Yamaha Silent Guitar?

[RABid]

A few years ago I decided that I wanted to practice acoustic guitar on the porch. Practice, not play. Thus, I did not want my neighbors to hear me. Easy to do with an electric, not so easy with acoustic. I did not want to practice acoustic songs on the electric because of the different feel. Then I found it, the Yamaha silent guitar. I really like this guitar. So much so that when I decided to cut back my collection, way back, the silent guitar was set aside and not even considered as something that I would sale. But....

 

I never see anything about this guitar. Why? Is it considered bad? A market failure? Something you have no use for? Why is this the least talked about instrument on guitar forums?

[KuruPrionz]

Well, you did buy yours so you you could play without other people hearing you, that's sneaky, no?

 

They are sneaky guitars. A friend had the nylon string, he often went to Asia and found it to be a great travel instrument.

 

I like them but don't own one (yet).

[Larryz]

I run GHS "Roller Wounds" 10-50's pure nickel on all my guitars acoustic and electric. Running electric strings on an acoustic with light 10's quiets them down considerably. You won't hold your own when jamming with other acoustic players as you will not have enough volume IMHO. But, I seldom play my acoustics unplugged and when plugged in, they sound just fine and I can crank them up. I take my Roland EX4 battery amp with me when jamming with acoustic friends so I can turn up my volume just enough to keep up and not overpower them. It's not as quiet as a "silent guitar" but it allows me to keep the same string gauge and not have my fingers turn black like the bronze strings do. My nylons are quiet enough unplugged too, so I use them the same way. The only time I play unplugged and run silent run deep is when the wife is sleeping LoL!

 

If you have a guitar RABid that you would not consider selling, that is what I call a Keeper (even if it's silent).

[Dannyalcatraz]

My guess is that most people who want to practice silently tend to do so with some kind of electric, so there"s not as much call for the Yamaha.

[Danzilla]

Lee Ritenour uses one; saw him playing it in a concert video the other day. So there's a ringing endorsement.

[KuruPrionz]

Well, if it really was "Silent" we wouldn't hear much about it, would we?

[skipclone 1]

I've tried the steel string and nylon string models several

times, both play well and sound good.

I got told no guitar when I moved into my current place.

The landlady must have had an image of half-stacks and

smashing guitars. I just play with a light touch on the acoustics,

or play electric unplugged.