Yamaha Red Label FS5 - Natural Review

FS5

Yamaha FS5................. 4/7/22 Sweetwaters customer service,communication and packaging was excellent. The guitar finish is A+ and is so smooth in your hands, the neck is just like silk. The sound is warm and comforting everything I expected and more, you can watch videos all you want but when you play this in your living room you will know. I had Sweetwater do a setup on… read more this and had D' Addario Acous XS Phos Brnz 12-53 Lt put on. Action set to Bass side: 4/64, Treble side: 3.5/64 Let me just say the setup is phenomenal and hats off to the Tec team worth every penny. Thank you Sweetwater for a very personable experience, the prompt text messages and phone calls are very much appreciated. Im a happy and satisfied customer.

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Aged warmth out of the box!

Absolutely love this guitar. The warmth and resonance sound better to me than any other manufactures offerings at this price point and some costing twice as much.

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Great, Great, Great!!!

Outstanding acoustic "Made In Japan" guitar from Yamaha! I bought it used from Sweetwater. Before purchase, I contacted Tyler Moore at Sweetwater who was very helpful and discussed the details since buying used from Sweetwater was new to me. Wow, what a guitar. After a few minor setup tweaks which I do with any guitar I purchase, it sounds totally amazing. I was concerned that… read more the Concert body might be less full sounding but no problem there at all. I like buying non electrified guitars since I prefer soundhole over piezo pickups. Both the L R Baggs M1 and M80 in passive mode sound fantastic with the Fishman Platinum Pro EQ. The amplified body sounds of the solid woods really shine. All solid wood with extra wide bone saddle, bone nut, wooden pick guard, ebony fret board, classic tuners, and ARE technology are well worth the investment. I have a 1971 Nippon Gakki red label Yamaha FG140 which I still play even though it is very well used. Thanks Yamaha for renewing this awesome guitar!

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I love mine... These WILL become collectible...

Not the pickguard though... I took it off. Looks much better, and sounds better too.plus, the Elixirs had to go, put a set of Martin Retros on it, much better. Brighter then a Martin but, not like a Taylor... Warmer then a Taylor, not quite like a Martin. Excellent fit and finish. Beautiful guitar, I love the finish. The tone is very much like a sweet old triple-0...

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Exceptional Playability and Sound

I'm surprised no one else has reviewed this guitar yet. I stopped playing guitar in my early 30's. Flash forward 28 years and I decided to start playing again. My kids out of college and out of the house, I've got enough free time to play and enough money to spoil myself (and I might add I'm blessed with a very supportive and generous wife). In just the past 5 months I've bought… read more a number of awesome guitars, several Taylors (GS Mini, 322e, 314), a Martin HD28, and this FS5. Other than the GS Mini, this one is by far the least expensive (I got a demo model). I love them all, but there is something about this Yamaha that causes me to pull it from its case far more often than the others. The understated elegance and incredible fit and finish has to be experienced first hand. Picking it up and cradling it in my lap, it just "feels right". The first time I ran a pick across the strings, I realized this was something really special. The sound out of this guitar is absolutely amazing especially for the size. The perfect combination of "bright" and "bass", with an abundance of mid-range. The sustain is incredible. It rings out like a bell long after I've played a note. The shape of the neck feels perfect in my hand and it seems effortless working my way up and down the fretboard. It works very will either fingerpicking, flatpicking, and/or strumming. Like I said, I love all my guitars, but if forced to pare down to just one, I'm pretty sure this would be it. On another note, Sweetwater provides the absolute best customer experience I've ever had hands down. I'll give a shout out to my rep, Ben Rys, and he is fantastic, but really everyone I've interacted with at Sweetwater provides exceptional support (I actually drove from Southeast Michigan to the shop for my last couple purchases and had the opportunity to interact directly with the staff).

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