YAMAHA SLG200S CRB Steel String Silent Guitar

Tiene lo q esperaba … está hermosa y lo mejor suena increíble

I had been looking for a guitar that I could take with me on business trips so that I could use the downtime to practice. I initially settled on the Washburn Rover – size, price and the fact that it came with a great travel case all factored into it. The reality of using it however was a bit disappointing, with the size and weight (especially the ratio of the weight of the body to the neck) making it a bit unusual (uncomfortable) to hold, and the sound was tinny – all of which I anticipated. That being said – it was nice to have a small, yet full sized for practice purposes guitar to travel with. Most of my travel is via car so the size wasn’t a big deal, but I did want something I could take on an airplane and the Washburn fit the bill but I was never that excited to play it – and found myself taking a old full size acoustic with me on car trips when I didn’t care about size – which was what I was doing before hand anyways. So about 2 weeks after purchase I stumbled on to the Yamaha SLG series and was blown away. Not only did it appear to be the perfect travel companion, but also play beautiful tones – AND solve the secondary problem of noise which my wife and kids have often complained about (what?!! you mean not everyone wants to hear my beautiful music? – must be the hours of scales and playing songs over and over until even I’m sick of them ha ha) and “taking over the house” with my guitar and worse when play along to music. Both the guitar and music get louder and louder. AND – I often wanted to practice in the living room while watching mindless TV but that wasn’t possible with the Washburn or my full size acoustic either. The Yamaha SLG seemed to fit the bill on all accounts. Plus I loved the high end look of it. So I sent back the Rover and started stalking every seller on the internet to find one – seemed supply was pretty limited and I was set on the Tobacco which by the way is just gorgeous. The pictures dont really do it justice. So – the price differential was a bit steep, but really you can’t compare the two products and Amazon – LOVE AMAZON – was the first to show up with inventory AND the lowest price AND let me use some American Express Points AND had the refund in hand from the Washburn so I pulled the trigger.

The Review:
Arrived in 1 day – (thank you Prime) and everything was in the box as expected. What wasn’t expected was that the setup was good right out of the box in terms of the action and intonation. I turned on the built in tuner and was playing in about 5 minutes. Built in tuner was accurate. So there are lots of videos on the web that are very detailed in terms of review of all the features so I wont go into those and will try to concentrate on things that I didn’t see in reviews. So the sound is great. Build quality is great – the finish and fit of everything really stellar. It looks and feels like a high end device and I love the wood, makes for a cool interaction of the technology vs craftsmanship. Its heavier than I expected, listed at 4.5lbs which gives it a substantial feel without being tiring. Balance is good and the ergonomics of holding/playing it are also good. Comfortable neck. One thing I did was purchase a used ipod nano and put all the songs on there that I like to play along with. Using a small 3.5mm plug, I used double sided tape to attach the nano to the back of the guitar and plug it into the input jack on the bottom. Its invisible, but now I can easily push music, mixed in with the guitar to the headphones. I also purchased a small bluetooth adapter that I can plug in that lets me easily push the output of the guitar to a Bluetooth enabled amp and/or speaker (including the blended output of the guitar and the ipod). Would be nice to see bluetooth actually integrated in (next version Yamaha?) Its not a silent guitar – the ambient noise of playing it is exactly the same as if you were playing an electric guitar that wasn’t plugged into an amplifier – but its obviously way quieter than playing any acoustic. Sound quality is amazing – AND if I push the output through a pedal I have a very useful electric with effects. I mean that’s what this guitar is at its core, a nice portable electric guitar with a built in amplifier and digital acoustic modeler (SRT) to deliver a high end acoustic sound with 3 built in effects – which are done nicely by the way, and I also appreciate the ability to control both the input (ipod) mix, and the mix between the natural pickup and the SRT. I typically leave it blended more on the SRT side because I like the sound. Tone controls are nice as well. The guitar stays in tune amazingly well – I was surprised even during break in that I didn’t have to re-tune much as the new strings were broken in. I have played it alot, and am still using the batteries it came with – so battery life seems strong and I appreciate that it uses standard batteries that I can get from anywhere. I bought a third party adapter for less than 10$ (thanks amazon) but I have yet to use it other than to test – threw it in my gig bag just in case – but battery life is great so far.
So for me it has completely met my expectations as a travel guitar. Its really met every expectation that I would have as a “guitar” without the travel qualification. Really nice job Yamaha. Adding the ipod (I got a used one for 75$ on ebay) made it a fully self contained play along guitar setup that I can take anywhere. I think its the best ‘travel’ guitar out there – and by the way – its a great straight “guitar”. It also solved the challenge of playing where it needs to be quiet, yet still sounds GREAT and as loud as I want it to be in my headphones which I love. And I’m practicing more because I can. I find myself picking it up just to play it, even when no one is home because it is easy to play and the sound is amazing. Its a very nice addition to my collection and worth every penny. I highly recommend it – even as a first guitar or only guitar due to its playablity, versatility and flexibility.

I was trying to explain what it was when I ordered it to my guitar teacher (amazing player, music scientist and guru of all things guitar), and he was like uh…ok. When i got it and showed it to him he was blown away and within 5 minutes of playing he was like “I want one!”. That more than anything told me that I had made the right choice.

Now to nitpick which is going to be hard to do with this guitar:

On the “cons” side, while it packs down to a nice form factor, the case is more of a gig bag – not a ton of padding. No way I’d check it on a flight. As for carry on, it will fit in overhead for sure, but you wouldn’t want anyone to put a bag on top of it and too long to put under your feet (probably). I haven’t taken it on a plane yet, but I will and I’ll be sure to get there early so I can claim a bin. Its almost as long as a standard dreadnought, even if it is way more narrow/wide so its going to take up some space and I wish the case was more of a hard case or at least reinforced. Small complaint that, but I would have paid more (or would appreciate the option) to have a hard(er) case. Even for the back of my car just to have more protection. As stated earlier it is not silent. I think that expectation is unreasonable, strings make noise – it is what it is. I suspect the Nylon version would be better in this respect, but that being said I now am able to bring it into the living room where wife and kids are in the kitchen or even watching TV and work scales without complaint either with or without headphones for me. I also find myself playing it in my office when I really want to get loud and the only complaint I get now is that apparently my singing along to music and guitar that is only in my headphones is extremely annoying and apparently awful (hey it sounds good to me!). HA HA. On the plus side – an unexpected benefit which I don’t really understand the mechanics of, is that when I’m playing with headphones and singing its a bit easier and has improved my ability to sing and play at the same time. I’m not sure if its what I’m currently playing or as a result of the winter/humidly in my house but I just recently noticed that a couple of the frets seem to be a bit sharp on the ends when I play certain notes in scales. I am going to take it to my local shop and have them polish them a bit – they aren’t sticking out (which would be a typical profile of a slightly shrinking neck due to humidity), but I’m noticing them rubbing a bit on the inside of my pinky. Nothing awful – but a new development which is easily fixed but perhaps worth mentioning as a real nitpick. Like I said, I’ve had it for a couple months and never noticed anything – for that matter I actually find it more comfortable to play than my full sized Epi acoustic neck, but just noticed it recently and only when working on some specific scales. Everything else is smooth and elegant, great neck profile, smooth wood and fast action. No fret buzz. If the biggest complaint is a bit of a weak bag and some fret ends that could use a bit of polish in the face of all the other things this guitar does so well (especially at this price point), stop reading and add it to your cart.

So no real complaints here. Its better than you will expect I think. Check YouTube for some great video reviews, unboxing and some amazing guitar players showing what they can do with this guitar.

Very good quality …

This is a great product. Sound quality is amazing and sounds just like an acoustic. It is light weight, portable. It can be loud and quiet. I can practice late at night, or connect to an amp during the day. Since it’s not a traditional size guitar, it’s also a pleasure to pick up and play anytime. Since I bought it I have been playing it every chance I get.