Yamaha's presence in guitar industry is mostly limited to the acoustic segment, bar several models of the electric variety. With that said, they are among the leading brands when it comes to both steel acoustic and classical guitars. This is especially true if we are talking about the affordable range. Yamaha CG172SF belongs to their entry level line dedicated to classical flamenco sound. It's one of the
best guitars, in this price range, and today we're going to show you exactly why that is the case.
Body And Neck
For the most part, when someone mentions 'classical' when describing a guitar, you can pretty much expect the standard concert body style. That rings true for this Yamaha. They have chosen a solid European spruce top design combined with cypress back and sides. Body features a natural finish and dark binding. Moving on to the neck, we see a nice nato unit that sports a pretty standard rosewood fretboard. There are no inlays, and the profile of the neck is pretty comfortable during use.
Hardware
If there's one aspect of an affordable guitar that you need to double check, it is the hardware. If the bridge, saddle, nut and tuners are not on par with the rest of the guitar, you are looking at an object that serves better as an ornament than an instrument. Fortunately for us, we don't have to worry about stuff like that with Yamaha. Yamaha CG172SF comes with a great quality rosewood bridge that sports a synthetic saddle. Even though we'd like to see bone or even Tusq, the material saddle and nut are made of is pretty durable. All things considered, the hardware works pretty well, but you might need to take the guitar to a shop for a proper setup.
Sound
In terms of tone, there's nothing better than a well-made classical guitar. Especially if you are interested in playing flamenco or similar genres of music. In some ways, Yamaha CG172SF was built for this exact genre. Not only does it feature that trademark flamenco scratch guard, but it also has a tone perfect for this type of music. Rich across the range with an abundance of warmth, Yamaha CG172SF gets you the more traditional classical guitar tone. Nylon strings it arrives with are pretty decent, but a good aftermarket set will do wonders for a guitar like this one.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, Yamaha CG172SF offers great performance, good build quality and a rather tasteful choice of tonewood for the segment of the market it was intended for. You could even say it punches a little above its weight class. If you are a new player looking for your first acoustic guitar, or just someone who needs a practice instrument they don't have to worry too much about, Yamaha CG172SF is a great choice.
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