Taylor Academy vs Yamaha C40?

[barry68]

I would like to buy a classical guitar what are the what are the pros and cons of the Yamaha C40 vs the Taylor Academy nylon string guitar.

[dkstott]

I haven't seen or played the Taylor's, so I can't help there.

The Yamaha C40 is one of the cheapest beginner Yamaha classical guitars in the Yamaha line. It's all laminate wood (top, sides and back).

My humble opinion is that you should take a look at the Cordoba C7 model. The C7 can be found new for under $500 online.

[CEB]

I don't consider the Taylor a classical guitar. Narrow neck, crowned frets. It is a nylon string crossover. It is about a $500 guitar. If that is your budget you can a whole lot better than the Yamaha C40. The Yamaha is about a $150-170 guitar. It's made of plywood. The C40 is a introductory Classical guitar. A Yamaha NTX700 is more along the lines of the Taylor.

$500 Cordoba are a lot of guitar. That is pretty good suggestion if you want a classical guitar but only want to spend $500.

Do you want a Classical guitar for traditional classical style playing or are you wanting a crossover guitar that gives you some nylon tone? Both are good but they are two different things. If you want to learn to play classical techniques like picado, tremolo etc... you need the extra string spacing.

A used C40 isn't a bad guitar just to see if you want an actual Classical. I saw one at a local pawn shop with only 4 strings for like $30 a few weeks ago.

[Earl49]

I owned a Taylor NS34 crossover for about ten years, and I played the new Academy nylon string briefly at a noisy festival last winter. It was way too boisterous to make a tonal evaluation other than just the feel of holding it.

Both Taylor's are crossovers, not true classical guitars. You have to decide which you are really after. Compared to a true classical guitar the Taylor bracing can be a bit heavy, so the tone can suffer by comparison. I'm not familiar with the Yamaha model.

[barry68]

Thanks for all your replies very informative.