Yamaha GC22 Handcrafted Classical Guitar Spruce

I compared this guitar to Cordoba C10 cedar top, and the Yamaha won. It projects sound more effectively and sounds great.

I didn't see a way to update my review from 3/13/14 so I'm writing a new review. After buying a returning a GC22 in 2014, I started shopping around again and gravitated back to the same guitar. It's hard to find a classical guitar with solid rosewood back and sides, mahogany neck, ebony fingerboard with Yamaha's reputation for quality at this price. I discovered a local store with one in stock so I went right over to try it. Unlike my earlier purchase, the action on this one is perfect. This one has a cedar top and I like the sound and deep tone better than the spruce top. The guitar fits snugly into the custom made case. The gold colored tuners look good and work well. I'm glad that I gave Yamaha a second chance.

The model that I bought is GC22C, it has solid rosewood back/sides, solid Western red cedar top (most commonly use for classical guitars), solid ebony fingerboard, solid mahogany neck. The guitar sounds very good and I'm very happy with it. The only complaint I have is the action is a bit high, so I sanded down the saddle and the action came out right for me.

I bought it - waited 2 months for delivery only to find that the action was much higher than expected even for a classical guitar. The store luthier couldn't believe the string height when he examined it for me - re-checked it 3 times. The guitar sounded great, looked good for the price, all solid wood with solid Rosewood back and sides and ebony fingerboard, great case. I went back and tried several other classical guitars in various price ranges and they were all more playable than this one. This also had a string buzzing when playing something I don't experience with my existing guitar. So, I returned it - what a disappointment.