Yamaha Silent Guitar Review
Hey everyone,
Here’s a quick Yamaha Silent Guitar review to give you an idea of the good (and bad) things about this cool little guitar from Yamaha.
I’ve been playing guitar for about 16 years, have a college 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.
Until about 5 years ago this was not a problem, I lived in the country in a big house and could practice until the wee hours of the morning without complaints from neighbors etc. So I decided to move to the city, mainly for the concert opportunities, and of course I ended up moving to an apartment. Needless to say, if you’ve ever lived in a basic apartment, you know the walls can be a bit thin, and of course, my neighbors weren’t too crazy about me practicing scales at 2am!
Enter the Silent Yamaha Guitar!
This thing has literally saved my butt on many occasions, with deadlines for a gig and needing to practice late into the night. I just pull out my trusty headphones, plug them into the jack, turn up the volume on the guitar, and voila. Let’s go. The Yamaha SG100N Silent Guitar is absolutely excellent for late-night practice sessions and with the ability to break it down for storage or travel (that’s right!) it’s definitely a must-have for any guitarist who travels a lot!
The built-in pickup system has a volume control and your standard bass/treble controls that do a good job of letting you dial in a tone to your liking and the built-in reverb is an absolutely great feature. Sounds like you’re playing in a beautiful church through headphones! Playability is excellent, and you can achieve a wide variety of tonal colors by moving between the bridge and neck with your fingering hand.
Many 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 as most people when I first saw this guitar, but it is actually very comfortable to play sitting in a proper classical position, as well as when playing with the right leg. You can also wear the optional strap buttons and walk around the house, which is really cool!
My main complaint about the guitar would be that the bass response (on my instrument anyway) is a bit lacking overall and I tend to have to turn the bass control up to get the sound I’m after. I think Yamaha could do a little better job with the overall pickup system, but then again it was only $600 so it’s pretty hard to fault them for this. It’s definitely not a deal breaker and really just a minor complaint more than anything.
In closing, if you like to practice late at night without bothering your neighbors or your girlfriend, need a guitar that’s easy to travel with, or just like new toys that look cool, I’d definitely suggest you give this a try. look at the Yamaha. Silent guitar!