Yamaha F335 Review (2019)

Yamaha is one of the most prolific manufacturers of acoustic guitars with models available for all levels. We are looking at the Yamaha F335, a budget model that promises to over-deliver. We want to see how it stacks up against other acoustic guitars under $200.

Body and Neck

The F335 has a dreadnought body shape and is available in three colors — natural, tobacco brown sunburst, and black. At first sight, it's very pleasing to the eye for a budget guitar; nothing stands out to say this isn't a well-built instrument. On closer inspection, the laminated spruce top and meranti sides aren't of the highest quality and give a slightly plastic feel to the guitar. Having said that, is it a genuine complaint at this price? Probably not.

The F335 has a rosewood fingerboard with 20 frets, which is nice and smooth for beginners to navigate.

Hardware

Like the fingerboard, the bridge is also made from rosewood. In terms of intonation, the F335 stays in tune very well even after heavy playing. The rosewood bridge, along with some very robust tuning machines, can take credit for that. The tuners are gold die-cast machine heads and worthy of being on a more expensive guitar.

If there is one complaint about the hardware, it's that the action is a little high straight out of the box. The way the bridge and nut are set has the action slightly too high for a beginner guitar, which is a shame because the guitar is otherwise great for beginners.

The last noteworthy addition to the F335 is a very nice tortoiseshell pickguard that catches any wayward strums and protects the guitar's gloss finish. It also adds to the visual appeal of the guitar, giving the appearance of a more expensive instrument.

Sound

Does it deliver a rich tone you'd expect from a classic dreadnought body? The short answer (and the one that you'll want to hear) is yes it does. However, that doesn't mean it sounds the same as a $1000 dreadnought. It doesn't have the tonal clarity of a higher quality instrument, especially low to mid-range. More complex chords/voicings can sound a little muddy, lacking detail, but it's still very good for the price.

The laminated wood doesn't offer much to the sound, but the body shape and solid construction are enough to generate a rich tone. Another issue regarding the laminated wood and the high action is that the F335 lacks some natural resonance in its tone. Overall, it has a rich, warm sound that is more than capable of handling anything a beginner can throw at it.

Conclusion

We focused on some negatives here, but it's not because the F335 is a terrible guitar, not at all. We just wanted to be clear that while it has the core characteristics of a classic dreadnought, it lacks the finesse of a higher quality guitar. It's not built from the highest grade materials, but it's sturdy enough to survive the bumps of being a beginners guitar.

Yamaha has also gone some way to make it very pleasing to the eye despite the low price, and that makes a difference to a beginner. In conclusion, it looks very good, it sounds great (relatively speaking), and it's cheap. A few small issues aside, it's a great budget guitar for a learner or anyone who wants a cheap acoustic guitar.

For more info about the Yamaha F335, click here.

For more acoustic guitars under $200, click here.