Yamaha Review: Dynamic Guitar

History:

Purchase: I'm from the UK,, and I've been playing guitar for about ten years now. I arrived in Wellington (NZ)fresh from Australia where I'd spent the previous year working, travelling and playing guitar. I'd not needed to buy one in Oz as thanks to my circle of friends providing access. Anyway, two days in NZ and I was getting extremely tense not being able to play, so I forked out $200Nz for an Ibanez acoustic. The next day, in a charity shop, I found my beautiful little Yamaha Dynamic guitar for a mere $18, bereft of strings as it was. I took a chance, bought it and re-strung it's battered body, and it sounded absolutely beautiful. I almost took the Ibanez back the next day, but kept it anyway for the sake of variety.

What I Like About This Yamaha Dynamic Guitar: It has an unusually warm tone, good balance across all strings and a good low action. I play a mixture of styles, not simply classical, and this instrument handles all well. The fretboard on mine is nicely worn in, and the neck wide, which has both advantages and disadvantages. I understand that retailing now cheaply ($120 US according to another review) and I would highly recommend the investment, if the guitar has not aged too badly.

What I Do NOT Like About The Yamaha Dynamic Guitar: Intonation on mine is good but not great, and the machine heads have been replaced at some point so I'm not sure what that says for the originals. Getting it set up right, as best you can with these guitars, might be worth the extra cash.

Yamaha Dynamic Guitar Quality Rating: Evidently budget guitars in the 60's (of which I understand this is one) far outstrip the quality of todays cheapies. Given that it is close to 40 years old, battered yet still sounding so good, must suggest that the instrument has been well constructed. However, the body on mine has got a couple of substantial cracks in in and,as I said, the machine heads have been replaced.

Review Summary: I love this guitar, partially because of how I stumbled across it and rescued it, and partially because it sounds so lovely! If you have the luck to get your hands on one give it a play and, if it's been resonably well loved over it's life, I think you'll recognise what a beauty it is. Much better than a cheap modern classical guitar at the same price!

Rating of this Yamaha product: 5

This Yamaha Dynamic Guitar Classical Guitars Review Submitted By: Nick Kirk

Review Date: 2003-07-28