Yamaha SLG200N NW Nylon String Classical Silent Guitar with Hard Gig Bag, Natural

This guitar blows me away in that it plays beautifully and sounds great in the headphones as well as played through a PA system. The onboard tone controls and reverb effects sound great. It’s travel size which is a bonus. Just an all around great guitar for practicing quietly (not totally silent) or gigging. Far surpassed my expectations and is currently my favourite guitar in a decent lineup.

The instrument was ordered from Amazon and arrived in its soft case in a Yamaha cardboard box which was packed in an Amazon box with what appeared to be insufficient packing materials. Happily, all packaging was in good condition when it arrived, but my experience with UPS suggests that I was lucky this time. I have had the instrument for about two weeks. I purchased the slg200nw without having played any model of Yamaha silent guitar. Buying a guitar without playing it is usually a bad idea, but I couldn't find an slg200nw in my area to play and I can imagine that there are some readers of this review who find themselves in the same position. I did do some research on line and viewed a number of videos featuring the instrument before I made my purchase. You can see by the rating I gave it that it pleased me a great deal, so I'll outline the concerns I had before I received it and how the guitar resolved them. MY CONCERNS BEFORE BUYING, AND HOW THE SLG200NW RESOLVED THEM INTONATION AND SETUP I was concerned that the intonation might be unsatisfactory even though I heard that these guitars have a reputation for accurate intonation. The intonation on the guitar I received is five star. The slg200nw arrived set up with 12th fret string heights of 3.75mm for the sixth and 3.25 for the first (as measured by a Baroque string action ruler), very close to the setup on my other classical guitars. There is an adjustable truss rod should you prefer a different setup. The strings that came on the slg200nw were exceptionally low tension, which you may or may not prefer. BUILD QUALITY I was concerned that the build quality, fit and finish of the guitar would disappoint me. It certainly didn't. I had a big smile on my face after a few moments examining it. NECK I was concerned that the neck of the guitar, which was presented by Yamaha as thinner than conventional classical guitars, might be sufficiently different from my other classical guitars to present a significantly different playing experience. It was not and did not. In fact, I'm finding no important subjective difference. CONFIGURATION, BALANCE, WEIGHT I was concerned that the playing position would be much less than ideal given that the body of the slg200nw is shallower than that of a traditional classical guitar. I also worried that the particular weight and balance of the slg200nw would be a distraction. These concerns turned out to be non-issues, at least in my case. When played the slg200nw does not feel thin like a Fender Strat feels thin. Putting one of my other classical guitars next to the slg200nw on a bed with the heads hung over the side and flattening the bodies of the guitars against the bed, the height of the strings above the bed (where the strings are touched by the right hand of a right handed player) was about four and one half inches for the conventional classical guitar and two and three quarters inches for the slg200nw. The only issue this one and three quarters inches of depth has presented is that I find myself wondering whether or not the slg200nw isn't actually more comfortable to play than my other classical guitars. SOUND I was concerned that I would be disappointed with the sound of the guitar. First let me say that this is an electric instrument and it isn't going to sound like a Ramirez 1A. But the way it sounds is very much dependent on what you use to listen to it, and if you use high quality audio equipment it sounds very good indeed. It also comes with the added bonus of interesting variability controlled by the player. I am using Audio-Technica ATH M50 earphones with satisfying results, and I suspect that the way players respond to this guitar has everything to do with the quality of the audio equipment they use with it. If you have the opportunity to play an slg200nw make certain to bring a good set of earphones or borrow a set for the occasion. There is no other way you will be able to hear what the slg200nw can sound like. LOGO I must say that I'm not a fan of logos on the headstocks of classical guitars, and I initially solved the problem by covering the logo with my favorite tuner until discovering that the tuner built in to the slg200nw was more accurate. As happy as I am with the instrument and the price I paid for it I should be more tolerant of the logo. TUNERS The tuners on the slg200nw are excellent. Part of my impression of the tuners may have to do with the low-tension strings that came with the instrument, but the tuners certainly feel smooth. SOME SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS I find it interesting that I'm paying more attention to dynamics now that I can play at a volume that won't disturb others. And there is something about the sustain, or perhaps the earphone isolation, that has me paying more attention to note values. Both of these at least potentially lead to more accurate and expressive playing. If you are unable to find an slg200nw to play be sure to do some research and check out the videos that are available. If you buy one I hope you'll be as satisfied with it as I have been.

I bought this for silent practice and for ease of travel. It does a pretty good job for both of these. I bought the nylon wide version because I am a classical player. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do for a support. I don't want to use a footrest, and it doesn't work with this guitar anyway, because of the cutaway/horn. I'm gonna have to modify it in some way. I'm also gonna have to modify the upper "body" because it is hugely uncomfortable for a classical player. Seems like it was designed to be used with a strap or in Jazz/Folk playing position. When you hold it in Classical position, the upper "body" has these sharp edges that cut into your chest and your right forearm. It's really unacceptable, but there are enough other positives that I'm going to figure out how to solve these problems -- hopefully in a not too ugly way. Don't really want to wrap the upper curved surface with foam rubber, but that would probably solve the problem. It's too bad Yamaha didn't get some classical players to give them some feedback on this guitar when they were designing it, because these are obvious serious design problems that could easily have been avoided. Oh well, I'll keep it because it's really nice looking, sounds pretty good, and is basically useful. Update 10/9/23: I bought a "Neck Up Mini" guitar support and it works well. Very comfortable and holds the neck at about 45 degrees. I also finally decided to bite the bullet and modify the upper frame to cut off the "bump". Fortunately we happen to have a nice 14" bandsaw, so it was easyand now the guitar is much more comfortable to play. Also bought some foam rubber padding on Amazon to serve as an armrest. It's U-shaped and about 1.5" wide and just slides right onto the upper frame where your forearm rests. What an improvement.

This absolutely works just as advertised. The workmanship is excellent. The setup, function and appearance were flawless as received. Action was 3.2mm at the 12th fret, spot on for me. The fingerboard is one of the nicest pieces of jet black ebony I have seen. The fretwork is flawless and the nut string height perfect. I have had to adjust NOTHING at all. You don't need any luthier work on this one. The strings, despite some complaints here are actually the Yamaha S10 set as used on their most expensive custom guitars. The gauges are identical to the ubiquitous D'Addario EJ45 strings except they stretch far less. I may start using these for that reason alone. The tuners are excellent but I did put a dab of petroleum jelly on them which made them less stiff. Because of the solid center body the tuning stability is remarkably good. Just a touch up to compensate for temperature changes as needed. Far better than any of my good classical guitars. The concept of a "Silent Guitar" is every bit a useful as you can imagine. The included ear buds actually sound really good but the flimsy cord is a pain. The best settings for my ear are the bass and treble centered and the blend control at about 2 o'clock. The effect controls work very well and I often use the 2 reverb settings at moderate levels. I have tried several sets of good headphones but you have to fiddle with the controls to make it sound like a guitar. In general the bass is excessive as the headphone output is equalized to make the included buds sound good, which makes good headphones sound WAY too bassy with the same settings. I have settled on some rather inexpensive AKG K52 phones with the bass set to about 9 o'clock and the SRT blend at 1 o'clock. I got these at Guitar Center on sale for $30. Other phones may require the bass to be lowered to the minimum and the blend at 12 o'clock, at least to my ear. i returned several sets as they were too bassy at any setting. The OneOdio Studio are my second choice if I want a really rich bass. The output fed into an amp (Fishman Mini) sounds really good, so the excessive bass in only on the headphone output, not the instrument output. The guitar has a lot of sustain, as might be expected with a solid body. Works well for a lot of music but don't expect a Flamenco sound with sharp attack and quick decay. Batteries last a long time (several weeks at an hour or so a day) so I would skip the power supply and just get a set of rechargeable batteries. The AUX input is great for plugging in a metronome. My wife appreciates that I can endlessly practice a few measures sitting 10 ft from her without it driving her up the wall. I appreciate the lack of guilt when doing this. So bottom line, this guitar is everything I expected and more. After 3 weeks i am totally sold.

Compré la versión NW dado que mis dedos son ligeramente más gruesos que el promedio. Fué necesario llevarla a ajustar para ampliar la distancia entre cuerdas, quedándome mejor pero no suficiente. Esto no me sucede con guitarras tradicionales. Eso no quita la buena impresión que me causó.