Hey All,
Here is a quick Yamaha silent guitar review to give you an idea of the good things (and the bad) about this cool little guitar from Yamaha.
I've been playing guitar for about 16 years, I've got a university degree and have studied with some of the best classical and fingerstyle guitarists in the world so needless to say I practice quite a bit.
Up until about 5 years ago this was no problem, I was living in the country in a large house and I could practice well into the morning hours without any complaints from neighbors etc… Then I decided to make a move to the city, mainly because of the opportunities for gigs and of course ended up moving into an apartment. Needless to say if you've ever lived in a basic apartment you know that the walls can be somewhat thin and sure enough my neighbors weren't too crazy on the idea of me practicing scales at 2AM!
Enter the Yamaha Silent Guitar!
This thing has literally saved my butt on many occasions, with deadlines coming up for a gig and needing to practice well into the evening I simply take out my trusty headphones, plug them into the jack, turn up the volume on the guitar and away we go. The Yamaha SG100N Silent Guitar is absolutely excellent for late night practice sessions and with the ability to take it apart for storage or travel (that's right!) it's definitely a must have for any guitarist that does a lot of travelling!
The on-board pickup system has a volume control and your standard bass/treb controls which do a good job of allowing you to dial in a tone to your liking and the on-board reverb is an absolutely excellent feature! It sounds like your playing in a beautiful church coming right through the headphones! Playability is excellent and you can achieve a great variety of tonal colors by moving between the bridge and the neck with your plucking hand.
A lot of people ask me if it is difficult to play sitting in a classical position. The answer is – NO. I was very surprised because I assumed the same thing as most people when I first saw this guitar but it is actually very comfortable to play seated in a proper classical position as well as when played on your right leg. You can also use the optional strap buttons and walk around the house which is really cool!
My main gripe about the guitar would be that the bass response (on my instrument anyways) is a little lacking overall and I tend to have to pump up the bass control to get the sound that I'm after. I think Yamaha could do a slightly better job with the pickup system over all but then again it was only 600 bucks so it's pretty hard to knock them for this. It's definitely not a deal-breaker and really only a minor gripe more than anything.
In closing, if you like to practice late at night without disturbing your neighbors or girlfriend, need a guitar that is easy to travel with, or just like really cool looking new toys than I would definitely suggest that you take a strong look at the Yamaha Silent Guitar!
