Yamaha FG700S Acoustic Guitar
by Craig on Friday, September 3rd, 2010 | 5 Comments
Yamaha FG700S Acoustic Guitar
- Affordable 6-string acoustic guitar–great for beginners
- Solid sitka spruce top, rosewood fingerboard, die-cast tuners
- Accented with black-and-white body binding, tortoise pickguard
- High-gloss natural finish looks great under the stage lights
- Backed by a limited lifetime warranty
The FG700S is the #1 selling acoustic guitar in the United States.A great entry-level acoustic guitar, the 6-string Yamaha FG700S offers deluxe features including die-cast tuners, solid sitka spruce top, and a rosewood fingerboard. Other features include a black-and-white body binding, tortoise pickguard, and a high-gloss natural finish that will look great under the stage lights. It’s backed by Yamaha’s limited lifetime warranty.
Rating: 
(out of 14 reviews)
List Price: $ 319.99
Price: Too low to display
Review by Travis Dalton for Yamaha FG700S Acoustic Guitar
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I played a Johnson dreadnought in highschool and was told that my fingers would stop hurting eventually. They never did do to the really high action (distance from fretboard to string). After 2yrs I finally gave up guitar. Recently I was having a 1/4 life crisis (im 25) and wanted to learn guitar. I broke out the old johnson from the closet and played for 2 weeks and again the finger problem. I went to Guitar Center and talked to a couple of the guys and started playing as many guitars as i could. I found that every single one was easier on my fingers than the johnson. I tried out the yamaha and a few others in this range. The yamaha just felt so much better. The action was perfect for a newbie but after asking another customer to test it for me (guy was freaking awesome on a guitar) I realized this one was amazing on really advanced stuff and you could strum the heck out of it and it still sounds amazing. Please if you are looking at playing guitar. PLEASE start with something like this instead of the $99-189 range… This is a 350 guitar hiding behind a 199 price tag. I know most ppl just want a guitar now but if you get a cheaper one you will quit playing because you can only take so much pain.
Pros:
Great Look!
Perfect action for a beginner
Quality instrument for really cheap!
Cons:
Been playing for 3 weeks and I have yet to find one
No wolf notes, nor anything else. Solid Solid instrument
Review by S. Quinn for Yamaha FG700S Acoustic Guitar
Rating:
I got this guitar about a year ago as a birthday present from my girlfriend. Because ears are so subjective, we went to Guitar Center to try out a whole slew of makes and models. Pretty much anything they had in the sub-$500 range. I tried Martins, Fenders, Epiphones, Gibsons, Taylors, Ovations, Yamahas– you name it, I tried it. Most sounded pretty good, but you could tell they were budget guitars. Just no balance. Some had great deep tone but no treble. Others were very bright but had no bottom end. I was about ready to settle on a $350 Yamaha (which looked BEAUTIFUL) and had a decent balance, but then my girlfriend found this FG700S hiding behind some boxes. I played it and…WOW. Rich lows and bright highs. Needless to say, that’s the one I picked. My fingers hurt at first from playing it so much, but I got used to it pretty quick. I kept the same strings Yamaha had originally put on it for about 6 months before they started to turn dark with corrosion. I don’t know how long the guitar sat in their showroom for, but my guess is about 6 months based on the build date (I got from calling Yamaha). Get one of these brand new and I bet the strings will last you a year. I played and still play my FG700 more than my $500 Epiphone Les Paul, even when practicing. I just like the sound that much.
Then after doing some research in March I had a guitar shop put in a bone saddle (the white part that the strings bend over right before they go into the body) and I couldn’t believe my ears! What was already a great sounding guitar now sounds as good as anything up into the $800 range, easily. All for roughly $270 ($180 guitar + $90 saddle).
To me, this thing is an investment. They say that guitars age kind of like wine. You take good care of it and it will just sound better and better the older it gets. My father’s got an FG110 from the 70′s and it sounds amazing now. I figure that give this thing 20 years and it will sound as good as anything out there.
Pro’s: Great sound especially for $200, nice finish, easy playability, very good factory strings.
Con’s: Action can be a little high if you play a lot at the higher frets (you can have that adjusted), it’s a jumbo acoustic: so for smaller people the body can be a little oversized.
Review by S. Murphy for Yamaha FG700S Acoustic Guitar
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After many years of thinking about it, I finally decided to actually pick up the guitar so received a hand me down Sigma from the 70′s and started plucking away. After a few months of killing my fingers I figured I would spend a few bucks and get it fixed. In about 30 seconds Billy from B & D Repair (highly recommended if you are in the Phoenix area) said in all reality this was a money pit that would never get anywhere.
After a good discussion of what my playing level was and where I wanted to go with my guitar experience he recommended the Yamaha FG700S as a top level entry instrument.
Immediately after picking the guitar up my playing improved, mainly due to the strings actually being close to the fret board as opposed to a few inches away. I have been playing it pretty solidly every day for the past 4 months and have really enjoyed this guitar.
Sound stays true during light strumming as well as through hard and fast pieces. No real distortion of the sound during hard playing. Unit has a nice full sound as well for a wide variety of songs. Guitar comes with coated strings, so is nice and easy to play, as well tuning stays true. I am a bit of a nut so I tune it frequently, but it is not really needed that frequently as the unit maintains its tuning quite well.
For me this has been the perfect affordable beginner guitar.
Review by keno for Yamaha FG700S Acoustic Guitar
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I have had my Yamaha for a couple of years.I just love it.It sounds great,looks great,and is a pleasure to play.I was going to buy a more expensive guitar but was told that this was the absolute best guitar for the price by far.I have to agree.You can pay a lot more but not get a better sound,this is a rock solid value.Its great!
Review by Paul Dragulin for Yamaha FG700S Acoustic Guitar
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I’ve played for 3 months and I’ve had this guitar for 2 months. It is the first guitar I’ve bought and I’m very happy with it. I’m planning on having a bone nut and saddle put in because I believe this guitar is worth investing into. Maybe 10 years down the road I’ll get a “pro” guitar but I don’t plan on ever getting rid of this baby unless I give it to a real good friend.
6/27/10 update: I put in bone bridge pins and bone saddle from Bob Colosi online. I highly recommend you check him out just google his name to get his website. The guitar sounds a lot better and brighter! D’Addario strings also helped I didn’t like the stock strings very much. This guitar really rings now! The bridge pins made a greater difference than I ever thought. I didn’t put in a bone nut because it only helps tone for open strings and I don’t like inconsistency in sound from open strings to closed ones. The bone pins gives the guitar more “punch” and call me crazy but with those pins the strings sound better the older they get. The punchiness gets better and better until a string breaks.