REVIEW: Yamaha SLG110S Silent Guitar
You know how it is. You want to take your music with you wherever you go, but that’s not always practical. Oh sure, you’ve tried the odd mini travel guitar, but you’re so wedded to the joys of a full-size neck that the experience just wasn’t the same. The strings are too close together, the scale is all off. In short, it just didn’t do it for ya.
That’s where Yamaha’s Silent Guitar comes in. Available in nylon-string and steel-string versions, Yamaha’s Silent Guitar is designed to go anywhere you do, and to allow you to practice quietly but with great tone. It’s designed to be easily portable thanks to its partially removable sides, which keep the guitar light, allow it to occupy a smaller footprint, and keep the volume down.
There are two nylon string versions (the SLG110N has a more player-friendly neck shape compared to the more traditionally-shaped SLG130NW) and a steel-string version, the SLG110S. On review here is the steel-string version, which is available in Natural (as reviewed), Tobacco Brown Sunburst and Black Metallic.
REVIEW: Yamaha BB424X bass
The Yamaha BB series is a legendary line of instruments with a killer pedigree. You only need look to former Van Halen and current Chickenfoot bass player Michael Anthony to hear how the BB has shaped rock, and continues to do so. The BB is available in various different configurations (including an Anthony signature model, the BB3000MA), but the BB424X is one of the more affordable entries to the line-up.
The BB424X features a smoothly sculpted solid alder body and a 5-ply laminate neck. I like that the headstock face isn’t painted, so you can clearly see the different woods even from the front. And that oversized Yamaha headstock has got to be part of the reason for the BB’s legendarily powerful sound – all that extra mass right where the strings join the neck leads to a lot more resonance.
Hilarious Yamaha guitar ads, circa 1992-93
I don’t know who wrote the copy for these Yamaha ads from 1992-93 (which I recently tracked down in some old guitar magazine issues) but they were a marketing genius. These ads are informative and fun, and they lodged themselves in my brain immediately when I saw them as a kid, staying there for the almost 20 years since then.
Observe this brilliant piece for the RGZ (Guitar School, September 1992)
MUSIKMESSE 2011: New Yamaha Pacificas
Check out this very, very shredworthy new Yamaha Pacifica 510V – rocking a special Seymour Duncan P-Rails too! Scroll down to the end of the post for a video of the guitar. The Pacifica is a real rock workhorse – can you believe they’ve been around for 17 years now?
PRESS RELEASE
When Yamaha introduced the first Pacifica models in 1994 it brought high quality, high performance no-compromise instruments within reach of many thousands of discerning guitarists on a budget. These highly affordable instruments were characterised by high-quality hardware and a superb solid wood body.
Since that time Yamaha has gone on to introduce a wide range of Pacifica variations many of which have since received international awards and as a result of this relentless pursuit of quality the Pacifica is one of the world’s most popular guitar brands.
The Pacifica story continues to evolve and innovate with the introduction of four new models at this years’ Frankfurt Musikmesse – The Pacifica 611HFM, 510V, 311H and 120H.
Hi! I'm Peter Hodgson. I write for Gibson.com, Australian Guitar, Australian Musician, Mixdown Magazine (including my instructional column, 'Unleash Your Inner Rock God,' which has been running since 2007), Blunt, Beat (including their weekly hard rock/metal column Crunch) and The Brag. And I'm Assistant Social Coordinator with Seymour Duncan.
I've been playing guitar since I was 8 years old, and I've been writing for magazines since I was 18. I've also worked as a guitar teacher (up to 50 students a week), a setup tech, a newspaper editor, and I've also dabbled in radio a little bit. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and my hobbies include drinking way too much coffee, and eating way too much Mexican food.
You can check out my guitar playing at Bandcamp or on YouTube, and feel free to email me at iheartguitarblog@gmail.com