New guy here. A couple questions about my Yamaha

[Railroad Bum]

Originally Posted by Inyo

I picked up a Yamaha FG830 not too long ago. I liked the action right out of the box. No need for any kind of adjustment. A truly great sounding guitar for the money. Great bang for the buck, in my view.

I recently replaced my old FG830 that I sold to a friend with a brand new one, and I was shocked at how good the setup was straight out of the box. I actually had to raise the action a little for my playing style. I don't know what Yamaha is doing lately, but it's very impressive.

[Rpt50]

In my experience the FG and FS yamahas come with moderately high action from the factory, but the fix is super simple. All you need to do is loosen the strings enough to slide out the saddle (to the side). Once you have the saddle out, take a sharpie and make a reference mark on the bottom. Then, find some sandpaper and a perfectly flat surface (e.g., glass table top), and put the sandpaper on the flat surface. Then, while holding the sandpaper in place, slide the saddle back and forth until maybe about the third of the sharpie line is gone. Reassemble the guitar and try it. Usually that's enough for a big improvement, but if you want it even lower, just sand a little more.

GS minis are very easy to play because of the low action and short scale. But if you choose to go that route, I suggest you check out the great-sounding yamaha CSF1 guitar. It is Yamaha's version of the mini, and I like it a lot better (I sold both of my GS minis after getting mine). It has a short scale like the mini, but the neck is a normal Yamaha width, so it will feel much more natural when you play a regular guitar in the future. Note that it comes with the Yamaha action from the factory, so you will likely want to do a quick saddle sand like described above. BTW, the Yamaha CSF guitars (even the solid wood version) are far less expensive than GS minis.

[TomB'sox]

You made a great choice in choosing a Yamaha. There is a lot of love for them here and they are often the choice for folks when asked about lesser priced guitars.

The set-up will help, mine plays itself which is great because I am not that great.

You will change strings all the time, so just get use to that and it is not a big deal. There are folks that change them all the time trying different gauges and brands and styles until they find the ones they like best. With a lot of play, folks can change them every few days.

Keep up with the playing, the ends of your left fingers will harden and what you think is hard to do now will be second nature soon. I learned on a 25 dollar, basically toy guitar, that had about 1/4 inch between the strings and the fretboard at the 12th fret. My fingers literally bled. Once I got enough down to know I wanted to stay with it, I bought a Yamaha for $160 bucks and still have it along with a few others.

[rmp]

I gave my grandson the same guitar for Christmas three years ago.

it had to be setup before I gave it to him

Saddle was a little to high and the nut slots all needed to be filed,

took me about 30 minutes on my bench, after I was done with all that, thing places like a million bucks.


yours, just like that one, needs a setup. They ALL need a setup! some more than others.

These are nice guitars for learning to intermediate, I'd say give the setup a chance before you move on (if you haven't already)

[JayBenham]

Originally Posted by Felixq78

The F chord can be a difficult hurdle to cross C can be a pain too but as long as you keep playing regularly you will get there.. I promise you that within a couple of months you'll have good strong hand and nice thick callouses and that's when the fun begins.

Looking forward to the F chord. C has been tough for me due to my stubby little fingers but I'm getting way more consistent with changes that involve this chord as I continue to practice. The finger pain thankfully is just about over.

Glad that others have had success setting up their Yamahas. I think its a great sounding guitar. Really looking forward to the change. Im pretty sure I could tackle it myself but this guy is only changing me 50$ including strings. I listened to some youtube vids comparing strings and I really couldn't tell a difference so Im no longer concerned with putting lighter strings on it.

Ill look at that CSF1. I think what I like most about the GS Mini is the skinny neck. I have really really small hands lol.

[thefsb]

Originally Posted by Inyo

I picked up a Yamaha FG830 not too long ago. I liked the action right out of the box. No need for any kind of adjustment. A truly great sounding guitar for the money. Great bang for the buck, in my view.

I'm glad to hear.

My RS502 also had a very badly cut nut ootb. Intonation was way off at the low frets.

And in early 2020 I bought a Pacifica. Ootb the frets had not been crowned or polished at all. They had the rough cuts from leveling.

[Ugly Dougling]

$50 for a setup is a pretty good deal. You will be surprised and very pleased at the results, I am sure... and you will understand a little more about the instrument.

Every new guitar I get begins an adventure to find the strings that sound best on that particular instrument (I'm not obsessive about it... I've basically got three sets of strings that are my favorites and they get a test ride on everything).

It even comes down to picks - different ones not only feel a little different in your hand but SOUND different, too. I basically have my acoustic pick and my electric one.

I get the feeling you're committed to this. Good for you! It goes deeper than you can imagine.

And don't let "small hands" become an excuse! https://folkstrings.com/famous-guita...h-small-hands/

[L20A]

Several people have commented on short scale necks being easier to play.
You can make the Yamaha a short scale by lowering the tuning from E to E, down to D# to D# and then placing a capo on the first fret.
Now the guitar is back in E to E tuning and the scale length is shorter.
Give this a try after the guitar has been tuned up and action lowered.