26th Aug Can Wait - Yamaha CGX171CCA

26th Aug can wait so I'll just have a lil' bit of pre-birthday gift for myself. Seriously can't help it, sorry M... :P You can treat me lunch or dinner this Sunday k? Or make me a happy dude later. (winks*) Anything... Haha.. Anyways this guitar is a beauty and I told myself that I just gotta have it - after playing it for the first time, for a few minutes! Then of course I just kept coming back to the store to play it again, just to be sure.

I got this from the Yamaha Music shop at Plaza Singapura after work (I was so fcukin' restless today, maybe it's the Calling of the Guitar, got this nonsense?), used my Yamaha student pass and got quite a bit of savings from its hefty pricetag. I don't know how many visits I've made there (one of the sales assistants even started to recognise me) to test-play this instrument just to be certain that I like its sound and its tone and its build wrap in me and off course my fingerings on its fretboard.

The CGX171CCA has everything (no, the blue rug is already there, not staged, lol) you need in a modern classical; solid Cedar top, cutaway body design, and a 2-way pickup/mic system utilizing a Piezo bridge pickup and an adjustable condenser microphone. The electronic system then allows you to blend between the pickup and the mic to get the desired tone. Whether your plugging in with a band or playing acoustically the CGX171CCA sounds terrific.

Well that's what the specs say. Of course my playing will be put on the line and that is entirely another matter. The point is I have been putting this off since Tuesday, December 21, 2004. See my post on this.

My first guitar is the Yamaha CG - 111S, which I've really grown into. It's really is a slow-burner instrument as its spruce solid-topped seems to break-in of late.

Lol ~ I'm not a luthier but I know that cedar has been used extensively by makers of classical guitars. Cedar-topped guitars are characteristically lush, dark-toned, and bursting with flavor. They are often less powerful in projection than their spruce cousins. But after playing this intrument I beg to differ lol ~ ... It seems this new instrument of mine is louder and has a lot more crystal bright notes than my CG - 111S, which is spruce solid-top. Could it be that it is also pluggable to the amp type of guitar? I don't know.

But what I do know is that if I miss the dark, mellow and moody tone I can always play my spruce-topped guitar anytime, which I still love the complexity of its tone and overtones. It is not crystal clear, but it has a unique voice all its own. I call it warmth.

But since cedars tend to break-in faster than spruce, I'm really looking forward to play more on this new instrument. Let the journey begin!

CG111s, meet your new brother, CGX171CCA.