I sound so much better on this guitar when I'm playing Flamenco, the lower action, the easier string tension, the more comfortable neck, the tap plates, the lighter weight...

Even though it's "standard" sized, the neck is very comfortable.

Forget about the looks and concentrate more on the sound both guitars are easy playing but the cordoba has the nicer buttery smooth neck.

It is not a particularly pretty neck, but for $329 I'm not complaining.

I wanted to commit to learning flamenco, but like so many others I did not have $2K to drop on a decent flamenco guitar (actually a good one will run you $3-$6K or more)

First off, the solid spruce top is very consistent and straight grained.

The Spruce top is very high grade and the wood grain is very tight and consistent

First off, the solid spruce top is very consistent and straight grained.

You can definitely hear the difference from the spruce top on this vs the cedars on classicals.

I play this guitar almost every day, and enjoy doing so thoroughly

Action the way flamenco guitars coming out of Spain these days are like according to a respected flamenco luthiers in Chicagoland

Unless it's a bright day the fingerboard appears like an ebony.

But the sound on this yamaha i feel is every bit as good with far better playability

It has a decent sound, good craftsmanship and playability.

As far as playability and sound this guitar is awesome

I have owned and played several guitars from a couple of $40 chinese classicals, an antonio hermosa ah10, cordoba c5, and my current alhambra 5p - the Yamaha with a bone saddle has a volume equal or slightly louder than the 5p (significantly louder than the C5) and a tone that is almost as rich as the 5p but with the bright, raspy flamenco character

Right out of the box the action was perfect and the tone has a clarity that no other Flamenco I played for under $7,000 had

I think upgrading to a harder material will vastly improve tone and sustain

After replacing the plastic saddle with bone - the tone is greatly improved and the volume even louder

The previous CG171SF has better tone, wood, construction and finish

Right out of the box the action was perfect and the tone has a clarity that no other Flamenco I played for under $7,000 had

And the string tension on the classicals is harder and the action higher so doing all my rasgueados (or 'rasgueos' in Andalusian), my pulgars and picados is much harder than it needs to be when not playing on a true Flamenco guitar.

Just lower the action on the C5 and forget about it being a cedar top

The action is good but could be a bit lower - this is easily fixable

Action very good out of the box - I haven't measured but it is definitely flamenco and lower than my other classical guitars

I am looking forward to months of practicing while I save up for a good flamenco guitar

but I'd be surprised if any of the other laminate side/solid top flamencos are much better in tone/volume

I wanted to commit to learning flamenco, but like so many others I did not have $2K to drop on a decent flamenco guitar (actually a good one will run you $3-$6K or more)

Because I play this guitar so much, it inevitably has suffered a couple of very minor dings, but nothing major, and has held up quite well to the abuse's of my poor Flamenco playing

I have owned and played several guitars from a couple of $40 chinese classicals, an antonio hermosa ah10, cordoba c5, and my current alhambra 5p - the Yamaha with a bone saddle has a volume equal or slightly louder than the 5p (significantly louder than the C5) and a tone that is almost as rich as the 5p but with the bright, raspy flamenco character

I'm going to put some better strings on it tonight, but I have to tell ya

It came with bland standard factory strings which I switched out

Highly recommend new strings from the start.

I sound so much better on this guitar when I'm playing Flamenco, the lower action, the easier string tension, the more comfortable neck, the tap plates, the lighter weight...

I have a cordoba c7 classical guitar that has superior sound to the yamaha

The bridge is very slow and make this horrible sound in frets, they didn't care so much about the finish in the fretboard in the front and back sides, the head looks like and and sticker put it in (and it does)

The sound has a nice punch and good volume

The sound is bright and sharp, just like you want in a Flamenco.

Jose Ramirez had the warmth of classical guitar while I really didn't prefer the sound of $2000 guitar over my Yamaha.