Your Pedalboards 2020: Part Deux, 1. Bracing and kerfing inside the body are applied with precision. It is with great pleasure that we bring you our review of the Yamaha Red Label FSX3 acoustic guitar. The Verdict Its sweet clarity stands on its own merits and blends beautifully with accompanying instruments, like piano, and solo or duet voices. Left-/Right-handed: Right-handed Number of Frets: 20 process, which subjects the wood to pressure, heat, and dehumidifying factors that effectively “age” the wood—simulating years of playing. */, Copyright ©2020. NAMM was a blast, and this year’s show was one of its finest, but its echoes are fading, and it’s time to get back to the divine art of creation and making music come alive. And at 14 15/16" wide at the lower bout and 4 5/16" at its deepest point, the Yamaha has the compact, comfortable feel of an OM or 000. Body Bracing: Modified Scalloping And that says a lot about an acoustic guitar, because some of them you just want to … Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing. Julius Pleaser, Sid Vicious Experience, Pretty Vacant et al) and has recorded and toured throughout the Southeast. With mahogany back and sides—and presumably some help from the A.R.E process, the FSX3 possesses a warm overall tone signature, but with a pronounced oomph in the midrange that complements and enhances the soft and rich mahogany tones. And the ability to blend internal microphone and pickup sounds enables you to sculpt output that can be optimized for airy, detailed, solo settings, or situations where you need undersaddle snap and presence to get across in a band mix. Yamaha’s new FG/FS Red Label lineup visually evokes those early red-label FG Yamaha steel-strings. Yamaha Red Label FSX3 Review. The mahogany neck, with its medium C-shaped profile, feels fast along its entire length and is free of buzz. /* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. I’m well acquainted with OM-size guitars. Terms Of Use. Crafted in Yamaha’s China shop, its timeless appointments of a lined rosette, black-and-white binding, concise dot position markers, three signature Yamaha logo interlocking tuning forks, open-geared tuners, and subtle V profile headstock reflect its established commitment to making fine acoustics, which has rightfully garnered a devoted worldwide following. Not surprisingly, a sizable cult of players now sings the praises of these sturdy vintage values. Street: $999 Yamaha Guitars usa.yamaha.com. While comparatively austere, the FSX3 is clearly not a product of cutting corners. Top Wood: Solid Sitka Spruce Adam Perlmutter is a freelance writer, transcriber, and engraver living in Culver City, California. But the modern incarnations add up-to-date features like a new scalloped bracing pattern, Yamaha’s “Atmosfeel” pickup and preamp system, and tonewoods “aged” through the company’s pressure-, humidity-, and temperature-treating process. Strings: Elixir Nanoweb 80/20 I applaud its past and am excited about where it will take me. And while they aren’t quite as inexpensive as their FG forebears (The FSX3 reviewed here is $999, and the top-of-the-line FGX5 comes in at nearly $1,400. Fingerboard Inlay: Dots The genius of Yamaha uses a modern scalloped bracing pattern, their “Atmosfeel” preamp and pickup system, and its tonewoods are “aged” through their proprietary treatment process using applied pressure, humidity, and temperature to produce a warm vintage tone with modern clarity and articulation. Cons: Austere appearance might not be for everyone. He’s been part of the Atlanta music scene for years playing in bands (i.e. It feels responsive and sounds immediate, direct, and pleasingly dry in ways that would make it a real studio asset. With its concert-style body, it is both familiar and alluring. Fingerboard Material: Ebony www.atlantatubeamp © Low Group Inc. dba Guitar Girl Magazine® 2020. When you first see, smell and hold the FSX3 with its solid Sitka spruce top, solid mahogany back and sides, and African mahogany neck with its ebony fingerboard, you sense its depth. CTRL + SPACE for auto-complete. Learn how your comment data is processed. Its classic lines are inviting and draw you to bring it in close. Bridge Material: Ebony Finish: Semi-gloss As I played it, I moved through various personal acoustic favourites like Elizabeth Cotten’s “Freight Train,” Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” and, of course, the Indigo Girls’ “Closer to Fine.” I initially thought it was more geared towards fingerpicking, but after strumming, I found it equally balanced for both playing styles and was able to switch between the two easily. Its warm output radiates and sparks the release of the music inside you yearning to get out. Privacy Policy | Nut Width: 1.75″ But the Yamahas that truly put the company on the flattop map were the FG series, a range of steel-string flattops that appeared in the mid ’60s. It feels better built than the original FG guitars, which is no small compliment. What I was pleasantly surprised about the Yamaha FSX3 was it’s a guitar with clear ties to its past and tradition, but it inspired me to explore new musical phrasing and challenging pieces. A A Ratings Pros: High quality build. 5-level guitars in the series are made at Yamaha's Custom Shop in Japan. Neck Wood: African Mahogany As one of the long-standing premier acoustic guitar makers, the Yamaha FSX3 shines in its pedigree, while embracing modern innovation. And the FSX3’s voice seems made for fingerstyle techniques, too. The result of Yamaha’s insightful design and precise construction of the FSX3 render it a fine quality acoustic guitar with the super-playability of a world-class contender. Write CSS OR LESS and hit save. Modesty Hides Solidity At a glance, our humble looking FSX3 could easily be mistaken for one of its Nippon Gakki, Japan-made ’60s counterparts. Number of Strings: 6 The same goes for the FSX3’s sound. The Yamaha Red Label FGX3 features 1960s aesthetics and modern craftmanship refined over 50 years of Yamaha guitar development! The three low-profile controls on the upper bass bout, which calls to mind Taylor’s preamp control layout, make it easy to interact with mid-performance. Super-slick playability. The matte finish on the neck and body feels silky and is free of imperfections. #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; width:100%;}