Yamaha CX40 II

Premetto che sono un fan della Yamaha tuttavia questa volta sono rimasto non solo deluso, ma anche stupito: non pensavo che un marchio così prestigioso avesse un controllo qualità così scarso anche se si tratta di una chitarra entry-level dal prezzo basso. La chitarra è arrivata piena di difetti estetici: un'ammaccatura sullo spigolo superiore della cassa armonica, vari piccoli graffi qui e là, tratti dei bordi del manico con il legno dall'aspetto usurato, trucioli di legno e segatura all'interno della cassa armonica ma soprattutto l'inizio della tastiera in prossimità del foro della cassa, era tagliato in modo molto grossolano. Mai vista una cosa del genere! Inoltre le linee nere ornamentali sui bordi della cassa non erano simmetriche, da una parte non arrivavano neanche all'attacco del manico ed erano sottili, dall'altra parte erano più grosse. Una nota positiva: il suono acustico della chitarra è bello e bilanciato. Ho dovuto restituire la chitarra e Thomann ha capito perfettamente quando ha visto le foto. Ne ha disposto il ritiro con efficienza e velocità ed io ho comprato un'altra chitarra, la Thomann classica S 4/4

This guitar definitely gives you more than what you pay for. It is has a full & voluminous tone however on the other hand, the sound is high bass where tone differentiation suffers a bit. I found it easier to play Spanish style finger picking & manoeuvring the fret board as compared to my nicer guitar but again, there was too much bass for my liking and it would not differentiate notes as good as my other guitar. For a beginner, this is definitely more than a starter guitar & great value for money.

This is my first classical guitar in decades. In the meantime I have had a few dreadnoughts including a Gibson, a Godin and a Cort, covering a range of 300-3000 euros roughly. Now, this one is half the price of my cheapest guitar. Here are my thoughts. Sound and setup for a 150€ instrument is fine. I could ever so slightly lower the saddle but definitely not necessary. It’s a lot of fun having a decently sounding cheap instrument on the couch for generic practice or just to catch your inspiration when it’s happening.

Manufacturing wise, I already returned one back to Thomann as there was a bit of wood that had chipped and some randomly spilt glue near the sound hole, The replacement I got was actually a bit worse 😅 as it was somewhat dirty in the headstock and near the saddle and looked unfinished in the interior part of the headstock. The strings appeared to have been played with as there were bits with a very slight de colouration.

Truth be told I would return this one too, but I thought the return process was not great here in the Netherlands as I would have to take a tram carrying the rather big box around or even spend 15€ on a taxi. And stay without an instrument for 15 days.