Build Quality:4.9 out of 5 stars
Hardware:4.8 out of 5 stars
Electronics:4.8 out of 5 stars
Sound:4.9 out of 5 stars
Value:4.9 out of 5 stars
Average:4.9 out of 5 stars

Check on Amazon

Yamaha Gigmaker EG

Pros:

  • Affordable
  • Beginner Friendly
  • Bundle

Cons:

  • Agathis Body
  • Nothing but the basics
  • String Buzz
  • Tuning Stability Issues

There are a lot of affordable guitars out there and yet there are even more cheap guitars on the market. More so nowadays than ever before. Guitars that come with bundles of things you might need as a beginner guitar player. Stuff of dreams for those looking for a guitar without much commitment. The Yamaha Gigmaker EG is one of these models that comes as part of the bundle and covers the basics. Let us take a closer look at the instrument and see whether it does a good job of it or not.

Body Quality

First and foremost is the design of the guitar. The guitar takes the most widespread and popular shape, the Stratocaster, and twists it just a little bit, so it is not an instantly recognizable copy. The design is not fresh or in any way original, but covers the basic requirement of a pleasant thing to look at. The design makes the frets easily accessible, even the lowest ones. The solid color with the pickguard is a simple and classical look. Nothing mind-blowing, just like you should not have expected since this is a very basic, cheap guitar.

The body of the guitar is made out of Agathis. Agathis is a tonewood you will be seeing more and more often on the market. It is a cheap tonewood that is slowly coming in as an alternative to basswood. I guess manufacturers realized that basswood can be boring. Except Agathis is not much different in any way. The tonewood has a very similar effect on the tone of the guitar, resonating well enough with the lower-end tones and adding warmth to the overall sound. The tonewood is light enough that it will not bother you to hold the guitar for hours at a time. Just like basswood, agathis also suffers from being rather soft, slightly more so than basswood. This means the guitar is extremely easy to damage, so you better watch out.

The neck of the guitar is made out of maple, the standard tonewood for neck on the market. Maple has many good qualities as a tonewood but is even better as a hardwood for the neck. It’s sturdiness and weight allow the guitar a nice balance between the body and neck, as well as giving it good resistance to most types of impacts and damage. The neck is bolt on and does not usually suffer from any problems. The fretboard is made out of rosewood, which does a good job of being a nice place for your fingers to work with.

Hardware

The bridge of the guitar is Vintage Style Chrome Tremolo. This gives the guitar nice actions, as well as decent string stability. I do have a problem with the tremolo bar though since with the guitar’s tuning stability issues it might cause the guitar to go quickly out of tune. Otherwise, decent and nothing special.

The nut of the guitar is made out of plastic. This is one of my more hated materials to make a nut out of, since it does a mediocre job of keeping the string buzz low. Fortunately, it is easy to replace.

The tuning machine on the guitar is nice in looks, but bad in stability. The guitar has a tendency to go out of tune faster than it should, and yet it is very little you can do other than replace the tuners.

Electronics

The guitar comes with a triple pickup combination of Single Coil, Single Coil, and Humbucker at the neck, middle and bridge respectively. This is an interesting combination that gives the guitar flexibility in sound. Yet the pickups are rather basic and barely cover the minimum of what pickups should do. While good enough for a beginner, any advanced or intermediate player will get a little bored of them rather fast.

The guitar has simple controls of two knobs and a lever. This allows the player to control the volume and tone of the guitar, as well as the pickup configuration.

Yamaha Gigmaker Sound

Just like everything else about the guitar, the sound is very basic. While having a nice level of flexibility for a beginner to experiment with, the sound is not powerful enough or varied enough for an intermediate player to have fun with. Basically, nothing to write home about, but adequate enough.

Conclusion

This guitar is not for master players or people have the ambition to pursue the guitar for a long time. This is a guitar for someone just starting out with a guitar and not looking to invest too much money, but get the most out of their investment. You get a bundle with the guitar and that might be the most positive thing about it.

Check Availability

Click here to view more from Best Beginners Electric Guitar.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.