Part 1 - J45 vs. D18V vs. Yamaha fg5
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- Опубликовано: 21 июл 2022
- Part 1/6 : a first comparison between those 3 full solid mahogany/ sitka guitars.
Played Mainly with fingers. Part 2 to 6 : played with pick.
J45 : d’Addario EXP16 strings - 2 weeks of playing
D18V : d’Addario EXP16 strings - 4 weeks of playing
FG5 : Elixir PB light Nanoweb. Fresh
Recording chain for the sound :
low price condenser microphone into headphone output of a Focusrite Scarlett mono into I-phone SE.
Sorry for the lack of consistency to repeat each music piece ! 
Видеоклипы
The Martin sounds like a Martin, Gibson J45 is a legend in its own right. But at nearly half the price, the fact that FG5 is even in this conversation tells you how damn good that guitar is. Mine is on its way from Sweetwater.
I agree! I just got an FS5 and it is amazing.
Mine too!
MY FG5 is on the way ...from Sweetwater HA ! I did a lot of home work , and, as they say, "Best Bang" for buck ... This is the "Sweet Spot"!
I’ve played all three recently. Here are my thoughts. The J45 and D18 are more than double price of the Yamaha FG5. Although the former two sound wonderful and have their nuances, they DO NOT sound, feel or play twice as good. They don’t! The Yamaha strongly holds its own. Great guitar.
1. Gibson 2. Martin 3. Yamaha. J45 stood out the most for me.
They all sound fantastic!
Great video. Thanks for the comparison.
The Yamaha is right up there if not beyond the other two to my ear. I really need one!
Thank you! I’ve been waiting for this comparison. I love a good dreadnought sound. I have the cheaper FG3. I love all of these. I appreciate you taking the time to compare them.
I put a bone saddle on mine. Sounds even better.
All three sound great!
I enjoy composing creating my own songs. I am amazed by arrangements of Melody and tone I produce through the Yamaha FG5. It will be difficult to find a guitar with the same quality without paying a heavy price. If you don’t know already, Martin guitars are amazing but the Yamaha guitars are not to be dismissed they are a quality guitar.
In this test I prefer the FG5, it is the best balanced between clarity and richness. But each guitar of the same model can sound different, that's why it's best to try them before you buy.
All are great. I would pick the J45, I love that tone and the sun burst looks amazing.
I had a Martin and a Gibson. Sold both and got a Yamaha FG5 (used, mint, for $800-). Best move I ever made-p
I love all 3 but have to give it to the J45 sounds killer.
Love em all. J-45 by a nose.
Very cool video thank you.
For me, this is the holy trilogy of mahogany
I have the Yamaha FG5 and absolutely love it. What’s your ranking of these three mahogany dreadnoughts? I’m excited to see part 2!
Hi,
I love them all 😁
The J45 (and his sweet voice) is my favorite to sing with, and I like his voice that tends to be a little bit metalic when the strumming is hard.
I like the deep bass and the richness of tone of the D18.
But the FG5 is my favorite for gigs: a full voice, articulate, very resonant. She's my favorite for finger picking too!
@@incognito2246 awesome! I just bought a 000-18 to compliment my FG5. Part of me wishes I would've gotten the D-18 instead, but I think the FG5 can come close enough to the D-18. I'm ready for your part 2 video ;)
Good review
I got an FG5 new last year for $2300 all in (Canada)….at 60 years of age now and playing since I was 6 years old I have never had a dred that sounded or played as well. It is extremely light, comfortable and seems to open up more every time I play it. So warm and the clarity and chime of notes is amazing. The strings (12-53 Elixir Nanoweb 80/20) work best on it and bend and push so easy it clearly proves the engineering of it. Like a twangy old flat top from years ago. Of all my dreds it also records the best. I have had Martin’s, Gibsons, Taylor’s, Guilds, Epi’s, Fenders, Tokai’s, BC Rich, Ovation, and many other brands over the years and since I got onto Yamaha acoustics a couple of years ago, even their lowly priced FG800 plays circles around very expensive guitars so check out Yamaha acoustics the next time you are shopping and I am confident you will agree. Hands down the best bargain going.
Sold my FG5…terrible short scale…love my D18
@@jasper_north Awesome !! A D 18 is tough to beat when its a ringer !!
At least in this video, the J-45 has some honk in it.
Thanks for this excellent review! I owned a 1956 J-45 in great condition so I'm very familiar with that iconic deep cannon/ultra mellow combo of the J-45. TBH, I always wanted a D-18 because I thought it had a more honest sound, whereas the J-45 was more mellow but not as crisp and balanced. In this test, however, I preferred the J-45. One thought: All these years I thought the J-45 was the king cannon of the Gibson line (excepting the real jumbo 200). However, recently I've heard some comparisons with a Hummingbird and I have to say that to my ear the Hummingbird has the deep cannon sound of the J-45 (which surprised me; I expected a more trebly sound) PLUS the crisp sound of the D-18. I wonder if anyone else concurs. Thanks again.
Trying to pull the plug on either the FG5 or D18 amberburst. Is it worth the extra 1k?
Thank you for the video! I have got the FGX5. Loved everything about it but the metallic sound. After I changed the strings to some Rotosounds the Yamaha got a clearer bass and and a warmer tone. The elixir strings are not very pronounced at all in my opinion.
An update with better strings would show that the Yamaha and Martin are very similar!
What kind of roto strings?
@@SunnysideViews rotosound sb10 „superbronze“
@@stephan4985 thank you
Pure sound, the Gibson for sure. But I am amazed how close the Martin and the Yamaha are. Comparing price and sound, this Yamaha is a steal!!
According to my ear buds !, the J45 has crisper high end and a nice soft bottom end ,, plus it’s the loudest out I’ll three guitars 🤷♂️
I bought the Yamaha FG5 in 2020. It's a great guitar, and plays well above its price level. Highly recommended. I spend literally hours on it.
Give me that Yammie... all day.
So out of these three, which one do you feel has the edge on playable neck?
I'm comfortable on all the 3. I have personnaly tuned them to have a low action.
The J45 is the softer (and easier) to play with. But in term of profil shape, I prefer the FG5 : round and full for my hand.
Did that really just happen lol. I wouldn't sleep at night if I worked for the "bigger brands" the Gibson and Martin sound good in their own right until you play the Yamaha. They're clearly doing something right. Gibson and Martin will never go out of business with the fan base and history backing them up but that FG5 is a damn fine instrument
Thanx for the vid! Why do you like the Yamaha FG5 for finger picking the most?
Perhaps it’s my way to play with, but with my FG5 :
- the notes are sharper, articulate,
- the projection is better,
with fingers…
… but the harmonic richness of the sound is a little less highlighted compared to the D18 and the J45. Especially in the high register.
@@incognito2246 Yeah, FG5 sounds very nice, perhaps a bit too much of mids. I have ordered FG5 and hope I will have a good time fingerpicking on it.
That j45 sounds nice, but I love Yamahas, so the fg5 for me.
The FG5 clearly wins to my ears
Perfect guitar for your ears then.
Lol , he's not wrong. I think its my favorite too.
Perfect for my budget too (my wife said)
The FG5 checked all the boxes ... including my wife's... By the way, It's my favorite too.@@suttisukmek
I was rooting for the (underdog)Yamaha.Liked this Gibson the most(suprised),Martin has better trebles then this Yamaha.Liked Yamaha's bass response and a bit more clarity over this D18 ,but lacked a bit perhaps in the character department.I think this d18 is a bit stiff,might open up more in time.Do you play it less then the others?
I am a couch guitar player and I own the FG5. Yes, this guitar sounds great and a year later my six string opened up and now it has an amazing tone. If you have a problem with the round logo of Yamaha and owning a Japanese made guitar, it would be your reasons for passing on these fine guitars. Since then the FG5 gone up in price. ouch…like everything I suppose. I know Customers will not suffer buyers remorse purchasing any Yamaha instrument.
The clear winner for my ears and taste is the J-45. Martin is also very good and comes in second. I own an FG5 and love it but I think the other guitars sound a bit better...however, for the price, the FG5 is the clear winner here!
Man, I really wanted to like the Yamaha the most. It's a weird mix between the Martin and the Gibson and it doesn't really do either super well. I still need to play one in person
What pick are you using? That changes the sound more than anything. It looks like a thin pick. Dreadnoughts, to me, sound better with big heavy picks like bg players use.
I tend to agree re the picks. I go with the heaviest I can.
Thanks for the video. Been looking at getting a Martin d18, and have been looking at alternatives because here in Aus, just a standard is around 4k aud. The J45 is roughly 5k. And the Yamaha 2k. I really do hear the difference between all 3. But it's not a massive difference. As much as Id love it own a Martin d18 or Gibson J45, i personally don't think its worth up to x2.5 the price of the yamaha.
Fg5 is the best
All three are excellent, listening through earphones though the j45 is Slightly more to my liking. Iv'e played a j45 and it's 1 of the few Gibson's that Really impressed me, Iv'e owned 2 Gibson's, an old Hummingbird and a much younger cutaway, not overly impressed with either, but the J45 ( in a music store) was as Iv'e said, Very impressive, Oh Wow, but the price ??? So I stick to my Martin and YAMAHA'S 😊😊😊
Yamaha'ha's all the way here! I love my FSX5
I'm with everyone else here who was right...FG5. But as far as looks go, that Gibson is gorgeous.
Before reading other comments, let me ask two things: how are you micing the guitars? And what kind of strings are you using? They all sound more “clangy” than they need to. But in general the Yamaha then Martin seem to sound best. Yamaha… often the underground sleeper best.
I love my FG5, I put Martin 13 gauge vintage strings on it and sounds great. My ranking to your guitars would be FG5, J45 then D18.
Same re strings. These sound like thin strings. Maybe explains the clanginess of the sound. Especially that J45, jeez. Usually an exceptional sounding solid guitar. I switched to Martin Retro 13s and love them 👍
@@transcendenttv i discovered that the pickguard has wood lookalike plastic film on it, if you remove it a beautiful black pickguard comes to light. Martin retros are great strings, I love their mellow jazzy tone. 👌
1st: Yamaha FG5, 2nd: Martin D18, 3rd: Gibson J45.
Gibson for me
Huge fan of Yamaha Red label guitars.... Like them better than big brand mahogany guitars visiting twice as much... They come already opened up with torrified tops....
I like the Martin but just slightly over the Yamaha. Gibson behind.
The J45 strolls it. Different league.
In this case I prefer the j45. I love Yamaha and I’ve tried the fg5. The quality of the sound ime was very good, but the projection, volume, and liveliness wasn’t comparable even to my dreadnought jr. with that said, my dread Jr is even louder and more responsive than my d35 (due to the scalloped top).
The Yam FG5 by a distance,
FG5
Sold my FG5… after a month I all of a sudden noticed: ITS NOT BALANCED…hence the low price!
All nice but it’s got to be said the fg5 is less than half the price of the other 2 guitars. Yes Gibson,Martin and Taylor are the go to brands if you have the money. I have a Taylor and a yammy but I do find myself questioning the price tags, is it the sound or the prestige or a little bit of both.
The improvement in sound quality is just not there anymore to justify paying the US Guitar brands prices, even the Chinese made solid back and side guitars available now aren't far, if at all, behind in sound quality, and they're even cheaper than the Yamaha, and that's without the consistency and quality issues that seem to afflict Gibson..
I can tell you from the perspective of career musicians we all think that Taylor’s and Gibsons are ridic overpriced now and not worth that amount of money; regardless of how much $ you have it’s become a matter of principle for a lot of us. (I’m a Gibson sponsored artist for a long time now and love many of the models (the J200 i use obsessively), BUT it’s really to get my hands on vintage Epiphones like the J160, Casino, Sheraton, Frontier, Excellente, AJ500, BL500 etc.) Vintage Yahama FGs and CJs are also stellar sounding and VERY affordable. (Not mentioning my favorite, vintage Hofners, because they don’t make them anymore.)
Re Martin, I think it’s important to say they’re still the most respected and beloved brand in the business and most believe they actually are worth the money. They’re the real deal. Even the newer Mexican ones can make you cry from the beauty of their sound.
Even though they all sound good, if you cnt hear the richer tones from the J-45 not to mention the overall sound quality, I'm regretful that you are either tone deaf or something, probably not a Gibson fan for sure. Myself, I really don't get excited over the newer J-45's, this particular 45 has better tonal than most I've heard made after 1982-3, the martin guitar just seems a little flat, the Yamaha would sound better probably if you were playing more of an upbeat style progression. Overall, I would take any of the three and not be afraid they would not perform as intended. Great trio all around. It's mainly what sound you prefer. Thank you, for me it settles any misgivings I may have towards either of these instruments. I'd play them till the strings fell off, that's what these guitars are capable of, a complete one hour or better with only slight adjustments in tuning. Bluegrass, country or just the blues, they'll stand.
Liked all of them but I actually preferred the Gibson but would buy Yamaha for price
The FG5 is a 25" scale and designed as a "folk" guitar. I guess we could view it as a cross of the Gibson and Martin. Yamaha also has their A5R and A5M with 25.6" scale and traditional Dread styling. I just know that Jimmy Page used a 25" scale Mahogany Harmony Acoustic to record the Rain Song. You could get this FG5 and A5R for $3100.00 retail ...easily get 15% off which puts you at 2635.00 vs Gibson J45 at $3k retail or the Martin at $2800.00 at retail. The only real difference that I could equate as cost worthy would be the finishes ....satin on the Yamaha and Nitro on the others.
Gibson j45 FTW!
was rooting for the yammie, but j-45 took it...i bet a yamaha ll 16 d would be right in there
The Yamaha FGX3 is the worst looking and best sounding guitar I have ever played, directly compared to the absolute top of the line, I chose it every time, but my eyes shrink inside my head a little when I look at it.
Nicely said, even Japan made FGX5 has som little blemishes and Im not the biggest fan of tinted satin finish. I polished mine by hand and guitar looks way better now. I like the sound very much tho, it has its own character, bit dark, woody but really sweet.
The Martin Brags...the Gibson says...I never brag...the FG5 says...I could brag.....I have all three....let's just say I don't brag.
All 3 guitars sound great. The timbre of J45 is pleasant and distinctive, and the unique sound quality is not available in the other two guitars. As a high imitation of Martin, Yamaha has similar timbre and sound quality to Martin, but Yamaha does not have its own characteristics.
Explain....
J45 just kills the other 2. That low shoulder is the ticket
His playing style does not demonstrate what these guitars are capable of.
All three of these come alive when you work them.
YAMAHA fg5 が一番良い音してる！
Holy projection batman ! FG5 for the win , the D18 is pretty nice and I'd love to own one but the J45 is feeble and sounds like a rattling cup of nuts and bolts, it really sounds like an all laminated Chinese copy of the other two LOL.
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No looser ,the 45 for me ,maybe the 18 could be a yamaha
My buddy and I like the Yammy best and he was listening blind. My wife said she couldn't hear a difference and thought we were messing with her
Your wife is right 😁 :
the sound is first in the fingers of the guitarist,
the impression in front and behind a guitar is different,
and it’s difficult to capture the « true sound » of an instrument with a phone mic !
@@incognito2246 then why do you bother making them with your phone? And maybe it's not the "true sound" and I know plenty about the behind/facing sound, but you can still tell a difference if you play.
nice all 3 are excellent but the yamaha has brand new strings..I played and owned 2 of of the three in person the martin and gibson have way more depth
FG5… it’s more dynamic- it seems to keep up with you volume wise the harder you push it. Not a fair comparison. The Yamaha is torrified top. In 20 years, the J45 will shine over the the other two. The Gibby and the Martin will be worth more than the Yamaha in twenty years and will retain more of its original value… but then again?
J45… duh
Yamaha FG wins 👍
Surprised I liked the Gibson so much. They usually sound dead to my old ears.
With Gibson you have to find a special one. A person I know who is a professional musician said “99 times out of 100 an Epiphone will be better than a Gibson but when you find that one in 100 it will change your life.”
My ear says yamaha. ironicly i think the martin takes last place here.
Gibson
You made the all guitar quality less because of your playing or microphone problem.
😔
G Y M
Was it me... but....I feel you have too many guitars. That's what I got from it.
One can never have too many guitars
Dreasnoughts aren't really usually used for fingerpicking. Usually an om size is ised for that. I'm not sure what that randomly strumming with your fingers thing is. I'm not familiar with that style.
Yamaha wins
Mississippi John Hurt. Good Choice.
I have owned 15 Martins since 1961..
There is a Martin sound. The D18 V sounds close to my D18GE and other D 18 models I have owned and played .
I have owned about 8 Gibsons and there is a Gibson sound.
The J-45 sounds a bit like my 1945 J-45 and WM-45.
And then there is a Yamaha sound with Elixers.. dead. Fit some d'Addarios and try again.
Though I currently own a few Martins I will never buy a new one again. Not the same company it was years ago; substandard product, substandard customer service.
Gibson, the usual consistency of inconsistency. Historically bad management , and the guitars are grossly overpriced..but when you find a good one, far superior to a Martin. There is a "bounce" in plucking the strings that is hard to describe and I've never found it in a Martin.
Yamaha, I have heard good ones, this is not one of them. Try better non tone killer, non prophylactic strings.
For sentimental reasons, I'll go with the J-45. Also because often you will find one with a 1 3/4 nut width or the 1 23/32 standard Gibson nut width rather than the unplayable Martin 1 11/16ths " (post 1939 on most of their guitars to include the D-18V)
Excellent video. No nonsense.
Gibsons sound very basic in person, like they could be $300 guitars. Same with Yamaha. It’s hard to show the overtones of the Martin through a mic
Yamaha sounds like a toy guitar compared to the other two. I prefer the J45,but the D18 sounds good too.