The FG heritage extends back to the 1966 release of the FG180, Yamaha’s first production acoustic guitar. In the more than half-century since, they have balanced traditional guitar craft with a spirit of constant refinement, pursuing the vision of the ideal Yamaha folk guitar.
Inspired by Yamaha’s® iconic “red label” guitars of the 1960s, FG Red Label guitars feature a semi-gloss finish and high-quality components to deliver a beautiful vintage aesthetic.
Custom-treated Sitka spruce top paired with mahogany back and sides deliver genuine aged-wood tone and sustain. A new scalloped bracing pattern offers a louder, more balanced tone.
Yamaha’s new Atmosfeel three-way pickup system provides a remarkably natural plugged-in sound.
Features
- Classic V Shape Headstock: the guitar retains the original FG headstock shape, adorned with the iconic “Tuning Fork” logo. The traditional truss rod cover is mblazoned with “Since 1966” to mark the launch of the first FG models
- Solid Sitka Spruce Top: commonly sourced from Canada and Alaska, solid Sitka spruce offers a rich midrange and low-frequency response. The sound is tight and focused, working particularly well for chordal strumming or rhythmic fingerstyle performance
- Solid Mahogany Back & Sides: mahogany has a slower transient response than many other tonewoods, contributing to a warm and woody tone with strong midrange
- Bone Nut & Saddle: the Made-in-Japan 5 tier instruments feature a bone nut and saddle. Bone is a harder material than urea, providing a more efficient transfer of energy from the strings to the neck and body. The result is a louder and clearer sound
- New Scalloped Bracing: in defining the sound of FG Red Label, the intention was to offer a warm tone that would be ideal for modern folk music and singersongwriters. With careful measurement and experimentation, several refinements were made that would enhance low-frequency response without compromising durability. These changes are optimised for the natural characteristics of the tonewoods, and for each body silhouette
- Acoustic Resonance Enhancement: Yamaha’s exclusive Acoustic Resonance Enhancement (A.R.E.) uses heat, humidity and atmospheric pressure to accelerate the ageing of the wood. The A.R.E. process gives the instrument a rich, vintage-quality tone, producing a sound as if you’ve been playing it for years
- Atmosfeel 3-way pickup & preamp system: the Atmosfeel 3-way pickup & preamp system uses a piezo sensor in the bridge to capture low frequencies, a microphone for low- and mid-range, and a newly developed thin synthetic sheet soundboard transducer for high frequencies. The result is a full, natural sound with simple controls that make it easy to get great plugged-in tone
- Simple and intuitive control for each performance style: Atmosfeel preamp control lets you blend the microphone sound into premixed pickup sound. The microphone sound particularly compliments solo performers and chordal players, while a lower blend may be preferred by fingerstyle players and guitarists who need to cut through a full band
- The Bass knob controls a peaking EQ: the centre frequency raises when boosting and lowers when attenuating, so that low frequencies which could be problematic on stage can be removed but never added.