Yamaha FGX830C Solid Top Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Guitar, Natural

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.

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!

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.

Bought this for my wife for Christmas as a beginner guitar. It shows excellent quality and sounds excellent. Perfect for beginners.

This guitar is top notch. I purchased the same one in 2018 from another vendor. Yamaha has redesigned some things since 2018 that I was not aware of. The tuners are a little larger and work better. The neck on this guitar is reshaped and smoother. I am able to play notes that I could not play before. The sound is crisp and exceptional. It also has a strap pin that the previous version did not have. I can’t stress how much I love this guitar. Thank you Cream City music company for setting up this guitar before shipping. It has great action and is very playable. I had ordered 2 different expensive guitars in the last 2 years that sounded like a toy. Yamaha FGX830C is a quality instrument.

I bought this Yamaha FGX 830C from Amazon (through Spotlight Music Store) on 6/1/22. It arrived in perfect condition in a single cardboard box and completely packed in bubble wrap. My first impression was that it is a beautiful guitar. I could see no defects whatsoever in the finish. The neck is arrow straight and the set up was just fine for me right out of the box. It is made in China but I believe the craftsmanship is excellent. I tuned it up with my clip on tuner and then checked the onboard tuner and found it to be very close. Right away I noticed that even though the tone is good--it was not quite to my liking. This is subjective, but it seemed a little tinny and lacking in "punch" or volume for a dreadnaught. After reading many, many reviews I decided to change the saddle to bone and installed new Elixer strings after about one month. The original strings felt rough to me and are noisy when doing slides. As many other reviewers mentioned; Yamaha could have used a bone nut and saddle and better strings for little to no increase in price. I did not change the nut. Seems like too much work for me to attempt, and not worth the effort. I do believe the new bone saddle and strings did improve the overall sound quality and tone. Maybe not as much as some reviewers claim--but, a noticeable difference. I did also change the plastic bridge pins for Rosewood pins. It does sound good plugged in and the neck is very smooth and easy playing. I would like to give it a 5 star rating but just can't quite get it there because of what it seems to lack in tone and projection. ( Another matter I want to mention is that I am not sure if this model with laminate Rosewood back and sides sounds any better than the other model down which has Mahogany laminate back and sides. The difference is $200. But both use laminates, so is there really that much difference?)

Guitar arrived in factory sealed packaging and was in tune, 2 steps down! Im still running the bright factory strings. Updates Ive made - I dropped in a solid bone saddle, slot filed the saddle pins to have strings not in the bridge pin and reversed the pins to pinch the strings into the slots. I have bone solid bridge pins (but still need to sand to fit) for it. And I edged my fingernail and then a pick under the stick-on pick-guard - then got about 1/2”peeled away and took pliers and gently peeled It off without scratching the finish - its a decent tone improver. Next I tightened the neck truss allen bolt inside the sound hole to lower the string action to spec. The end result sounds as nice as a $2500 guitar. Sparkling highs and punchy bass. And this guitar stays in tune too - tonality is right on. I have several martins (D28, D18GT, 2 DX1s, DX1AE) an this exceeds the D18GT martin sound profile - but at only 20% the cost. The FG830 is still breaking in and improves every day. To be honest, the DX1 with HPL outplays the FG830 after a mitchell brass plate is added under the bridge of the DX1 - but a DX1 has also drown out a D45 custom in a bluegrass jam session - but Martin stopped making the DX1 and the martin HPL glue shatters too easily - it has broken and been repaired 3 times on both - the DX1 are 3x the price of the FG830. Its hard to find a DX1 without HPL glue separation. I wish I had peeled off the pickguard of the DX1 20 years ago. IMO - the glue pad under the pickguard mutes the top performance. We peel pickguards off all new acoustics and wear pick scratches with pride - if needed a new $3 pickguard is a fast peel and stick, but sound suffers.

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.