FGC-TA Dreadnought Cutaway Transacoustic Guitar w/ Chorus and Reverb, Vintage Tint

This is a fantastic guitar. First it is beautifully finished and more importantly it has a great sound ; even without the Transacoustics turned on. I have several nice acoustics and this guitar is my favorite. I've played the other top brands starting with M and T and for the money, I prefer this guitar.

I have several acoustics, a 20yr old Takamine cedar top which has aged up, a brand new Ibanez acoustic artwood, and now this Yamaha. The way that wood ages does change the sound and it's hard to describe and not that easy to notice without an a and b comparison, but the first notes I played on the Yamaha, I was struck by how clear they rang out. The torrefaction aging they are doing to the wood isn't snake oil, and it has an easy to hear change on the tone. The upper mid range of the guitar for instance is louder, and there seem to be more overtones. If you could imagine starting with a soft, wet wood, how it would tend to muffle the treble freqencies because it's not very stiff, and then imagine you somehow made that wood as stiff as carbon fiber, and then played it, how much brighter it would sound, it's something like that. The notes sound very clear, and project very well. It actually 'sounds good'. Like play an A chord and someone can tell it's an expensive guitar just from that. It just has that sound. The electronics are also great. I wish it had a built in tuner like my Ibanez but the magic wizardry that is the built in chorus and reverb is pretty incredible. It takes 2 AA batteries from down by the TRS jack, and I haven't had to change them yet after about 20 hours of playing. The chorus especially gives you a 12string sound on a 6 string. The plugged in sound is better than my Ibanez, but still sounds like a piezo. It's okay for using an amp but if you're recording guitar, you're still better off using a microphone pointed at the 12th fret. Now the action......is great. It's the easiest acoustic action I've ever used. It's not as easy to play as an electric, but you won't struggle with it even if you don't play acoustic. It's nothing like my Takamine which is a finger destroyer. The neck also has that knurling down both sides to kind of protect your hand from fret sprouting and such so that even wrapping your thumb around the neck you have nothing grinding on your hand on either side moving up and down the neck. Very smooth, and a matt neck finish so it's not grabby. The tuners are very fast, which is usually a sign of quality. It takes very little movement to tune up or down and once the strings stretch out, it stays in tune. It also does not affect tune very much if you're pulling on the neck or pushing on it which is a good sign. I did not have to adjust the action to get a buzz free experience. The action as a whole is a little higher than I'd like, but you won't get any string buzz with it set like that. My fit and finish is flawless. No scuffs, dings, flaws, from the factory. The guitar uses thick top wood which is much thicker than my Ibanez or Takamine. The guitar also weighs more than my other 2 acoustics and it feels solid. I expect this guitar to last a lifetime.

This actually sounds as advertised (which is rare these days). Pros: - Sound is balanced with or without actuator, I have no trouble bringing out the low end the mids or high just by emphasizing my strumming or picking rather than having to rely on an amp etc. - Play-ability of the neck and fret board works well; the width and profile depth of the neck are comfortable for folks who do not have long fingers - Cost is quite reasonable for the quality (even without it being 'Trans Acoustic') - The actuator actually works; meaning without amping up, I can get reverb and chorus and control it. It is creatively fun to play this thing Cons: - The true con of this is that there are no models that have the option for a cutaway which is a shame because this guitar wants you to come up to the upper registers once in a while; the lack of cutaway may have to do with the bracing and electric gear and a cutaway may compromise the sound quality past a threshold Yamaha didn't want but still, such a shame - No built in tuner; yes we can use clip on tuners but it seems odd to have the gear in place but omit the tuner - suspect this is due to the AA battery choice... Nitpick - AA batteries tend not to last as long as 9-volt. Oddly, Yamaha makes a big deal about how hard it is to find 9-volt. Perhaps in some countries but in the U.S. they are everywhere other batteries are sold. This is, by itself, not a con for me but rather a minor annoyance. I do not use the actuator for every song I play and for me the battery life appears to be about 1 month. It is what it is. So why 5-stars then? Truly I would give this a 4.5 star rating for lack of cutaway and battery choice but amazon doesn't allow it cause amazon is going to amazon. This said, the reason for 5 star rating is that even when I don't have the electronics going this guitar sounds great. Disclaimer; I have this tuned to drop C to which my ear prefers over E standard. However, I suspect similar experience for Standard tuning. Also, I write songs and I have to admit this actuator is more than just a gimmick. For me at least this enables and encourages creativity and that alone is worth a 5 star rating.

Poor quality electronics. After playing guitar for a few weeks electronics had static buzzing tone.

Had it for 8 months now. It comes with a urea saddle & nut, which are okay but I think for this price they both should've been bone. I had it tricked up: Colosi bone bridge pins; bone saddle; and a Zero Glide nut which I had custom made for this guitar for a drop-in fit, as well as a stainless steel zero fret. But truthfully, I wouldn't say any of that improved the sound or intonation to any major degree. But there is more sustain for sure, and the Zero Glide certainly changes the tone of open strings since they're now going over a fret at the nut. That helped greatly with the thin, pingy sound I was getting on the high E&B with certain string sets; that's no longer a problem. But overall, I'll say this to any future buyers: you don't need to do all the customizing I did, which cost me around $200 total. Play it just like it is and you'll be happy (unless you're extremely picky & precise about tone & tuning like I am.) This guitar is above average, in fact unique due to the onboard effects, but I'm not thrilled with it completely by any means. It tunes rather poorly. The intonation is still off even after the new nut & saddle. The action has to be set fairly high to avoid buzz. It doesn't have very good projection; I use Newtone & TI Plectrum extra-heavy gauge strings and play with my thumb & fingers, rather aggressively sometimes, and it's sure not very loud unplugged - but not so soft that it's a problem. Using a pick to strum almost doubles the volume, but makes the tone too trebly for my taste. I like a more warm, woody sound like Kevin Eubanks gets, and can only get close to that sound with my thumb & fingers. I play it every day, sometimes with reverb and sometimes not. I seldom use the chorus which does sound authentic but just isn't up my alley style-wise. The LL-TA sounds good enough that I'm motivated to go pick it up when the impulse hits. I just wish it tuned better and didn't have buzz & other noise problems unless the action is pretty darn high. It doesn't play very well higher up on the neck. The intonation goes off a little and certain strings get those buzzy sounds when picked hard. I keep raising the action via the truss rod to help with that, and it does help, but high action sucks for jazzy playing. A really precise setup by a true pro might help with these problems to some extent. It could be that the frets are slightly uneven straight from the factory, I'm not sure, but something is just not quite right, despite the Zero Glide making the strings even all the way down the neck and the saddle being sanded down to the appropriate height as far as I can tell. All of that should've helped with intonation & action, but it did not.

Quality workmanship, the Dreadnought sounds bright, loud and crisp without the effects, when you engage the reverb and chorus it's how I always wanted my guitar to sound and I can take it anywhere. Played easy right out of the box, was set up well but I lowered the string action by removing material from the saddle as Im learning most guitars generally come set with high action and need to be adjusted to user preferences. I'm a Yamaha fan now, and they are reasonably priced, great value. It's hanging on my wall so It's easy to grab and Jam. For the money thw ll-ta is worth it ,,nice bag, solid wood and ARE wood aging is legitimate, I have the f series to take camping and tuned to DADGAD and the ll-ta for home ,both are nice but the ll-ta sounds and looks better.

I did a lot of research before buying this 6 string Yamaha L-series Transacoustic. I've been playing since 1966 and have played some really cheap guitars, some really awesome, and some really difficult to play guitars. I've been primarily a 12 string picker and a melody rhythm player for the better part of the 54 years I've been playing. The 12 string that I presently perform with is a Yamaha L-series dreadnaught with rosewood back and sides that I also purchased without ever playing before hand. Like that 12 string, this L-series transacoustic came out of the box with amazing action, fast tuning, stayed tuned after a few minutes of warm up. I didn't really buy it for the transacoustic abilities but that's an added bonus when I'm practicing or writing. With or without the transacoustic effects (reverb and chorus and volume without being plugged in), this guitar has amazingly beautiful full tone! I use a Fishman amp when performing and the pairing of the two is an incredible sound. The transacoustic effects of the guitar cut off automatically when you plug in as far as I can tell. I have built in stereo chorus and reverb in my Fishman that work excellently with this Yamaha! Both this 6 string and my 3 year old 12 string have excellent action making playing almost effortless. I have read several comments that said the player had to have the transacoustic set up by a guitar tech but that is not my experience. Granted I've been playing, 12 strings for years, some with very difficult neck action, high string setting or narrow necks or both, that have conditioned my hand strength, but this Transacoustic is still really amazing. One lead player that I often play gigs with played it and he loved the set up! Yamaha really did this one right! AN AMAZING GUITAR! It got me back to playing 6 string again and rediscovering how fun playing guitar really is!

So after watching online reviews/videos, and playing a FG-TA at local store, i had to try one of these and wanted the L-series with solid rosewood back and sides (both Transacoustics (TA) F-series and L-series come with solid spruce tops, but he F-series has laminate mahogany back/sides). this would be a nice $1000 guitar without the TA tech, but it can sound like it's worth more with the reverb and chorus. the chorus almost makes it sound like a 12-string guitar when added and played tastefully. would consider myself an intermediate guitarist and own a Larrivee DV-09 which probably sounds a little better than this Yamaha but costs a lot more. this guitar is just FUN....you just don't want to put it down and can make anything you play sound like you are on stage. the construction is really nice. it takes 2 AA-batteries in an easy to replace area under the body strapnut line out. reportedly batteries last 8-10 hrs of play time (there is an auto shutoff after 30 mins of no use if you forget to turn it off) so keep a few AA batteries handy. there is also an EQ adjustment option which can boost the midrange which reviews don't seem to talk about. BOTTOM LINE: although guitars can be very personal/subjective, if you are interested in this guitar, check it out at a local store (eg. Guitar Center, Sam Ash, etc.) either the FG-TA, FS-TA, LS-TA, or LL-TA (the one i got), to see if it suits you. before i played these, i would normally recommend beginners who want to spend no more than $600 on a Seagull S6 but now i would recommend the FG-TA. i would definitely recommend this guitar.