Yamaha FG9 M first impressions & NGD

[thefsb]

You can find better pictures than I can take and details about its features elsewhere.

What impresses is the dynamic range. The guitar can play really loud and with authority and clarity when played fff and sfz. But also sounds great when mf, p and ppp. It doesn't boom but it has plenty of bass. Walking around the bass octave is very even.

This kind of thing has unique potential. It allows things in ensemble or solo playing that other guitars can't do. In a very crude example, play generally lazy and you'll sound great but then throw in a couple of loud notes or strums for drama and they will be loud enough to frighten half the audience into involuntary gasps. But we can think of more musical applications of wide dynamic range.

To me it sounds and behaves like a dreadnought guitar straight down the middle of what that means, right there in the tradition, what you'd expect from looking at it. But much louder than you expect, unusually evenly balanced, and delightfully responsive/dynamic.

However, my example currently has a defect. The D string is progressively flat going up the fret-board to about -20 cents at the 12th fret and worse beyond. So chords that I play up there sound terrible. 1st and 12th fret action and neck relief are good and the other 5 strings have practically perfect intonation so I don't understand. I'll see if I can get my tech to look at it or I'll have to send it back to the shop some time next week.

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EDITED Dec 16 2023. Last week I traded this FG9 for an LS36. I made a video with the FG9 the day before I went to the shop and another with the LS36 the day after. Both offer information about the FG9 that may be useful to those interested in the FG9.

[David Eastwood]

Try a new set of strings before you do anything drastic.

[Matts67]

Originally Posted by thefsb

The guitar can play really loud and with authority and clarity when played fff and sfz. But also sounds great when mf, p and ppp.

This is great to hear, because these are the things I look for in any great dreadnought.

[martingitdave]

That's a great endorsement of the guitar. I second the string change. Sometimes a string can go bad. Otherwise, I hope you can get it looked over and resolved. I was very impressed with the sound demos of this model and the Rosewood one too. I'd love to play one.

[12barBill]

The guitar can play really loud and with authority and clarity when played fff and sfz. But also sounds great whence mf, p and ppp.

Originally Posted by Matts67

This is great to hear, because these are the things I look for in any great dreadnought.

fff... sfz... mf... p... ppp... Would someone mind explaining to me what the heck that means?

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by 12barBill

The guitar can play really loud and with authority and clarity when played fff and sfz. But also sounds great whence mf, p and ppp.



fff... sfz... mf... p... ppp... Would someone mind explaining to me what the heck that means?

There are eight basic volume levels in music. From soft to loud: piano-pianissimo (ppp, as soft as possible), pianissimo (pp, very soft), piano (p, soft), mezzo piano (mp, quite soft), mezzo forte (mf, quite loud), forte (f, loud), fortissimo (ff, very loud), forte-fortissimo (fff, as loud as possible)

- copied from Google search

And sfz is sforzando - a sudden musical emphasis

David

[12barBill]

Originally Posted by Deliberate1

There are eight basic volume levels in music. From soft to loud: piano-pianissimo (ppp, as soft as possible), pianissimo (pp, very soft), piano (p, soft), mezzo piano (mp, quite soft), mezzo forte (mf, quite loud), forte (f, loud), fortissimo (ff, very loud), forte-fortissimo (fff, as loud as possible)

- copied from Google search

And sfz is sforzando - a sudden musical emphasis

David

Thanks for the reply! I have never seen that applied to the description of guitar's attributes.

[thefsb]

Originally Posted by 12barBill

Thanks for the reply! I have never seen that applied to the description of guitar's attributes.

Sorry to confuse with music notation terms.

They don't describe the guitar, they describe instead the plucking force you use from very softly to very hard. The point about this FG9 M is that it sounds confident, in control and very loud with the hardest inputs and shades to quieter in natural way. As I vary the force of plucking/strumming, the response is obvious and satisfying but not at all weird, it just sounds like a good guitar all the way.

My LJ56 is loud and dynamic too but the FG9 has more power.

My Furch OM-MM is also very responsive to dynamics but it has a distinct personality, a bit unusual in a way I love but don't know how to put in words.

[thefsb]

Originally Posted by David Eastwood

Try a new set of strings before you do anything drastic.

Checking the replies here got me motivated so I looked and found a 0.035 PB in stock and put that on.

The intonation on that D string seems much improved. Perhaps not quite as good as the other strings but in the range that (I presume) we generally accept on acoustic guitars. But I was only checking by ear because it's getting late and I don't want to set up my measurement tools.

I wouldn't have guessed that a string could be defective in such a way. It played and sounded right except for intonation at higher frets. How odd.

I'll pursue this possible fix further tomorrow.

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by thefsb

Checking the replies here got me motivated so I looked and found a 0.035 PB in stock and put that on.

The intonation on that D string seems much improved. Perhaps not quite as good as the other strings but in the range that (I presume) we generally accept on acoustic guitars. But I was only checking by ear because it's getting late and I don't want to set up my measurement tools.

I wouldn't have guessed that a string could be defective in such a way. It played and sounded right except for intonation at higher frets. How odd.

I'll pursue this possible fix further tomorrow.

Well isn’t that a relief. Well done. Hopefully the rest will be simple to sort out.

[TiffanyGuitar]

Originally Posted by thefsb

The intonation on that D string seems much improved. Perhaps not quite as good as the other strings but in the range that (I presume) we generally accept on acoustic guitars. But I was only checking by ear because it's getting late and I don't want to set up my measurement tools.

I wouldn't have guessed that a string could be defective in such a way. It played and sounded right except for intonation at higher frets. How odd.

Absolutely when a string goes bad, intonation is one of the things that goes out. One of my sons friends was having an issue with his electric guitar during the Christmas season - the b string refused to intonate properly. It was way off. The string was also very crusty. I removed all the strings, cleaned the guitar, and completely set it up again and the problem was gone.

[lowrider]

In the pics that I saw, it looked like the FG9 has a thick non-intonated saddle. Is that true?

If so, it should be very easy to solve any intonation issues. I'll be it's a great guitar!

Have you every played an LL16 or above, how does it compare?

[thefsb]

Originally Posted by lowrider

In the pics that I saw, it looked like the FG9 has a thick non-intonated saddle. Is that true?

No, it's the standard Yamaha saddle afaict. It has a half-round profile on top except for the B string which is cut back to lengthen that string relative to the center line of the saddle.

Originally Posted by lowrider

Have you every played an LL16 or above, how does it compare?

No but I currently have an LJ56 that was previously owned by @eljay. He had an LS56 and an LL56 at the same time as that LJ56. Iirc he compared the LJ with the LL as sounding very similar except the LL had a bit more bass. So my comparison with the LJ56 might still be useful to you. I can expand on my very brief comments yesterday after I've played them both some more.

First I think I should put a consistent set of strings on. Right now it has a set with bright colored wound string that feels plastic coated, except for the DAddario PB035 I put on late last night.

I have a fresh sets of DAddario EXP19 and Martin Retro Monel 12s. I think the EXP19 is the more conventional and therefore more suitable for initial evaluation of what I think is a guitar designed to be very conventional but at the same time a step forwards in technical design.

[thefsb]

Originally Posted by TiffanyGuitar

Absolutely when a string goes bad, intonation is one of the things that goes out. One of my sons friends was having an issue with his electric guitar during the Christmas season - the b string refused to intimate properly. It was way off. The string was also very crusty. I removed all the strings, cleaned the guitar, and completely set it up again and the problem was gone.

Yeah, I believe it now because I verified the fix. I checked this morning using a microphone and ReaTune in Reaper, my DAW on the computer. If I am careful and the ambient noise is low it is by far my most accurate tuner.

The intonation is pretty much spot-on now. Yay!

But isn't that wild?! The strings on the guitar when it arrived yesterday were bright, pale-gold colored and feel like they are plastic-coated (Nanoweb? Daddario XSPB?), looked like new, and sounded correct to me. Far from crusty. (Of course because we can be sure the shop took care to ship the guitar with strings in good condition.) But the D string was a off by about 25 cents at the 15th fret!

[Retired1]

As best I can tell by the info on these guitars so far there is no mention of ARE treatment - if so I'm wondering why, and why no 3 piece neck as in the LL series.