Getting the best option between Yamaha fg800 vs fg830, Yamaha has always been well known for their beautifully crafted, excellent-sounding guitars. Over the years, they’ve produced a wide range of acoustic guitars, each unique in its way with varying features.
Yamaha guitars, despite their affordable prices, have been reputed to have good quality, with overall playability, great tone, and sound, they have consistently combined unique design features, good sound quality, and affordability, from the dreadnought to its concert size counterpart, they have made a lot of guitars readily available to us.
They are the best choice for amateur guitarists who are just venturing into the music world and professional guitars on a strict budget or need a backup guitar. The Yamaha FG series was first introduced into the market in 1966, and over the years, it has not stopped being one of the most sought after acoustic lines in the world.
Over the years, many improvements have been made, for instance, the scalloped bracing that creates a richer, deeper sound and allows the top of the guitar to sound more responsive and versatile, yet the price is fair enough for potential clients. In this article, we’ll be talking about the two most renowned releases of the FG series, “Yamaha fg800 vs fg830,” and which is better out of the two.
Yamaha FG820 Review
Yamaha FG830 Review
The Yamaha fg830 is a budget-friendly acoustic guitar compared to other products with the same features and quality. This product is a new and improved version of the Yamaha fg800; it is a subsequent model of the fg800, the upgraded version in terms of sound quality, materials’ quality, and tonal quality. In addition, it comes with a satin finish and a neck binding covering the headstock, which are improvements from the fg800.
The back and sides of this model are built with rosewood, which enhances great sounds and helps with mid-range tonality. The fretboard is also built with rosewood, a popular choice for making fretboard among manufacturers because of its quality, ability to aid tonal resonance, and its natural feel.
The fg830’s top is built with solid spruce; this feature helps produce a far richer and deeper sound than other beginners, budget-friendly guitars, and a scalloped bracing system that helps produce a fuller lower end. It also comes with steel strings well placed over the fretboard with a bright sound, making them an excellent choice for genres like country and rock.
It uses the dreadnought design: deep body, wider in the middle, and a thinner upper body; dreadnought guitars usually produce stronger, fuller sound than other acoustic guitars and deeper tones.
Pros
- Good for professional players on a strict budget
- Highly durable
- Produces great tone at both the middle and lower levels
- Fretwork is properly done
- Sustains sound very well
Cons
- A little too big for smaller sized or younger players
- It requires setting up before use
Yamaha FG800 Review
The fg800 features a solid Sitka spruce top, a good tonewood as it is versatile, durable, crisp, and loud. Its body and sides are built with nato wood, less expensive, although it does quite a good job providing the lows for the ringing Sitka spruce top, it has a glossy neck and lacks binding on the neck, which can make the fret edges rough quickly.
The Yahama fg800 comes with a slim neck that is very comfortable and increases overall playability. It has a rosewood fretboard and rosette inlays and also comes with die-cast chrome tuners that keep it in tune. The fg800 is also built with scalloped bracing, which adds a lot of volumes and bottom end to this guitar model; it is a lightweight guitar with a smaller body and slimmer neck compared to other dreadnought guitars, which makes it comfortable to hold for beginners or younger players.
Pros
- Fretwork is properly done
- Good sound quality
- The slim narrow neck makes it comfortable to play
- Budget-friendly
Cons
- Action is not low
- The closeness of the strings to each other makes playing a little difficult.
It requires setting up before use
Alternatives to Yamaha FG800 vs FG830 and FG820
If, after considering the features of the Yamaha fg800 vs fg830, it doesn’t appeal to you, here are some other great-sounding guitars for you to consider. Some of them are:
Ibanez 6 String Acoustic Guitar, Right Handed, Transparent Blue Sunburst (TCY10ETBS)
This guitar is an acoustic/electric guitar that, while giving the full tones of an acoustic guitar, also combines with the comfort and playability of an electric guitar. It comes with an Ivorex II nut that is stronger and more durable than bone and even harder than the original Ivorex; this nut allows brilliant highs, more pronounced lows, and less mid-range, making the guitar perfect for amplification.
It has a 2-band tone control with an inbuilt tuner optimized for use with Ibanez under-saddle pickups. It is a Talan double cutaway with a mahogany neck, mahogany back and sides, spruce top, black and white multi rosette tuners, Ibanez chrome die-cast tuners, and rosewood fretboard.
Pros
- Great for all stages of guitar level
- Easy to play, therefore an excellent choice for beginners
- The action is low
- Stays in tune at all times
Cons
- It would help if you changed the strings to enjoy the guitar
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Fender 6 String Acoustic Guitar, Right, Blue (0971170187)
A great starter guitar, its lively sound and smooth feel are ideal for almost any player. It has a modern headstock, colorful finishes, and inlays that combine a dash of traditional style with modern aesthetics; this combination makes it perfect for the stage.
It has a ¾ body size ideal for children, beginners, and players with smaller hands. Yet despite its smaller size, it offers a full-size tone and performance. It has a laminated Agathis top with Sapele back and sides, the neck is built from nato wood, and the fingerboard is built from walnut.
Pros
- It is budget-friendly
- It is suitable for smaller and younger players
- Great intonation
- It holds its tuning well
Cons
- It makes a buzzing sound
The Fender electro features the big and bold sounding dreadnought body with a deep voice with prominent low ends and warm mids. It also features the visually stunning Viking bridge that provides great tonal support. The Fenda electro guitar comes with fender play, an app that enables you to learn how to play the guitar, featuring instructional videos, hands-on exercises, and learning paths based on your skill and preferences.
It features a laminate spruce top, basswood back and sides that produce great tone, a nato C-shaped neck with walnut fingerboard, and Fishman electronics that provide solid, amplified, bright Fender acoustic tone.
Pros
- Offers great playability
- Sounds and plays beautifully
- Intonation is perfect
- Budget-friendly
Cons
- A solid spruce top would have been much better than the laminated
Yamaha FG800 vs FG830 – Comparison
Both the fg830 and fg800 are of the FG series, and with the fg830 being the upgraded version of fg800, they have many similarities with slight differences. Some of the similarities include:
- Both guitars use the dreadnought design; dreadnoughts usually have stronger, deeper, fuller sound than other acoustic guitars; this feature makes both guitars excellent choices for rock, blues, or country music players.
- They are both budget-friendly and perfect choices for beginner players or advanced players who are on a strict budget but still want a great-sounding guitar.
- The guitars have solid spruce tops, which greatly enhances their sound; they have both a scalloped bracing system and rosewood fretboard.
- Both Yamaha fg800 and fg830 come in the same dreadnought shape and size, and both possess steel strings.
- They have acoustic-electric versions that can be easily magnified
- They both have Die-cast chrome tuners
Differences
- The fg800’s sides and back are built with inexpensive nato wood, while the fg830, on the other hand, features rosewood back and sides which impacts the sound, making it sound more crisp and fuller than the fg800.
- The fg830 sports 21 frets while the fg800 features 20 frets
- On the fg830, the neck binding cuts across to the headstock, while fg800 doesn’t bind the headstock
- The fg800 is more lightweight when compared to the fg830; the fg800 weighs 6.48 pounds while the fg830 weighs 6.7pounds
- The fg830 is more expensive than the fg800, which is expected since its an upgrade of the fg800 in quality of materials used and sound quality
- The fg800 features a glossy neck finish, while the fg830 features a satin neck finish
Factors to consider when buying a Yamaha acoustic guitar
- Laminate vs solid spruce top: as you know, the wood used to build the top affects the tone a guitar produces greatly; laminate wood is unlike solid wood; it is made from several layers of plank glued together and doesn’t vibrate together as solid wood does, the result is a dull, non-harmonious sound with rapid decay. On the other hand, solid top guitars are rich-sounding since the top part vibrates harmoniously with the strings. In this aspect, the fg800 and fg830 are advantageous over other acoustic guitars with laminated tops.
- Neck binding: the neck binding is a strip of plastic covering the entire neck length and sometimes extends to the headstock. The neck binding helps in keeping the frets utterly round and increasing the overall playability of the guitar.
- Glossy or satin-finished neck: the neck finish is also an important feature to consider when buying an acoustic guitar. Satin-finished necks help your fingers move effortlessly along the guitar’s neck no matter the weather and are therefore easier to play. However, gloss-finished necks tend to be sticky in humid conditions; this will make moving your fingers along the neck while playing quite difficult in humid weather conditions and when your hands get sweaty, which happens if you tend to play for longer time durations.
- Affordability: if you’re on a strict budget or you don’t want to spend an arm and a leg to buy your first learning guitar as a beginner, then these budget guitars are an excellent choice, although if you have high aspirations for your musical career and you want a great sounding guitar that will last you a lifetime, I suggest you try to buy a more expensive and better quality guitar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Yamaha fg800 have high action?
Yes, the Yamaha fg800 has very active, although the Yamaha fg800 can be adjusted a little during setup. Some people prefer the guitar’s high action, while a lot of guitarists prefer a lower action.
Do Beginners feel pain playing the Yamaha FG800 and FG830 guitar?
No matter the brand of guitar you’re playing, as a beginner, it is normal to feel pain in your fingers at the early stages of learning. Even though the Yamaha fg830 and fg800 are excellent guitars for beginners, beginners will have to cope with the pain for a while.
However, before long, with constant practice, the fingers will have gotten accustomed to strumming the guitar, and finger pains will no longer be evident, except if you play for a long period.
What is the difference between a concert and dreadnought guitar?
Dreadnought guitars have a large and broader body; concert guitars, on the other hand, have a smaller body and less low end; they are also quieter and suitable for solo playing, while dreadnought guitars are loud and ideal for playing in a band.
Conclusion
Choosing between the two guitars can prove to be a little difficult. Still, you can’t go wrong in whichever you choose as both are built with quality materials and offer excellent vibrant, deep sound all around and value for money.
However, the less expensive fg800 is more suitable for entry-level players while the fg830 is more suitable as long term guitarists are more likely to hear the sound difference between the two.
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