Yamaha SLG200N TBS Nylon String Silent Guitar with Hard Gig Bag, Tobacco Sunburst

I got the Yamaha SLG200N (nylon string) Silent Guitar primarily as a travel guitar after reading and watching several reviews of the other options out there. I only considered those travel guitars that have a full 650-654 mm scale length. I was initially put off by the slightly larger size of the SLG200N guitar relative to some really compact travel guitars but the reviews both from customers and from professional reviewers (e.g. Classical Guitar Magazine [...]) convinced me that the larger size was worth the risk considering the poor reviews of my other options and the excellent reviews of the SLG. I am very glad I went with this guitar. The feel is great and the string dimensions almost exactly match my primary nylon guitar which is a custom Juan Miguel Carmona flamenco/classical (mixta) guitar I got in Granada, Spain. Scale length is slightly shorter in the SLG (650 mm) compared to the mixta (654 mm) and the nut width of the SLG (50 mm) is off by only a mm compared to my mixta (51 mm). I know that a full traditional classical has a nut width typically around 52-53 mm but for me, the 1 mm difference is really not an issue. Frankly, it forces me to really think about proper left hand finger placement which is good for my practicing anyway. I would think a full classical player would feel the same. OK. On to the sound. The sound is amazing. However, the sound of the stock guitar as shipped was quite poor. It was WAY too strong on the bass end. I had to turn the bass knob of the guitar down to its minimum setting and max out the treble and that was barely workable. I was going to return it (thinking the piezo pickup was messed up) when I called up GearTree and they were very helpful. The key is to get the saddle piece to have uniform contact with the piezo right underneath. Also, getting high tension strings to add brightness to the sound and to get the treble strings to have a good vibration signal to transfer to the piezo completely changed the sound. Bottom line: replace the strings when you first get the guitar and make sure the piezo and the saddle make uniform contact. The real benefit comes when you are playing and you can adjust the pure piezo signal with the Yamaha advanced classical guitar modeling signal for a tone surprisingly nice for a solid body “travel” guitar. For practicing (using the headphone output), you can also feed in an input from your iPhone/MP3 player via the AUX jack. For performance (yes, performance), you can plug into an amp via the “Strat-like” jack and you also have a wickedly cool looking guitar. Add in an on-board chromatic tuner and you have one amazing and surprisingly versatile guitar for practice AND (amazingly enough) for performance as well. Note: a proper recital still demands your best classical guitar but for a gig at a club or wine bar, etc., this could work out quite nicely. And finally, as I mentioned above, BIG callout to the folks at GearTree - absolutely fantastic customer service. They emailed me directly about my shipment (in addition to the auto emails) AND added in a guitar stand and headphones even though the package I bought didn’t include them. They did that since other competitor Amazon sellers were making these fancy bundles. I just had to ask. Wow… Bottom line: 5 stars (with the right strings) and get the Tobacco Sunburst version - it's beautiful.

The SLG200N TBS arrived safely from Zorro Sounds, even though it was shipped in the stock guitar box, not double boxed, and had no packing other than the little piece of hard foam that Yamaha puts in there. The box had some dents and creases and I was skeptical, not only about the instrument, but half expecting shipping damage, a kink, defect, or something. All is well. In fact, I am quite impressed with the guitar, but not with the cavalier approach to shipping it. The SLG200N TBS is lightweight, 4.3 pounds (my old classical guitar is 3.5 pounds), and comfortable to hold; first fret not too far away for my small frame and small fingers. The action out of the box is a bit higher than my old guitar, but my old guitar is probably too low; fingerboard width is about the same - 50mm, and it's flat, probably the only shortcoming to playability for those used to a non-classical, but I knew that going in, and it's fine, since my old guitar is flat. The wood and the finish is first rate, very nice looking, better than the photos. The sound: well, unlike the discontinued SLG130N, this one has "mic", which allows you to blend the piezo pickup with whatever "mic" is, not sure if it's modeling or sampling, or an actual microphone, but it provides that authentic woody sound, less defined than the "pluck" of the piezo, so blended it has resonance and air, add a touch of the built in reverb and you're in a small hall or a chapel, very pleasant, stayed there for over an hour on my first visit. Too much reverb or the chorus sounds unnaturally processed. The built in tuner works fine, but cuts the audio output when tuning. It runs a long time on 2 AAs, has line out, aux in (for playing along with mp3s or whatever), headphone out (only tried with my MEE Pro in ear monitors, and no hiss, nothing, until you touch or pluck a string). The gig bag is well-designed, thick material, but has minimal padding. All in all, I'm quite pleased, and feel good about owning it, knowing that I can't fault the guitar for my shortcomings. And, I really like that I can practice ad nauseam without inflicting it upon someone else's ears. I've acquired a cache of books, basic classical, theory, and dozens of chord-melody charts for standards, traditional, and some of the easier classical pieces, so plenty to keep me busy through the winter. So, now after 2 hours at the piano, when I can't sit up any longer, I can put on my headphones and transport to a little chapel in the English countryside and pluck on my new friend.

I couldn't be more disappointed. I'm a professional guitarist with decades of experience. I bought the Silent Guitar a couple months ago, and at first it was just as advertised. It was great to be able to practice on the road and plug in to play for other people. Suddenly, the battery stopped working. The plastic vessel that holds the battery was not snug enough to make the connection. Because this is a "Silent" guitar, this rendered the instrument totally useless. In 2025, this design should be updated to an internal power supply that is USB rechargeable, rather than relying on 2 AAA batteries. I contacted Yamaha for warranty service, and was told that Yamaha doesn't have a location that does warranty work anywhere close to where I live. I live in New York CIty. Next, Dan from Yamaha Customer Service sent me to Guitar Center, where the man at the desk was literally sleeping when I approached him, and he told me that Guitar Center does not do warranty work. I reported this back to Dan, and he suggested I send the guitar to California for warranty work. I asked to be sent a box in order to ship the guitar to California, as the Silent Guitar is a very odd shape. Dan replied that he needed to ask his supervisor. I just heard back with this message: Stephen, After conferring with my supervisor, regrettably we are unable to provide packaging materials for the shipment. I do apologize for the inconvenience, and let me know if you have any other questions. All the best, Dan Yamaha Customer Support So now, my $750 purchase is unusable, and I don't know if I have any recourse. I'm going to send this review to Dan at Yamaha, and I'll let you know (by updating this review) if that makes any difference.

As for looks, this guitar looks like a modern work of art. I haven't seen a picture yet that does any of the wood "body" portion justice. As for sound, playability, etc., that is the real reason for doing a review. If you have read the description it states that this Yamaha can be played either just through the pick up, through a setting that plays back a sampled acoustic, full bodied classical or a combination of both. That is completely accurate and works wonderfully. The sampled classical guitar setting was taken from an actual Yamaha classical with a regular full wooden body with sound hole. Using this setting you can actually hear what sounds like the string sound reverberating and coming out the sound hole giving the guitar a very full and rich sound. Using the electric pick up while the guitar doesn't sound like a regular electric guitar and does sound like a classical it has a slightly more metallic sound which also picks up more of the fingering sounds and sounds of your fingers moving over the fret board. Some people think you wouldn't want to hear those sounds but they are part of an actual classical guitar sound. So, I tend to play around with a knob that allows you to mix both the electric pick up and the pre-recorded note sound and can pretty much duplicate the sound of MANY different models and brands of classical guitars. To further the sound modeling, the guitar also has 2 reverb and a chorus knob to change those settings. With those settings you can make the guitar sound as if it is being played anywhere from a small room to a concert hall. If you already know how to play and have ever played along with a recording of your favorite song, this guitar also has an AUX. in. A regular mini jack (like a headphone jack...which it also has so you don't have to play it through an amplifier unless you want to) that you can plug a phone or MP3 player into and its sound will come out of either the earphone jack with the guitar sound or out an amp (also with the guitar sound). As for being a silent guitar. Obviously when you pluck a sting a sound has to be made. The promo description says you can play it in a room with the rest of the family watching TV. While I didn't believe it, it is absolutely true. Whether you have headphones plugged in or not, if they aren't in your ears, even with this guitar in you lap you will have to struggle to hear this. It is as close to actually being truly silent as possible. I am a concert level classical player and just do to practice, concerts and playing for enjoyment, have very strong hands and use proper hand placement and even I can't get more than a barely audible sound out of the un-amplified strings. If you want a silent guitar this is for you. If you want a guitar you can just pick up and play at a normal volume you WILL have to use headphones (it doesn't mention it but the pkg. does come with a set of cheap ear buds) or an external amp. If you want something you can just pick up and play or plug into an amp get yourself a standard classical with a built in pick up. You can find them hear or at just about any web site or guitar store. So the sound can be almost anything you want, it IS as close to a completely silent guitar as you are going to find, you can adjust the tone to a million combinations of settings. I haven't mentioned the action (how high the strings are above the fret board). I read many reviews before ordering this guitar and the comments about the action were all over the place; from too high to too low which produces fret buzz when the strings hit a fret other than the one you are trying to play. As for the action, my guitar came perfectly set up for me. If the string height isn't right for you, you can always take it to a luthier (someone who builds or fixes guitars) and they can make an adjustment for you. Generally, most guitar stores do this. Be sure to ask how much it will cost first. Especially since you didn't buy the guitar from them they are going to charge you for the service and some stores will try to rip you off. Call a couple stores, ask if they provide the service and how much it will cost. I guess to wrap this up I will add one final comment. It is a sort of reply to something I read in a couple reviews that needs correcting. They both stated that "this would be a good guitar for an experienced player or a beginner." I also taught classical guitar for several years. This is definitely NOT a good guitar for a beginner. With all the wonderful things I said about its sound one thing I didn't mention is how it is to hold this instrument. Including the electronics and where the neck connects to the body the maximum height of the guitar is just over 3 inches and the outer frame (the curved part) is about an inch to an inch and a quarter wide. And of course there is no back to this guitar where a regular one has an entire, formed body. This guitar would, in most cases, be enough to discourage a beginner because it is unusual to hold and due to where the wood is on this guitar it does't have a very good balance (it doesn't sit easily on either leg and there is no really convenient place to rest your forearm on the body). You literally have to hold and balance it differently from a regular classical guitar. This guitar is really designed for an intermediate to experienced player who learned on a standard bodied classical. My suggestion, start there...learning to play a standard classical is the only way you are going to learn to how to balance the guitar, how to place the left hand so that the thumb never comes over the back of the neck and how the right hand can both move freely up and down the fret board and grasp the neck properly when creating a bar chord). As you may be able to tell I love the guitar and I would hate to see a beginner stop playing because this particular instrument might be more frustrating than the usual frustrations a beginner is going to feel anyway.

This guitar is nice looking in Crimson Red. Build quality is spot on. It plays equally as nice as my Martin D-15M. The onboard DSP is inspirational; especially with an ok set of studio headphones. (I am using Sennheiser HD-280pro.) Right out of the included gig bag, this was in tune ready to play. Action is perfect for my hybrid playing style; a mix of finger picking and strumming with a pick; no fret buzz anywhere on the neck and easy to fret. I'm getting great direct recording results going out the 1/8" stereo headphone jack into my interface using a touch of the onboard reverb. So nice; I bought it twice! I also ordered the Nylon string version. No regrets here. I wrote 2 new songs within the 1st 30 minutes of playing it.

Looks great, sounded great until the 2nd string snapped while tuning up for the first time. Two gentle turns of the peg and that was it. Super disappointed. Finding new strings right now is gonna mean I’m waiting for a delivery... again. New strings and it is absolutely marvelous. Onboard electronic tuner is super easy, sounds amazing. One design and safety note, the strap buttons are also the thumb screws that secure the removable upper bout ( the part that simulates the upper body of the guitar) this means that your strap buttons will slowly unscrew from their places, causing the strap to loose, while also releasing the upper bout. Not a good situation. Caution is needed until a fix can be found. Better to use no strap than use one that WILL fail at a random time.

It's a good design concept for a portable practice instrument, but not really suitable for use as your main guitar, imo. The sound quality is fully dependent on your pedals, or other attachments. My main guitar is a Cordoba FCWE. The Yamaha can't touch it. The Yamaha has no nuances, just a stark electronic signal, to be modeled my your pedals, or the included, wimpy, onboard reverb. The head phones are crap, but you can use your own, so big deal. Its a great design concept, and beautiful to behold. Maybe at $250-300$, I would have kept it, but around $750, no frickin'way. got to be kidding me.

This guitar has an awesome style, reverb and chorus effects, and good quality case. The only issue I had was that one of the strings came broken... But I usually put new strings on every guitar I buy. Noticed that it sounds best with the treble all the way up and bass just a tiny bit up. The guitar gets very dark and muddy when the treble is not all the way up. But the sound is almost perfect with that setting. If you want it to be a bit brighter you need to consider an EQ pedal. Overall I have enjoyed this guitar specially when I travel, which is very often.

Very nice guitar, well builded, very good sound.

Muy buena calidad, llegó perfecta y un día antes del tiempo indicado. 🤗

Tiene lo q esperaba … está hermosa y lo mejor suena increíble

Intonation was off on the guitar I received, and the string to string volume balance was notably heavy on the bass strings. They accepted it as a return and issued a refund, but I had to pay more than 50 bucks myself for the return shipping for a defective product. Not too thrilled with this seller.

Produto veio com defeito. Cabeçote rachado, assim como parte do corpo do violão. Não gostaria de fiar com esse prejuízo