Thank ya my friend! I was quite surprised by the tone of the Yamaha, with the Engelman top and rosewood solid woods combo. The neck has a narrower profile, which some love, though too narrow for me personally. I’m letting go of it on Reverb to save funds for a JGM5, which is a jumbo, similar to Olav’s Ruska guitar, though built more for body percussive elements and resonance, along with a wider neck profile. I’m still on the fence.

@@TroyRickertsen that Ibanez guitar looks really cool too! Good idea to sell the Yamaha to get what fits your preferences.

Right on, Jay! I’ve been quite surprised by Yamaha’s quality in the acoustic guitar department.

Right on Gordon! I was really impressed with the L series Yamaha tone and playability. Happy playing!

Good observation, Todd! I totally hear a bit more low-mids with the mic vs the electronics through my iPhone. Through my headphones, it’s the opposite, with deeper lows from the electronics. It’s amazing how much sound changes from source to source. I no longer have the Yamaha, though it’s one of the best guitars I’ve heard at its pricepoint. The nut width was a bit too narrow for my playing comfort. Happy playing brother!

@@TroyRickertsen yeah the nut width gets me too. I have an Epiphone inspired by Gibson Hummingbird that has the 1 11/16 nut. The sound is great but the nut width isn’t what I would like. I am thinking of going Mexican Martin or Alvarez Master build guitars because both have 1 3/4 nut

I’ve heard great things about the Alvarez Master series guitars. Yeah, the feel, tone, design, ease of play, and string spacing are such personal things, aren’t they. We live in a great time to explore! Before moving on from your Epiphone Hummingbird (nice guitar), you could try a 1 3/4” nut replacement and see how it feels. I did that to a Taylor 114CE guitar at church that no one was playing, and switched out the 1 11/16” for a 1 3/4” TUSQ nut and now it’s getting regular use. If ya haven’t done it before, you could have a luthier do it. It’s best to keep the original nut so you can always go back to it if you don’t like it. Bear in mind, it does move the low and high string a little closer to the edge of the fretboard, which is the tradeoff, and might be a deal breaker for some. It’s a fairly inexpensive way to experiment, and the TUSQ nuts, while not bone, are self lubricated and won’t bind up and affect tuning like some other nut materials, fyi. Keep rockin’ Todd!

Thank you so much! I’ll zip over and check my messages. Thank You! 👍

Thank you, Joseph! I hope you are doing good and finding time to play and create! I’m actually selling this Yamaha to create some funds for another guitar, the Ibanez JGM5. Have you seen one up close, or possibly have played one? Everything about it appears to be geared towards my playing interests. Any thoughts on it would be welcome, brother!

@@TroyRickertsen Nope. I’m rather stubborn & only play on nylon. I really liked the microphone you were abusing. The guitar seems great. Lots of options. Your nails are pretty too. I don’t have many opportunities to play on new gear. If… I played steel string. I’d definitely be buying Jon Gomm’s signature Ibanez. I’d shoot for the JGM10. It’s got a better pick up system. I’ve got no experience with either.

One thing I really appreciate about Andy McKee is his minimalist approach to gear. While he has some really nice stuff.. mostly limited to ultra swanky guitars. Getting jgm seems swanky. Mostly because of the percussive techniques that Jon Gomm uses. The pick up system certainly enhances that. I’d check out Jon Gomm’s instruction video. On his website. $30. The nice thing about his signature series is it can be bought through Sweetwater or affirm via credit. I do tire of all the music gear upkeep. I don’t know, It might be swankiest to have the money in the bank.

@@savagetofu1 Thanks Joseph! Lots of great points and observations there. I’m with you on wishing it were more simple when it comes to gear. It can be tiring and it just keeps evolving. A good reminder that I should be spending more time playing and less time searching for some elusive thing, often at the expense of writing and creating more. I’m guilty of that. My main gig is as audio engineer and tech team member, so I suppose it’s hard wired into me to explore sonically. I’ve tried many pickup and mic systems over the decades; Fishman, LR Baggs, K&K, and so on. My favorite the last 10 years has been the Anthem. The only problem is that it doesn’t pick up the whole body well (a byproduct of it being feedback resistant). So, to get the nice microphone sound, along with body resonance, I’m stuck with using something that’s dual or triple source. I did try the Pure Mini, as Andy and many use, and while warm, it lacked a lot of upper detail on the guitar I installed it in. The K&K Trinity system might have worked well to cover the bases I seek and sound balanced. Interestingly, after a bunch of deep dives on the JGM series, I learned that both guitars have the same identical triple source Fishman pickup system. Most of the specs are the same between the 5 and 10, though the 5 is made in China, has a laminated Pau Ferro back as opposed to solid back, nickel silver jumbo frets as opposed to stainless, and a gig bag as opposed to a solid hard case. Jon’s said on a post that they sound very very similar. Of course he uses the 10, so he appreciates those differences. I’m just glad that there’s starting to be some progressive fingerstyle oriented guitars being made now. It’s a cool time! I’ll have to check out his courses. Thanks for the tip!

I remember looking into them when they first came out. I checked out the specs then. I remember seeing there being a different pick up. I guess I misread that. Thank you, for correcting me. Forgive me for spreading false information.

Bless your heart, thank you Eliza! We sure miss playing and miss you and the community too. AJ and I have started writing as a duo, and plan to do some local shows. We have about 15 originals, and my goal is to have 20 songs completed this year. Keep up the awesome creative artwork and great crafting! Thank ya for reaching out. We hope to see you again on the near horizon, or perhaps even in Second Life.