NGD - Yamaha FS5

[Martin_F]

Yesterday, not expecting it so early, my Yamaha FS5 arrived. The guitar was cold so I brought it in and let it warm up for a while before opening it up at night. Given that I was tired, I just tuned it up and played a few chords and let it sit.

If you have never had a brand new guitar from the box that has never really been played, those first few chords make you nervous! The guitar sounded horrible! What had I gotten myself in to? But, don't fret too much. Tune it up and play a few chords. Then let it sit and get acclimatized to the world of being in tune. It's still not an instrument when it comes out of that box unplayed: it's a box with some strings on it! I have had a few very new guitars and they all have had this phenomenon when first opened.

Anyways, I let it sit and then opened the case in the morning and tried a few notes: there it was! We now have a guitar on our hands! So far, I am very impressed. I am sure that it has not finished developing it's sound, as it will take at least a few days. But boy, has the sound changed since those first chords. It's full and lush. Very impressive!

So what is the sound like SO FAR: very nice and definitely worth the price. For less than half of what a 000-18 would be, I got this guitar. Does it sound like the 000-18? No, it doesn't. The 000-18 is, I believe, lighter built. However, it does share some characteristic sounds of a small-bodied Mahogany guitar --- it's not so far off that you would say it sounds completely different, but not so close as to be the same guitar. It retains that classic tone, but so far I would say that it has more overtones and is more lush sounding than a 000-18. So, I wouldn't say it sounds better than a 000-18, but different. My impression so far is that it is something of a mix between the classic tone of a 000-18 and a more modern guitar. Likely the overtones and overall sound has more to do with the build, the sides in the guitar are braced, which likely makes the box more rigid than some guitars. This should serve to make the guitar project a little better.

Of course, Yamaha uses very good woods. The top has a very nice grain. The mahogany is well done and has a nice colour to it. Everything seems pretty perfect: EXCEPT!

The good is that I love the sound. It plays nice. The action has been done quite good from the factory. The guitar looks understated, which I enjoy. I'm not into a flashy guitar.

The bad is that there is a small blemish. I'm one of those people who hates blemishes in my guitars. Mentally I know that it doesn't affect it at all. But, it's a blemish that I will always see because it's on the neck heel, right where you look! It's a small indentation that was manufactured into the guitar and it looks like they tried to sand it out and just made it look a little worse. So, I'm still deciding what to do. Given that I love the sound, I would like to keep the guitar. But, I am one of those guys who will never stop looking at that mark!

Some pics!





The Blemish:



So, what does everyone think? Return? Ask for another? Keep it?

I think this guitar will only get better with time and it already sounds pretty amazing. It sounds much more lively than my Martin 000-15m, which I already really enjoyed. Of course, they sound much different so it's hard to compare those two guitars. I really enjoy the contrast between them!

Martin

[Martin_F]

I'm trying to get the pictures to work!

Martin

[Dbone]

So did you physically have to go pick it up, or was it delivered to your door?

You said it was Long and Mcquade, right?

In case you're not familiar, you need to use a service like imgur.com, or something similar, and then link to the pictures there.

Sorry to hear about the blemish. Hopefully it's not too bad.

[Blueser100]

Beautiful guitar! The blemish looks like perhaps a tool marred it..it’s hard to tell from the photo. Perhaps you could take some high res photos and contact the dealer and see what they say? These guitars are not easy to come by so if you love the sound maybe the dealer will knock off some $$.

[Dbone]

Curious to see the pic. Once I do I'll certainly give ya my thoughts. It's your money so you will decide in the end. I wouldn't worry that a replacement would sound any worse. The question is, is a replacement available to give you should you go that route? These are very popular guitars.

Long and Mcquade typically is pretty good about trying to make their customers happy. They don't discount generally, especially on a guitar this popular, so I suppose that is the least they can do ;-0

[Martin_F]

Originally Posted by Blueser100

Beautiful guitar! The blemish looks like perhaps a tool marred it..it’s hard to tell from the photo. Perhaps you could take some high res photos and contact the dealer and see what they say? These guitars are not easy to come by so if you love the sound maybe the dealer will knock off some $$.

Did the images show up for you? hahaha. They don't seem to work for me. I just moved them to imgur and they still aren't working. Hmmm..

Thank you!

Martin

[Dbone]

Originally Posted by Blueser100

Beautiful guitar! The blemish looks like perhaps a tool marred it..it’s hard to tell from the photo. Perhaps you could take some high res photos and contact the dealer and see what they say? These guitars are not easy to come by so if you love the sound maybe the dealer will knock off some $$.

I don't see any photos yet?

Not directly anyway, unless I explicitly load the links...

[Martin_F]

There we go! Now they seem to be working.

Originally Posted by Dbone

Curious to see the pic. Once I do I'll certainly give ya my thoughts. It's your money so you will decide in the end. I wouldn't worry that a replacement would sound any worse. The question is, is a replacement available to give you should you go that route? These are very popular guitars.

Long and Mcquade typically is pretty good about trying to make their customers happy. They don't discount generally, especially on a guitar this popular, so I suppose that is the least they can do ;-0

Yes, it was with Long and Mcquade. I wrote them an email, but I am just waiting for a response.

I can't say too much bad about this guitar. It is extremely nice and sounds amazing. This just must have slipped by somehow. I hate when I am overly picky. But, in my email to them I noted that this would most likely be something of a "second" had it been found earlier.

It's really not a bad cosmetic flaw. It just happens to bother me!

Martin

[Dbone]

Yeah, entirely up to you, but this isn't a B stock guitar you bought here. At least I don't think it is? That's not looking overly great if you ask me. Not the best pic, but I think I'm getting the gist.

You sound a lot like me. I'm pretty particular about my guitars. If there are going to be blemishes going on them I feel a lot better about the whole thing if I got my money's worth and had the opportunity to put them on there myself. If that makes any sense. Sounds silly, but its the principle of it. A new guitar should be a new guitar.

That's unfortunate. For what it's worth, I've look at a few Yamahas now, and I have not seen something like that on them. Not even on the really cheap ones to be honest.

This is not a cheap entry level Yammy. I know what I would do, but that is me.

There's worse things in this world, but I'm sure you get what I mean. That's unfortunate. Maybe you are the type of guy that would take a discount and be happy with it. Not sure, but it doesn't sound like it.

[Dbone]

Yeah, no...right on the top of the guitar like that? This would drive me insane. It's driving me insane right now and its not even my guitar...lol

Good luck man. Depending on what you plan to do I would contact them immediately to let them know your intentions. Don't sit on that. Best of luck.

You're not alone. I find myself with these sorts of problems on products all the time. I just don't put up with it. Simple as that. You should see my luck with guitars more generally. Pretty horrible. LOL

Cheers

[Dbone]

Originally Posted by Martin_F

There we go! Now they seem to be working.



Yes, it was with Long and Mcquade. I wrote them an email, but I am just waiting for a response.

I can't say too much bad about this guitar. It is extremely nice and sounds amazing. This just must have slipped by somehow. I hate when I am overly picky. But, in my email to them I noted that this would most likely be something of a "second" had it been found earlier.

It's really not a bad cosmetic flaw. It just happens to bother me!

Martin

Only you can decide man. Do whatever works for ya I say. If you are the type of guy that goes through guitars like a 16 year old boy does girlfriends like some of the folks on this forum, then maybe you could take yer discount and deal with it. The guitar will move on soon enough sorta thing.

I'm the type of guy that will be buying quality guitars and holding them for many many years. For me I'd rather not get a discount for a blemished guitar and get what I paid for quality wise. That's me. I know this sorta thing yer dealing with here wouldn't bother some folks.

Let us know what ya end up doing.

[Martin_F]

Originally Posted by Dbone

There's worse things in this world, but I'm sure you get what I mean. That's unfortunate. Maybe you are the type of guy that would take a discount and be happy with it. Not sure, but it doesn't sound like it.

This is exactly how I feel. The guitar sounds so good, I hate to give it up. However, I still have a 2012 Ramirez classical guitar without even a single scratch and I play it every day! I'm quite careful with my guitars. If I buy them used and they are already scratched that is one thing. I just don't like to add scratches.

This is a little different. A new guitar should be new, like you noted. It's odd for this kind of thing to be missed on a Yamaha. I have also not run into this kind of thing before on a Yamaha. Especially to be in a pretty conspicuous area.

Well, we'll see what happens. I'm still up in the air on what I would do if they offer a discount. To me, I want to keep the guitar for a long time so the money doesn't really bother me.

I am one of those people who cringes in music stores every time I see someone playing a guitar with a coat on or something and playing an expensive Martin or Taylor. I'm always thinking to myself, "cross that guitar off the list".

I'm too anal probably. Eventually, everything gets a mark in it! It's easier for me to buy used because they are already marked and I don't worry as much.

Martin

[Dbone]

It's hard to tell fully from the pic. Was it done after the fact? Or is it clear that it was done during the manufacturing?

[Martin_F]

Originally Posted by Dbone

It's hard to tell fully from the pic. Was it done after the fact? Or is it clear that it was done during the manufacturing?

In person it is obvious it was made like that. The whole finish is scuffed to make the matte finish. If you look closely you can see a little dot in the indentation that is not matte finish because whatever they use to matte the finish didn't get in there. Plus, its obvious someone tried to sand it out or something and it has some extra material taken off that isn't off the other side. Someone saw it and still let it go.

Martin

[Martin_F]

Here is another image of the blemish. It's hard to capture in a photo because the finish around it is matte and it doesn't show up in the light so much.



Martin