NAD: New Acoustic Day... Yamaha FSX5 MIJ - 1yr Update!

[JSett]

Some of you might have seen my recent acoustic woes in other posts dotted around and my lusting after various brands and models trying to narrow down on a decision. I have finally made that decision.

So, for many years, my one and only acoustic has been a 1973 Yamaha FG-160. It has seen hundreds of hours of playtime in my hands and wears it's age very well. The neck is second nature to me and it has always sounded fantastic. Unfortunately time has taken it's toll and the frets are down to wafers and the action got to a point where a neck reset was the only option - apparently a very tricky and costly job on these guitars as the necks are epoxied in The guitar, though worth a lot to me, is not worth the potential £600-900 work required. So I decided to retire it.

After going back and forth on what to replace it with, and some good advice here from Larry and others, I decided to forego vintage in favour of a new guitar. I've been and tried Martins and hated the neck profiles. Modern Gibsons had a dryness to the sound I didn't like, others were just more than I'd be willing to pay. Why it hadn't occurred to me to look at another Yamaha sooner is ridiculous considering I was so enamoured with my current one.

Turns out they started doing a reissue/reinvention of the original 60's line back in 2019 with new sizes and up-to-date bracing and electronics. So I ordered one. An FSX5... concert sized, built in Japan, with 3-way electronics (piezo undersaddle, internal mic and soundboard sensor). Also it has some weird 'wood ageing' process applied to the wood to make them sound more broken-in than a new one. I looked it up and the science behind it seemed sound.

Fast forward to today, and after approx 27 calls back and forth with UPS after it entering pre-Xmas courier purgatory, it finally landed:



There's plenty of pictures of these on the internet but that's the one I quickly took. It has a nice arch to the back, ebony fingerboard and ebony binding on the body. Open gear tuners and a 60's Yamaha-inspired headstock shape. Action out the case is spot on middle-ground of 2.5mm at the 12th on low E, 2mm on the high E.

The case is super high-quality and Yamaha nicely include a good quality feedback buster plug in with the manual and truss key. The guitar fits inside so well it feels like it's held in by suction as you pull it out!



Sound-wise it's very similar to my old one, but less boomy as expected going from a Dread to a Concert. It has a Yamaha sound but is not wholly dissimilar to a Martin of the same size. Lot's of top-end sparkle. Compared to my FG-160 the neck is a touch wider at the nut and slimmer in profile but still feels comfortable. At the moment it still feels weird and unfamiliar but I expect that'll pass with more playtime.

The top is solid Sitka spruce, back and sides are solid mahogany, neck is solid African mahogany, ebony fretboard.

So far, I am happy.

[Jonesie]

Gorgeous! I'm a huge Yamaha fanboy and I've been curious about the newer MIJ stuff from them.

[Larry Mal]

I think it looks great and I'm very happy you finally got it. Looks like you have a nice and cozy environment to get to know her* better also.











*Just fucking with y'all.

[marqueemoon]

Looks good!

[JSett]

Gorgeous! I'm a huge Yamaha fanboy and I've been curious about the newer MIJ stuff from them.

It feels fantastic quality, easily on par with the $2500+ martins I tried at the store back in 2021.

...get to know her*

*Just fucking with y'all.

very good.

[gishuk]

That looks lovely, glad it survived the postal roulette in one piece!

[JSett]

That looks lovely, glad it survived the postal roulette in one piece!

I think that's mostly testament to the quality of the case as the outer box had seen better times

[Embenny]

Congrats. That one looks great. I also can't connect with Martins, but won't derail this thread with that stuff.

This seems like a really fitting successor to a guitar you've played and loved to death.

[BoringPostcards]

Ain’t a thing wrong with a Yamaha acoustic. I had a 70s one, that I accidentally smashed one night after too many beers around a campfire.
One of the many reasons I haven’t drank since 2002.

Enjoy!!

[JSett]

To finally cement the transition, and to let go of 'Old Reliable', yesterday I gave my old FG-160 away to my long-time friend, and the drummer in my band. He's a good guitarist too and has only had some crappy old bottom-end classical with a painted fretboard to use as an acoustic since forever and doesn't have a plentiful supply of disposable income to treat himself ever really. He's less fussy than me and I know he'll make good use of it and appreciate it's great sound. I gave it one last clean up, fret polish and setup and dropped it to his home as a Happy New Year gift.

Good deed #1 of the year already done

[PorkyPrimeCut]

...Good deed #1 of the year already done

Kudos for feeding the karma llama!!

[JSett]

Checking back into this thread to give a >1 year review.

I still love it. The action has obviously shifted over the seasons and it needed a little tweak as winter set in and I just gave it a springtime one as it had got a little harder to play. The stock Elixrs got changed a month or so ago but still sounded absolutely fine, I only changed as I wanted to give it a fresh set of my preferred D'Addario coated acoustic strings while I was cleaning and oiling the fretboard. Anyone that knows me knows that strings are arch enemies of my hands and I kill normal electric strings in about 2 weeks normally. Irritatingly D'Addario don't do 12-54 in coated for electrics yet so I'm stuck with changing them on the main couple of guitars every 14-20 days....so a set of strings lasting over a year is quite the feat!!

I haven't had the chance or need to take it out the house yet, which is a shame. Any solo shows I do tend to be electric+cube in the timeless Billy Bragg fashion. Still, I've written a lot of songs on it and it still sounds great.

The only thing I'd change, given the chance, is it being a couple of millimetres smaller at the nut, but it's not big enough an issue to think about shaving the neck down (and all the madness that comes with extreme work like that!).

Anyway, 9/10, would recommend

[Unicorn Warrior]

Checking back into this thread to give a >1 year review.

I still love it. The action has obviously shifted over the seasons and it needed a little tweak as winter set in and I just gave it a springtime one as it had got a little harder to play. The stock Elixrs got changed a month or so ago but still sounded absolutely fine, I only changed as I wanted to give it a fresh set of my preferred D'Addario coated acoustic strings while I was cleaning and oiling the fretboard. Anyone that knows me knows that strings are arch enemies of my hands and I kill normal electric strings in about 2 weeks normally. Irritatingly D'Addario don't do 12-54 in coated for electrics yet so I'm stuck with changing them on the main couple of guitars every 14-20 days....so a set of strings lasting over a year is quite the feat!!

I haven't had the chance or need to take it out the house yet, which is a shame. Any solo shows I do tend to be electric+cube in the timeless Billy Bragg fashion. Still, I've written a lot of songs on it and it still sounds great.

The only thing I'd change, given the chance, is it being a couple of millimetres smaller at the nut, but it's not big enough an issue to think about shaving the neck down (and all the madness that comes with extreme work like that!).

Anyway, 9/10, would recommend

Gosh, this looks great. I’ve been enamored with my acoustic again after years of not playing it. Makes me want to shop around and check these Yamahas out

[Larry Mal]

That's awesome. It's a handsome guitar, that's for sure.

[JSett]

Gosh, this looks great. I’ve been enamored with my acoustic again after years of not playing it. Makes me want to shop around and check these Yamahas out

I definitely think they're a hidden gem. In the £1500 new/£1200 Used range there's a lot of competition between Taylor, Martin, etc and I struggled to find one of those that I liked in person. The full dread sized one sounded even better but I preferred the slightly reduced size of the 000

That's awesome. It's a handsome guitar, that's for sure.

I do like it's look, that's for sure. Although I do miss my old one a little...the way the finish had sunk and aged, the little spot around the soundhole when I'd worn it away and could feel the grain, the near perfect neck profile. Ah well. I know deep down it's for the best as the old one was well beyond reasonable repair but guitar bondings are a weird phenomena.