About Classical Guitars

While Yamaha's team of guitar builders had immense woodworking skill, the company realised early on that the advice and input of eminent Spanish classical builders would be hugely valuable in making sure the guitars truly met the needs of players. In 1966, Eduardo Ferrer, a traditional classical builder from Spain, worked with Yamaha to set up the Hamamatsu-based custom custom shop - a facility that still operates today. The first products to appear from the Custom Shop were the GC5, GC7 and GC10 models - forerunners to today's GC range, still built in Hamamatsu. From those very first models, Yamaha enlisted the services of professional players to evaluate those guitars - the first Yamaha models were all identical in specification, the different model number was assigned by the player evaluating the guitar purely based on tone.

In 1970, Yamaha opened the legendary Kaohsiung Yamaha factory in Taiwan and began building affordable, mass-produced classical instruments using the input and lessons learnt from building the early custom shop models to create instruments that were accessible to more players, but didn't compromise the playability or tone for which the handmade, Japanese instruments had become known.

During the 1970s, Yamaha collaborated with famous Spanish guitar builder Manuel Hernandez to further their craftsmen's knowledge of traditional Spanish guitar-making techniques and eventually develop the Yamaha classical construction used today - where the influences drawn from different builders and techniques over the years resulted in changes to the instrument's bracing pattern, neck joint and overall tone to create today's Yamaha classical guitar tone and personality.

In the early 1980s, Yamaha worked with Andres Segovia - considered to be the founder of the modern classical guitar movement and arguably one of the most influential classical players of all time - to refine the design and construction of their high-end concert guitars. As part of that process, Segovia relayed many positive comments to Yamaha's guitar builders and eventually added a cedar-topped GC70 to his 10-piece collection of guitars.

Today's Yamaha classical range is spread across 3 ranges - the entry level 'C' series guitars, including the hugely popular C40 and the CS40 3/4 models, one of only a few 3/4 guitars not built to be simply the cheapest possible instrument, are all made in Yamaha's Indonesian workshop, the same factory responsible for building class-leading instruments such as the F310 and Pacifica 112 and, despite their affordable price points, offer a number of features echoing Yamaha's original guitar-building ethic to make the best possible instrument at an accessible price, including an ultra-thin 2-ply laminated back and sides for the maximum possible resonance coupled with all-important strength. Built to perform as serious guitars, these models offer genuine advantages to the student or more advanced player thanks to the use of select tonewoods, Yamaha's industry-renowned setup and quality control and player-orientated construction and specification.

Above the C series, and the backbone of Yamaha's classical guitar range, the CG series, combines construction techniques and methods learnt from the flagship GC range to create instruments delivering premium sound, playability and performance across a range of models. The CG series features Yamaha's ultra-thin finishes, choice of top materials and a range of different back and sides materials including Rosewood, Ovangkol and Nato and the CGSF models that offer a flamenco-inspired sound with spruce tops and cypress back and sides.

At the top of Yamaha's classical range sits the handmade GC series. These models feature handmade construction, premium tonewoods, delicate, hand applied inlays and ultra-thin natural shellac finishes (taking a full 3 months to apply) on the custom shop models.