A second guitar

[CharlieStrings]

Hi Barry, I was curious about your guitar so I google searched and found that your 150 is a smaller body guitar that has almost a cult like following, so hang onto that baby! The FG700s is going to be a full sized dreadnought which will feel huge to you after the 150. I believe the “s” stands for solid wood top spruce. It should sound much fuller than your 150 and will probably also be harder to play. Hope that helps 🙂

[Mike56]

My first guitar was a Yamaha FG700s and I still own it. As CharlieStrings said, the FG700S is a large dreadnought while your FG150 is equivalent to a 000 size. And I can confirm the FG700S has a solid spruce top. The Yamaha FS700 and it’s replacement the FS800 are closer in size to your FG150.

I’ve never played a FG150 so can’t compare sound, but can say the FG700S sounds far better than you would expect given the very modest price. But your 50 year old FG150 probably sounds pretty good after 50 years of play.

[N-lightMike]

Hey Barry, I think owning a second guitar is a great idea. But you need to have a lot more idea of what you want and what you’re looking at. @CharlieStrings has given you some very good advise. What I will add, is do what he did and find out about the guitars you are looking at. Then, go into a guitar shop and try some guitars. Even if you don’t find a Yamaha 700 you can still get an idea of what it’s like to play a dreadnought. Personally, I don’t own a dreadnought. But instead of trying one out, I bought one. Then, I was stuck with a guitar I didn’t like. I ended up giving it away. Now I know not to buy a dreadnought. But other people love their dreadnoughts. So the only right answer is you need to find out what you like. A lot of online stores give you a time period where you can try the guitar. Usually 90 days. Then you can send it back and try another one until you find something you like. That way, there are plenty of open box guitars for others to buy at a discount.

MG 😀

[Davsay]

Just FYI, I’ve been looking at the Yamaha FS800, 820 and 830 and the biggest difference from the 700 hundred’s is the scalloped bracing for the top. The backs and sides are laminate made up of nato for the 800, mahogany for the 820 and rosewood for the 830. All have slim necks with an 1 11/16” nut. If you go to YouTube, Tony has a review of the FS800 and highly recommends it. The FS stands for Folk Small. Also on YouTube, Alamo music has an excellent in depth review on the 800’s.

[dr_dave]

You say you “have a line” on an FG700S and that you have no way to compare it to your FG150, since the FG700S has been discontinued. From these statements, I infer that you can get a specific FG700S at an attractive price from someone distant from you, such that you can’t try before you buy. I further assume it is in used condition (not likely to be any “new old stock” remaining), so the usual caveat apply to buying from a distant source. If it looks like a favorable seller and you’re confident about the guitar being jn reasonable condition, I say jump on it. Unless there’s a major flaw, you’re not likely to go wrong with a Yamaha. They tend to deliver a lot of value, and I don’t think the FG700S was very expensive. You will therefore not be putting much at risk. You’ll really appreciate having it at the end of this month when the banjo challenge rolls around. My recollection is that the banjo week lessons require open G tuning, and I find that I really appreciate having a second guitar when I want to explore alternate tunings. I don’t mind taking my primary guitar back and forth between standard and Drop D, since it only involves one string, but I don’t like fooling around with three or four tuning machines a couple times a day.

As others have pointed out, you’ll also appreciate it having a somewhat different voice owing to the larger body size.

If you buy it and for some reason you don’t enjoy it, you can probably re-sell and recoup most of what you paid for it or perhaps it would appeal to you to donate it to Guitars for Vets or some other good cause. When I went to ALF 2018, I bought a used Yamaha from Music Villa, then drove it over to TAC HQ on Monday morning and left it with Noah as a G4V donation. I owned that guitar for only about 4-5 days! Don’t get me wrong – I loved the guitar. It was my intent to donate it all along.

[BLun]

Thanks all for your insight on my buying a Yamaha 700S guitar. However, that guitar was sold pretty quick. Instead I have purchased a Fender Gemini II on a used site. It is a dreadnaught that I was leery playing because of the size, but it is not too bad. I am going to have to have more wall space if I keep this up. I’ve now got 3 guitars. I like to think that when I get to be a better player, I will upgrade to a more expensive instrument.

[dr_dave]

Just a word of caution. More expensive does not necessarily mean better, though we’d like to believe that. Think about what you like and what you would like to be different. What “problems” or shortcomings would you like the next instrument to solve? Make sure your instruments are really set up to your tastes before making those decisions. If you really believe you need a different instrument to please your ear or some other aspect of your playing, you might nit want to wait. Start looking now. The sooner you get it, the more time you’ll have with your new friend.

[dr_dave]

One more thing. The title of the thread is “A second guitar,” but your latest message says you now have three, even though you missed out on the Yamaha, after buying a Gemini instead. What is the third guitar?

[Cadgirl]

I bought a full size dreadnought Martin D28 in February 2021. It has a beautiful sound, but I didn’t realize how big it was going to be. Or how much harder it would be stretching my arm out to get those chords. The neck is a lot wider than a lot of other guitars too, which I never thought about. I purchased a inexpensive Cordoba 1/2 size as a 2nd guitar just to practice on. If it’s easy, i’ll pick it up more. Tony has talked a lot about the Taylor GS Mini with is a 3/4 size. This time…. I’m a little smarter and have gone to the music store numerous times to play one. I’ve been back and played it again and again. The store has a 45 day return policy. So I’m going up this morning and get the 3/4 Taylor GS mini Rosewood-e (well, going back and forth on the electric). Wish me luck. I hope @Barry2021 is reading this… make sure the store has a return policy, because if it doesn’t fit, you won’t play it as much. Oh, yes…. Don’t get rid of that FG-150 either!

[dr_dave]

Oooooh! Happy Mothers’ Day,

[rob8584]

Hi all,

I guess buying Gretsch “Jim Dandy” 3/4 practice guitar, then finding a Martin D-15 mahogany burst for “stage” work. The Martin is louder, crisp, clean sound and tone, beautiful, and has electric functions as well. I was then given a Fender Resonator (this guitar sounds like it swallowed a banjo!) as seen in my most embarrassing moments when I played for the phone camera function. So three guitars, and i don’t know how to play music with them. I am so eager to learn to read music and just pick them up and play. My goals are to start slow, but I love 60’s, 70’s & 80′ rock, Eagles, Doobie Bros. Poco, Jackson Brown, Linda Ronstadt etc. Country, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs are the pinnacle, slick and fast.

🤠

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[BLun]

dr_dave, my third guitar is an inexpensive classical with nylon strings. I picked it up many years ago and played it because I thought it would be easier on my fingers. I’m now back on my folk guitars and and working on toughening up my finger tips. I might go back to playing the classical once in a while, but I really prefer a folk guitar. I do like classical, but it is a whole new experience playing classical.

[musicianmh]

Not directly related but I’m looking for a louder sounding out door acoustic. Any suggestions? Non electric.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by  musicianmh.

[BLun]

I’m probably not the one to answer your question, but it seems to me that a bigger body guitar, such as a dreadnaught, would sound louder. Just a thought.