too much money.

Overall, it's very good value for money but I have noticed my frets wearing away. I play a lot and this still shouldn't happen so quickly, but it also depends on your style of play.

My advice, though, is if you havent already tried out similar guitars in that price range, do so. It all comes down to personal preference, so it's worth trying out Tanglewood, Ibanez. Glossed, unglossed, pine versus cedar top (but NEVER laminate top, always solid - the sound of laminates don't mature). I tried out loads of guitars before I settled on the FG700S but it was well worth the effort for my purposes.

Thanks Sarkozy!

I haven't been able to go out and check out a few other ones yet. I was gonna make the trip down to xmusic and the other one there but a mate just lent me his Simon and Patrick Luthier acoustic guitar to try out and learn from before making a purchase...since money is definitely an issue for me, that definitely helps a lot!

I was also looking into this other one.. the Fender CD60 Acoustic pack. Its cheap and comes with a few things like a tuner. Reviews online all seem to be very positive.