Gearank

Gearank High Notes

• 2019.06: Equal Highest Rated Nylon String Guitar Under $500
  Tied With:
  Kremona Soloist S65C
  

• 2017.12: Highest Rated Nylon String Guitar from $200 to $500
• 2016.08: Highest Rated Nylon String Guitar Under $1000

Specifications

• Top: Solid Spruce
• Body: Nato back & sides
• Finish: Available in Natural (pictured) & Black
• Bridge: Rosewood
• Neck: Nato
• Fingerboard: Rosewood
• Scale Length: 650 mm (25 9/16")
• Nut Width: 48 mm (1.889")
• Electronics: System61 2-way A.R.T. pickup/preamp system

Overview

The Yamaha NTX Series have the scale length of a Classical Guitar but with a thinner body, nut width and action that more closely resemble a Flamenco Guitar.

Yamaha designed this series as a 'crossover' range that steel string acoustic and electric guitar players will find easier to adjust to than a standard classical guitar, and indeed many guitarists who play steel string and electric guitars find this an easy nylon string guitar to play.

They have also employed their A.R.E. (Acoustic Resonance Enhancement) technique to prepare the tonewoods in order to produce a result that makes them sound like aged or vintage instruments. This feature is also found in the higher spec'd NTX1200R.

The SYSTEM61 + ART 2-Way Pickup system was designed by Yamaha specifically for nylon strings and you can find it on their NCX and NTX ranges. It sounds good on stage and with a little tweaking of the 3-band EQ you can even get it sounding fairly lively when recording directly into your audio interface.

It also has a built-in tuner which is a handy touch.

The solid spruce top gives it reasonable projection when unplugged, but with it's thin profile don't expect a big boomy sound.

Recommendation

This was on our recommended list before it was discontinued by Yamaha.

A good alternative is the Cordoba GK Studio Negra which is another highly rated crossover / flamenco style nylon string guitar, although it does cost more as most guitar prices have gone up over the last couple of years.

You can see our current recommended list in our guide to Classical & Nylon String Guitars.

Demo