I’ve been rather desirous of an acoustic guitar. Money is rather tight, however. In another guitar forum I visited, the Yamaha FG800 is mentioned as one of the best cheaper guitars for a beginner, due to its solid top and overall decent construction. Some say it’s a cheap guitar, but decent enough to have gotten many students through school studying guitar, for example.
So, is it my best choice, bang for the buck? Obviously, I can also search around pawn shops and whatnot (and I have, and have seen many guitars there!), but, if I’m going for a new guitar that is of decent quality but at this relatively cheap price-point (say, under $300), is the Yamaha FG800 my best bet? Or, are there other options anyone would recommend?
Thanks, JK. That confirms what I’d heard in some other forums. Good to hear! I think I’m going to see if maybe my mother will split the cost of one, half and half, with me for my birthday.
Another question… looking at the Yamaha 800. They offer it with the smaller, concert body (FS800) or the larger, dreadnaught body (FG800). Which size would you recommend? I’m a rather big dude, so, I probably wouldn’t have any problems handling the dreadnaught.
Go to a store and just a few different sizes demoed for you, personally I love the dreadnaught sound over most as those deep tones really stand out nicely. See or rather hear lol what you prefer and go from there maybe. You’ll be surprised at just how different they sound.
Hi Todd I have an FS800 (paid $200) when starting out. It’s a great guitar and I do like how the body is a little thinner. As the others have said Yamaha is great bang for your buck and you can’t go too far wrong.
I would also check out second hand guitars on Craigslist, as you can get some great bargains and chances are the guitar has already been set up.
Thanks, everyone! That all makes sense, and I’m glad to have some confirmation on things, regarding Yamaha guitars. There is a local music store that has some, from what I can tell from their website, so, I’ll try to go there and check out their selection, try some out. And, I’ll definitely try searching for some second-hand stuff.
you can check if that store has a particular guitar by typing the branch town or city name in their search bar of their site, works for pmt , not sure if all sites have that function. IE
I chose the Yamaha FS800 Gigmaker pack… now just waiting for it to arrive which should be Thursday/Friday next week. Very excited to get started with the course.
Got a few other bits and bobs as listed in the ‘intro post’ here:
I actually wish I had gotten the FS myself. I got the FG, but… it’s so darn big! I guess this is why everyone says to try out a guitar first. I find the FG to be unwieldy. Maybe I will learn how to handle it though?
@SocratesDiedTrolling I hope you get used to it soon, everything I’ve watched on YouTube seems to indicate you will eventually get the ‘feel’ for playing the bigger bodies.
I don’t know where you’re located but is there any chance the shop would let you swap it over to an FS maybe for a small fee or something (and they sell the FG cheaper as an ‘open box’). Some shops here will let you do that if it’s still in ‘as new’ condition. Just a thought.
Ya know, I never really considered returning it. Sadly, I just checked, and we have passed their return window (they offer returns for 30 days, and it’s been a bit more than 60 now). I think I’ll just give the guitar a try. I’m not a small person; I think, physically, I can probably get used to the dreadnaught, it just might take some time.
I might even have to re-visit some of Justin’s videos where he talks about positioning with the guitar, early on in the course. Having been playing a solid-body electric guitar this whole time (which is obviously much smaller), I may need to see just how I am supposed to be holding this behemoth of an acoustic guitar.
As pretty much a new learner (this year), it took me around 40 hours to get used to my FG700. Now I even need a foot rest to bring it up slightly as I love a snug fit.
I just tried a strat-like today and struggled badly. Either way good luck to both of us.
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