Yamaha FG700S: A Great Beginner’s Guitar

The Yamaha FG700S is a very popular (edit: a slight understatement, it’s the best selling acoustic guitar in the United States) acoustic guitar geared toward beginner musicians who don’t have a major amount of money to invest.

This is a great instrument though with a full set of features sure to surprise and entice even an advanced musician with its rich, warm, sonorous sound and sturdy, well scaled design.

So even if you’ve been playing for years and you’re in the market for a more advanced guitar to replace your old, weather beaten, abused but loved guitar, read on. You may just find what you’re looking for, at a fraction of the price!

FG700S Price

From the Yamaha guitars stable the FG700S is priced under the $200.00 range, making it an accessible instrument highly recommended for beginners. It features six resonant strings, a solid sitka spruce top, rosewood fingerboard and die-cast tuners.

The black-and-white body binding, tortoise pickguard and glossy natural finish give this guitar a stylish appearance and feel and a luster which looks magnificent under stage lights, or even the harsh but fair bedroom lighting we’re all used to.

Built to last, the FG700S includes a limited lifetime warranty. The instrument weighs a relatively light 7.5 pounds, measuring 43 x 6 x 21 inches.

Often times with beginner guitars, you get what you pay for – meaning not a whole lot of functionality. In the case of the FG700S you can make a striking exception; this guitar, in spite of its price, features quality materials and neither looks, feels or sounds like a guitar designed for beginners.

FG700S Strings and Fretboard

The strings are easy to pick but offer the same kind of clarity you would expect from a guitar in the $500+ range, with no accompanying buzzing from the fretboard or distortion if you play hard.

The action on the FG700S is practically perfect – no adjustments are needed along the entire fretboard.

Tuning the FG700S

So if you get one what can you expect. For the first couple weeks out of the box, you probably will need to retune the strings regularly as they start to stretch with use and go a little flat.

After a couple weeks though, the instrument rarely needs to be re-tuned. Occasionally it will go a little sharp should the weather change, but you don’t need to tune the FG700S nearly as often as a lot of other lower end guitars.

FG700S Weakness

One small drawback to the FG700S is the presence of the plastic saddle and bridge pins, which tend to overly emphasize the bass notes and drown out the treble notes. With a relatively small investment in a bone saddle and bridge pins you can easily correct this.

You may also consider changing up the strings if you still are unsatisfied with the equalization of the sound. A number of customers reported that after making these minor modifications to the Yamaha FG700S, they discovered they had purchased a guitar which sounded as good as or even better than a super expensive advanced guitar like the $3,800 Martin Dreadnought.

Considering the astounding difference in price, it can be well worth it to invest a little extra into upgrading the FG700S to develop its full potential!

Summary of the Yamaha FG700S Acoustic Guitar

A lot of people purchase a beginner’s guitar with the intention of transitioning to a fancier guitar later – if you choose to invest in the Yamaha FG700S, you may very well find that you already have all the functionality you need in this inexpensive instrument.

Whether you’re an advanced player or a beginner, you would be remiss not to look into buying the FG700S. As an advanced player, you’re basically getting an advanced acoustic guitar at the price of a beginner’s guitar.

If you’re a beginner, once you find you’ve mastered the basics and want to get even more out of a guitar, you can modify the bone saddle, bridge pins and strings of the FG700S instead of going out and buying a brand new, expensive guitar.

The Yamaha FG700S is inexpensive, but it certainly isn’t a cheap product – this is a professional quality instrument which will bring you joy for years to come, or frustration. It really all depends on how talented you are!