Bought this guitar primarily for practicing classical guitar.
With some experimentation tweaking the knobs, I got a reasonable sound that approaches a real acoustic classical one, although you can still hear a remarkable difference.
Having tried two different headphones, I found out the output tone has a distinct difference, so that’s something to take into account when setting the knobs.
You get the best results with the bass turned a little down, the treble turned up, adding a little piezo-sound and a little reverb.
Regarding the reverb-knob I would have it liked to be more sensitive, making it easier to set the aimed amount of effect. I expect to solve this live by using a good reverb pedal.
A great thing when playing with headphones on is you can hear mistakes better, which is great for practicing purposes.
The dynamic range is not as broad as a classical guitar, but I guess that’s due to the lack of a resonating body. You especially notice that when playing hammer-ons and pull-offs.
Haven’t tried it live yet, so a review of my experiences with that still have to wait.
Nice feature of this instrument is the cutaway and with that the reachability of the higher notes.
And also the piezo-sound adds some extra versatility, making it able to play pop- and rock songs to for instance.
A Bluetooth connection would be a nice feature, making it possible to practice wireless.
As said in the title of this review, the looks of this guitar are great and makes a nice piece of art hanging on the wall when I’m not playing it.
The only minor point is the relatively sharp edge on the front of the frame, making it a bit uncomfortable on the forearm while playing. In my opinion a design flaw that Yamaha hasn’t thought through well.
The playability is good, although the action of the guitar is a bit high in the bridge. So when getting acquainted enough with the instrument and having experienced with different strings, I consider having it fine-tuned by a luthier.
In summary:
All in all a very nice and affordable guitar for all those musicians wanting to practice whenever they want and/or want to have an instrument that is good and versatile enough for live concerts in bigger venues or in band-settings.
And yes: regardless the fact that I’m very happy with it, I still dream of that beautiful sounding (but o so expensive) master acoustic classical guitar, which doesn’t compare to anything else :-).
Until then, this Yamaha SGR is serving me well aiming to reach a higher level of playing and having fun making music, with the added bonus of being able to play electrified.