Yamaha C40 Full Size Nylon-String Classical Guitar

 The cost performance of Yamaha is great.
Ymaha is instrumental makers in Hamamatsu Japan. The makers make a lot of musical instruments in addition to classical guitar, violin, bass , electric or folk guitar, torumpet, accordion..... That is to say, Ymaha make all the musical instruments. Especially the most famouse instruments are pianos, grand pianos.
The most famouse pianos over the world may be Stanway piano, but the concert piano of Yamaha's the highest grade was used by pianists in[Chopin international piano competetion].

The popularlity to classical guitars may be inferior to Yamaha piano. But the cost performance is great. Ymaha is the company that can make great things like C40 in low price in addtion to the high quality instruments like concert pianos. Even if it is low price guitar, makers do not compromise to make that. That is the result that the company is the most famouse in Japan and have many confidences from Japanese.

In Yamaha classical guitar lineup, C series(about100$-600$) is the lowest price series, but if you want higher performance guitars, there are GC concerts guitar series(about600$-10000$).

You may think that 10000$guitars is very high! But the truth is that, Ymaha have high quality skill that can make such guitars, can transfer the skill to low price guitars. GC is used solid woods, and is made by hand-made without machines mainly.

Even if it is the cheap guitar about100$, the instrumental system is gualanteed.

Thank you for reading poor English.

 This is a great entry level guitar
I have been playing the guitar for a couple of years now. This was my first guitar, and was great to learn on. It may not sound like a $5000 Martin, but this is a ton of value for the dollar. The price is about as low as you can get for any guitar, period. And this guitar is not merely a learners guitar. I've played it for a couple of gigs, and it performs great. The real advantage of this guitar is the ease of picking. The strings are set much farther apart than on a standard guitar; the neck is much wider. Thus, you can pick much easier than on a standard folk guitar. Because of this, however, and the nylon strings, it leaves something to be desired on the strum, but will perform good enough for most occasions. Overall, get this guitar if you are a beginner, don't want to invest a lot of money, or just want to experiment with the style of guitar, but not if you want a classical guitar to play professionally.

 This is all you need to know about this guitar . . . . . . .
This is not a guitar that you buy to play led zeplin, Korn or any other american rock music. This is the perfect guitar to get that authentic spanish sound. This is not a guitar to learn on unless you want to learn classical spanish ballads, however I do think it is a good investment for a beginner that only has an electric guitar.

The reason the strings are far appart is for finger plucking and nylon strings need to sit higher than steal strings. When I played this guitar for the first time at my local guitar store, I loved it (and still do!). You can't play rock, but songs like "dust in the wind" (all finger plucking) are great for this guitar. Just like a strat is for rock, a telecaster is for country, a les paul is for lead, hollowbodies are for blues and so on, this guitar is for classical spanish music. If you want a good beginner guitar, get a Ovation knock off or a Dean (Deans are the best for beginners).

I have some very expensive guitars, but I love playing classical music for girls on this one, and they love it. It is my weapon of choice!

Simply put: It's a great guitar for spanish ballads, and soft finger plucking songs, but not much else, because that's not what it was designed for.

 What do you want in a Guitar?
When you approach the purchase of a musical instrument you can face a real minefield of decisions. You can pay a lot of money for a real quality instrument, but if you can't play it - then the money is wasted. You must buy the instrument that suits the kind of music you want to play.

This is especially true with Guitars. Broadly you can have classical, spanish, folk, acoustic, steel and electric guitars (but there are lots of in-between categories)

This is a classical guitar. So what does that mean, and what should you be looking for?

First off, it has the strings set widely apart, since a classical guitar is designed to be plucked, not strummed. Wide spacing between the strings allows you to get your fingers into the strings to pluck them.

Secondly : The fretboard is flat, and this means you need to reach further with your fingers to cover all the strings. If you have a small hand, or are buying a guitar for a child, this could present difficulties. Folk (acoustic) guitars have slightly curved fretboards.

Thirdly, this is a guitar designed to take soft strings of nylon or gut. Metal strings could damage a classical guitar, cutting into the wood and overstraining the neck. The soft strings give the guitar a full, but soft and gentle tone. It is not designed for playing heavy metal. It is a guitar for a small room, not for a stadium.

Probably the most important elements you want in your guitar are that it be easy to tune and has a good action. Yamaha have a great reputation for quality and consistency, which is why you can think of buying one of their guitars without playing it. You can pretty much guarantee that the tuning keys will operate properly and will not wiggle around, spoiling your tuning.

The action is the one thing you cannot gauge without holding the guitar in your hands. This is a combination of the tension of the strings and the height of the strings over the fretboard. If the strings are tense (steel strings or 12 string guitar) they can pull the head of the guitar upwards, bringing the strings farther from the fretboard. This means your fingers have to be very strong to depress the strings and make clear notes. A tightly strung steel string guitar needs a very low action or it is unplayable. But an action that is too low will leave strings vibrating against the frets, disrupting the sound of the guitar. This is less of a problem with classical guitars, because they have soft strings and lower tension. Even if they are set high you will rarely have difficulty bringing them down to the frets.

For the price it is hard to beat this guitar as a starter instrument for someone learning from scratch. You will be able to learn the rudiments of classical, spanish and folk music, and this will give a student a route into electric guitar should they want to go the rock route later on.

Anyone who can master the wide frets on this guitar will easily be able to transfer to a folk or electric guitar later. But if you start with a folk guitar, where the strings are set close together, you will find it difficult to move out to a classical guitar.

If in doubt, go to your local music shop and spend a day messing with the stock to get a feel for what is important to you.

 Yamaha C40R Classic Guitar
I bought this guitar for my son and I love it just as much as he does. It play's great and sounds great too.

 Yamaha Guitar--Excellent Choice
I was amazed to get such a beautiful and acoustically sound guitar for such a low price. The finish is excellent and the tone very pleasing. Although I bought the guitar for someone 16 years old, I am very glad that I did.

 you get what you pay for
I own several Yamaha musical instruments. I purchased the C40 assuming that the overall quality would be good and that the acoustical sound would be at best acceptible. The one that I received was defective in that it buzzed/vibrated when certain notes were played (sympathetic body vibrations). Also, it could not be played in tune-i.e. the fret/nut/bridge alignment was off. So. I suppose this is typical for a $100 entry level guitar. Perhaps I got a bad one. I know that guitars, even the same brand and model, differ greatly from one to another.