Product: Yamaha C45MA
Price Paid: USD 90.00
Submitted
01/02/2008
at
02:33am
by
Jason H
Email: JASONANDMYRNA at COMCAST<dot>NET
Features
:
7
The C45MA is a classical with spruce laminate soundboard, mahogany sides and back, three piece nato neck with veneer over headstock face. The fret board and bridge are rosewood.
The nut and bridge saddle are off-white plastic. Tuning machines are very no-frills nickel plated with plastic keys. The neck is a standard flat 2 1/8" and the body is of full size.
I got my C45MA at Costco and it came with a nice padded gig bag and pipe tuner.
My rating reflects the laminate top, tuning machines and three piece neck
Sound
:
9
I have played various production type classical guitars including other Yamaha's, Alvarez, Cordoba's and even a Ramirez or two. This guitar has a great sound compared to even higher end classical's. It has decent volume and nice trebles but lacks strong bass because of its laminate soundboard and polyurethane finish. It has a nice sweet sound you would expect from a quality classical guitar but does lack that magical tone you hear from $$$$$ luthier built instruments (its 90 dollars lol). Single notes ring out nicely and strummed chords sound smooth and full. Being a bit heavier than a higher end classical or flamenco it has a little more sustain and reverberation from the soundhole, but that just adds to its character.
The sound quality is definitely the best thing about this guitar. Overall it has a much better tone and volume than you would expect from this price range and rivals $200-$500 guitars. Not surprising coming from Yamaha really.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
6
Okay... Ill start with the finish itself.
Its a polyurethane matte finish which is thin but still hampers tone and volume. I hate satin and matte finishes so what I did was buff it out to a gloss using Meguiars scratch-x. I have used this sucessfully on other instruments before as well, but after the polish circular pattern marks are revealed most likely caused by the orbital sanders used at Yamaha. They are not highly visible but may bother you if you try it. I might sand with 600-1000 grit and re-buff. Overall it looks much much better now with a shiny finish.
More on the finish: There are a few things left kinda unfinished. inside the headstock were the strings go is left scratched up and not completely covered by the finish. The end of the fretboard at the soundhole is unsanded and ragged (easy fix) The fretboard itself and bridge are dry and lifeless. I stained and sealed the fretboard with ebony oil stain from lutier site and finished the bridge with gloss polyurethane and they look way better now... way
The rosette is actually decent and the painted... yes painted binding looks very basic but okay.
Fretwork: Frets are not finished at all. They were just filed at the factory and then left. I sanded down the fret ends with 300 grit and polished with a 6000 grit buff pad and then went over all the frets with the scratch-x. Again, much much better now.
Action: As with most classical guitars the action is set higher than most like it. You can change this in a couple different ways. The easy way is to just use a capo but thats not good enough for me so I filed down the nut a little bit and filed down the bridge saddle a lot. (measure twice file once)
Overall anything that is wrong or cheap with this guitar can be fixed or upgraded and I like that kind of thing so I dont mind:)
With the finishing, fixing and upgrades I have done I would rate this as an eight, but stock its.... its a ninety dollar guitar dude.
Reliability/Durability
:
8
The tuning machines seem a little flimsy but they are easy to upgrade. Other than that its pretty durable and stays in tune after the strings settle.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never dealt with the people at Yamaha. I dont know about the warranty but its probly a ninety day type deal.
Overall Rating
:
10
Ive been playing guitar for thirteen years and have a lot of guitars and gear and this one is a keeper. I love the sound, feel and playability of this guitar as well as my other Yamaha acoustic. I am a prog rock/metal, blues and experimental player and am relatively new to classical and flamenco styles but I am really liking the techniques involved with this genre and this guitar lets me experiment at will. Im sure eventually I will upgrade to a Jose Ramirez flamenco but until then I will play the sh** out of this thing, I love it.
