Yamaha Silent Guitar review by Rudi
Yamaha have an odd line in SILENT INSTRUMENTS. The general idea is these instruments are used together with headphones, allowing you to practice quietly without disturbing the neighbours. A civilized idea in these days of abrasive noise pollution & `sodujackism’ attitudes. They are all essentially electric versions of classical acoustic instruments. They all feature a standard ¼” inch jack socket which allows connection to amps, mixers, powered speakers etc. In this way they become useful for performance or recording in addition to their main purpose.
The first ones I heard of were the SILENT VIOLINS (I was seriously tempted to buy one of these). Yamaha also make SILENT CELLOS, BASSES, BRASS & PIANOS. The cheapest in the range are the SILENT GUITARS.
I saw one of these gigged two years ago and at that time I didn’t realise what it was. Like all of the stringed silents, it’s a strange looking animal. With just the outline of a body attached to the fingerboard. They look like impressionist sculptures of musical instruments. Like a quick sketch somehow made solid.
Why bother with the body profile at all? Well, in the case of the SILENT GUITARS, it does allow you to hold it properly in the correct seated position. You can’t do that with a plank.
SLG-120 SNW: This has a standard regular scale classical fingerboard & a finger rest pad.
SLG100N: This has a slightly narrower neck at the nut. No finger-rest.
I bought a SLG100N hoping to use it to record, & ‘maybe’ even gig.
Spec: SLG100N
Body: Solid maple with maple frame
Neck: Mahogany
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Bridge: Rosewood
Strings: Nylon
Maximum body depth: 80mm (3.15”)
Scale length: 650mm (25.59”)
Tuning machines: gold with pearloid buttons
Finish: Natural with black/maple frame
Electro system: B-Band under-saddle pickup; preamp with volume, bass, treble, built-in two-preset digital reverb, reverb select, line out, aux in with level control, headphone out, phones on/off
Standard accessories supplied: Headphones, gig bag (no A/C adaptor or batteries for UK/Europe)
Conventional electric guitar pickups cannot be used because the strings are nylon. Instead a B-band transducer pickup is fitted (invisibly) under the saddle.
B Band: Wikipedia defines B Band as the range of radio frequencies from 250 MHz to 500 MHz
B-Band (with hyphen ) : This is a company Trade Mark. B-Band are a Finnish company specialising in pickups for musical instruments. Much is made of the fact that they do not use piezo material in their pickups (piezo imparts a sound of its own and is often grudgingly tolerated by the likes of e-violinists).
http://www.b-band.com/
Review:
The SLG100N is well constructed and straightforward to use. Surprisingly it was concert tuned straight out of the box. The strings are a light gauge low tension type. The action is very reasonable. It’s a lot easier to play than my regular Spanish guitar. I will probably change the strings to a heavier gauge at some point.
The only thing not included is an A/C adaptor. I had e-mailed the shop & asked about this before buying. I was told that an adaptor is not included and would need to be bought separately. The manual however, suggests that there should be one. There is even a pocket for it in the gig bag. I imagine that it was originally supplied with an American/Japanese 110v type. Certainly the 240v one I have will not fit in the pocket.
Without the power adaptor, you have to use a 9 volt battery. This is not supplied as standard either. The tiny earphones are not of the highest standard, but they are quite good enough. The controls are well laid out & logical. I did wonder about the ON/OFF switch though, it is designed to toggle the headphones on or off only. It only made sense after I removed the headphones, switched it off and inserted a jack plug. The unit senses the jack plug & powers the unit on.
I can understand why they would provide the ON/OFF switch. It permits you to save battery power without having to disconnect the headphones. Why then not extend this logic to the ¼” jack socket also?
Playability : It plays nicely. The intonation is quite good. A beginner would not struggle with this. No set-up appears to be required. Access to the upper register (above the 12th fret) is easy due to the absence of a `body’.
It quite versatile. Remember though that this is still a classical guitar with classical limitations.
Construction : Good but not especially robust. Perfectly fine for a bedroom or a studio. If gigged, you would need to use the usual sensible precautions. The custom soft case supplied would be inadequate for that purpose. Obviously it has a huge advantage over any conventional acoustic guitar, because you don’t need to worry about dry air conditions and temperature changes etc when travelling or storing.
Versatility : This should be the strong suit of the silent guitar. Personally, I didn’t buy it for silent practice. I bought it to record and perhaps to gig. This is a ‘jack of all trades’ guitar. It would be an ideal instrument to take on holiday together with a couple of spare batteries.
Sound Quality : The main reason I bought one of these is that I was so impressed with the sound reproduction in a theatre. However, it cannot compare with the natural sound of a regular acoustic Spanish guitar. Make no mistake about that. If you want the best sound quality, struggle on with trying to mic up the acoustic. The much vaunted B-Band transducer pickup does not produce a natural sound at all. There is an muted high range overtone that is distinctly artificial, and especially noticeable on the wound strings.
The worst side effect concerns the reproduction of fret buzz on the wound strings. As the fretting finger is raised from the fingerboard there is a brief ‘buzz’ as the note decays. It’s not normally noticeable on a regular instrument but on the silent it is exaggerated and very noticeable; not a pleasant sound at all.
The two built in digital reverb effects are lush sounding, but the hiss that comes with it is unforgivable. Like all added effects, detail is lost if you are playing anything complex. If using batteries the reverb will almost halve the battery life.
The separate bass & treble controls are good and provide a sensible range.
I tried my trusty regular headphones in addition to the ones supplied to assess the sound quality. I couldn’t tell much difference between them.
Conclusion: The SLG100N is a jack of all trades & master of none. It is undeniably useful, but will remain a 2nd choice in all of its applications.
Playability : 8/10
Construction : 8/10
Versatility : 7/10
Sound Quality : 5/10
Overall rating 70%
http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/product/gu...itar/index.html
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