Yamaha FG830 Solid Top Acoustic Guitar, Autumn Burst

I have a Martin HD28 that I play at home and take to the campground every weekend, April through October. It was the only acoustic I have had for the last few years. I've been wanting a camp guitar for sometime, so that I don't unnecessarily damage the Martin. After a lot of research, I ordered the Yamaha FG830 without ever playing it. It came from The Music Zoo. It arrived in 3 days, double boxed and just well packaged. I have had two Yamaha guitars before AC3R and my first guitar ever FG800, so I expected it to come with the action higher than I like. Just seems to be a Yamaha thing. It came with 12 gauge strings, where I prefer lighter gauge strings. I opened the boxes and looked it over. Just beautiful. Well done. Standard Yamaha Quality. Those folks are perfectionists. I tuned it up and played some chords and did a little finger picking. The sound was amazing, especially for a $430 guitar. But it wasn't set up right for me. So, this morning I did a small truss rod adjustment and sanded the saddle down to get a lower, more playable action. Let me tell you. This is a cannon. I would take this guitar anywhere. The sound is that good. Dare I say, my Martin will remain in its case for a while. I wish Yamaha would make it with a 1.75 inch nut. Man, overall, I am more happy than I should be for this price point. I was all over the map trying to select a camp guitar, and I finally decided on this because of Yamaha's reputation. They may not have the Martin or Taylor name, but you aren't giving up a whole lot for a boatload less money. Very happy. Heck, I might put a pick up in it in the future. I truly believe you could gig with this guitar.

Yamaha makes the best guitars. I have several high dollar acoustic guitars and none of them seem to live up to the hype. I have a Martin 0017, it's sounds very good but doesn't play great. I have a lot of trouble getting hammer-ons to ring, and that has always bothered me. I've had it set up, but it didn't help much. And it doesn't sound good with a capo. I also have an Eastman 000 and a Larrivee parlor, and a Martin DM. All sound good, but this $500 Yamaha sounds and plays better than all of them, and on top of that it sounds better with a capo than any of them. I'm selling all my high end guitars and just going with Yamaha from now on. I also have a $400 Yamaha parlor CSF1M that sounds better than my high dollar Larrivee parlor. American made guitars are over hyped and overpriced! I don't care if Yamaha's are made in China. As far as I'm concerned China seems to have better Luthiers than anyone. Great job on making fantastic guitars at a price that is fair for everyone. Yamaha is the Peoples Guitar! PS. If I were going to criticize anything about this guitar, I would say they should do a little bit better job of filing down the fret edges, but it's not bad, it could just be better. And it's a small price to pay for such a great sounding and playing guitar-Yamaha FG830 Thank you!!

Guitar was packaged and protected perfectly. Even a warning from Sweetwater to let it sit inside the box for 24 hours to protect finish, etc. Not only that, but it played great right out of box without a set up. It also came with a free 2-year warranty from Sweetwater. Highly recommend this guitar. I have heard this about Yamaha and it's true: they are built solidly, and that they are consistent from guitar to guitar. You are very unlikely to get a lemon.

Given as a gift to my best friend. I unboxed this Yamaha guitar and was astonished to see the build quality at this price point though not surprised at Yamaha. And then, when I played it, it sounded amazing. Only needed a slight fret dressing with a light sanding sponge ( blue tape between the frets to protect ) then a little oil on the nut, a slight polish and wipe down. She's a beauty and my best friend, a pro level player and songwriter is blown away!

Oh boy...where do I start? THE PACKAGING: I received this guitar in its original box with no shipping box to support it. I was lucky Yamaha packed their guitar well. THE CONSTRUCTION: As for the guitar. I was blown over with the beauty and detail. A pearl inlay around the sound hole, a pearl like brown pick guard and even the YAMAHA logo in a pearl like finish was unexpected to see. This dreadnaught size seems slightly larger than my Yamaha F325D I submitted my earlier review on. The sunburst finish is much darker and far more appealing than the sunburst color on the F325D. The sides and back are mahogany and the top is a SOLID spruce. The tuners, bridge, saddle, nut, strings and finish are in line with most Yamaha guitars. The fretboard surprisingly has pearl like inlaid markers on a rosewood background. These markers are MUCH smaller than the standard size ones on my other guitars. I have to say it looks AWESOME and richer. In poor light, however, you may need to squint. This guitar is sooooo beautiful I’m afraid to take it out of my case at times. THE SOUND: Amazing. As advertised, a better sustain, a more room filling sound, and well intonated despite many reviews which state otherwise recommending a luthier. Are you kidding me?? If you’re expecting the intonation of a Gibson, THEN SAVE UP AND BUY A GIBSON. This is absurd. The intonation on this guitar is spot on with the compensated saddle along with the die cast tuners and stunningly beautiful bridge. SUMMARY: This guitar clearly is an upgrade to my cheaper (but still modest priced) Fender and Yamaha guitars. As a proud owner of a Yamaha YDP-163R digital piano, the detail in Yamaha wood selection, extensive sound R/D and it’s reputation on stage and abroad just made me a proud owner of this classic FG series guitar, the oldest and best selling series worldwide. Trust me, YOU WILL FALL IN LOVE WITH THIS CLASSIC GEM OF A PRECISION INSTRUMENT , built with pride by a world-class manufacturer. I may sound like I work for Yamaha but I only wish I did. None of their instruments from pianos to guitars ever disappointed me and shouldn’t dissappoint you.

As shipped, the action at the 12th fret (Low E) was 8/64ths of an inch, not horrible for an acoustic, but higher than it should be. Fortunately, there was plenty of room on the bridge saddle for me to shave about 4/64ths off the bottom and drop the action to my preferred acoustic action of 6/64ths. The frets are nice and level, perfectly crowned, but rough on top where the strings actually make contact. It's odd. The fret ends are the perfect length and rounded well, but the surface has so many grind marks that it looks like they completely skipped finishing them. If you bend any string at any fret, you'll hear and feel it scraping along the top of the fret. Again, not good, but easily fixable. I smoothed 'em down with some 1500 grit, then 2000 grit, polished, and they were perfect. Other than those two things, this is one of the nicest acoustics I've owned, and I've owned dozens. I've been working on guitars since the 1970's. It rings out with a beautiful Martin-ish chiming tone. Single notes sing out loud and clear with just the right amount of bass. Chords sound rich and full, with well-balanced projection from all the strings. It really is a beautiful sounding guitar, nothing muddy about it. The neck is a hair on the thin side of average, a satin finish so there's no "sticky" finish feel. The neck relief came perfectly set with .012" at the 7th fret (Capo on the 1st fret, string pressed to the highest fret). The truss rod is accessed at the sound hole like a Martin, not my personal preference, but really not difficult. The right wrench for that is included of course. The tuners are pretty good. Personally, I'll be replacing them with some Grover locking tuners, but that's just something I always do because I "Have a thing about tuning", and like the ease of using locking tuners. The stock tuners are fine really. Cosmetically, it's very nice, binding on the neck, body, & peghead. Nicely finished to give you a clear view of the grain but has a nice shine to it. Nothing amazing, but an overall pleasing look. All in all, this is an extremely nice guitar for the $300 range, but seriously, you NEED to be willing to adjust that action and smooth those frets. It sounds and plays every bit as nice as my Martins and Gibsons. I bought it as a beater, something to play around the campfire etc., but I'm finding myself using it for most of my recording. IF you know how and don't mind spending an hour or so working on a couple small, easily fixable issues, I'd say you really can't go wrong with this one. It's a great value. I'm extremely happy with this purchase. Oh, I also got the AG1-HC case for it. Very nice case, fits perfectly. Very sturdy. Worth well over the $80 Amazon charges for it.

Yamaha makes very nice acoustic guitars on a budget. I wanted this guitar because it was small enough for me to sit and noodle when I'm sitting on the couch maybe watching TV working on a specific technique. It sounds very nice. It looks good and is a quality product. If something happened to it I would buy again.

I have been playing guitar since I was 10 years old, so 56 years. I already owned 5 guitars but I wanted a “couch guitar”, a cheap guitar I could just have lying around the house for anybody to grab if they felt like playing. I had played one of these Yamaha FS830s at a music store while I was on vacation recently and I was surprised at the quality of the guitar (and I would have bought it, except I didn’t want to risk flying it home on a plane and shipping it would have cost as much as the guitar is worth). I always said I would NEVER buy a guitar online without having played it first, but this guitar is cheap, they had it at Amazon, and I thought, Why not? So I went ahead and ordered this guitar. Well, I was amazed when I got it - for one thing, this guitar was set up as well as if one of my fancy luthiers had set it up! As far as playability, this guitar plays like a dream. It arrived in absolutely perfect condition, ready to play right out of the box. I didn’t even change the strings that shipped with it (at least, not right away - usually when I buy a guitar the first thing I do is put my favored brand of strings on it). For the money, you absolutely cannot beat this guitar. My expensive Martins and my Taylor are all languishing in their cases right now because I am playing this guitar ALL the time.