Yamaha CG122MC

The Yamaha CG122MC's sound is excellent for a guitar priced in the lower bands. I have played a variety of guitars, for decades, and was finally looking to replace a classical guitar made in Spain that I have had for 40 years. I will be using this for guitar compositions since classicals are so self-contained, but although the sound is secondary for me in this writing process I appreciate an instrument that I can use in a final recording too.

The Cedar top is similar to that on my 1992 Seagull S6, giving a warmer overall sound to the notes which, on a classical guitar already have considerable natural warmth anyway. The result is a very mellow sound that still carries well, and seems to respond well to picking position, becoming nicely "plummy", almost harp-like, when you pick closer to the neck.

The action on classical guitars is always a little higher than I'd like, simply because of the characteristics of nylon strings. Even so there's absolutely no difficulty fretting notes cleanly. I may decide later to install a slightly lower bridge saddle to see whether that still gives me clean notes and a faster action.

I also noticed that the tuners stiffened somewhat as the strings came up to tension, although the tuning was smooth and accurate. I'd hoped that they might be easy to turn throughout the range (although my old guitar was worse).

Best of all, for me, is the 52mm nut, which at last gives me a guitar that makes clean notes possible, unlike my Ortega nylon strung guitar that has closer string spacing and is much harder for me to play well with my sausage-like fingers! Since I learned to play on my old classical guitar, the wider neck is no problem at all and it's a joy to be able to play pieces through without any accidental string muting that I get when playing the Ortega.

It's a lovely guitar, priced above the absolute beginner range, but if you want a guitar to grow with you, this is a great option.

I've been playing guitar (electric and acoustic) for over 10 years now and I have both played cheap acoustic guitars that sound thin and have a lot of fret buzz and more expensive ones. This guitar feels very smooth to play. The frets are well rounded, there is no fret buzz anywhere on the neck and tuning stability is good too. The sound is good, although it does not sound quite as full as another acoustic guitar I played that cost 3 times as much. I nonetheless enjoy playing this guitar.

Pro:
+ Overall quality
+ Good fret job
+ Playability
+ Tuners
+ Tone (for the price)
+ Price/Performance

Con:
- Sound not quite as full as for more expensive guitars

Overall I do recommand this guitar to anyone who is looking for an inexpensive classical guitar that sounds good and plays well. I doubt that one can get a better quality guitar for this amount of money

I bought this guitar a year ago on the back of reviews and only from online vieo reviews (youtube). I am a beginner starting to play classical guitar again after 30 years and I wanted a solid top entry level guitar. This is what this guitar is and I was not disappointed. The quality, for the price was really great, I have been commented by fellow students on how nice its tone is. I definitely recommended for someone just approaching the study of classical guitar as it will easily accomapny you for the first 2-3 grades with satisfaction.
The shipping from Thomann to the UK was fast and well packed. The strings needed changing almost immediately.