Yamaha NTX5

95
SEPTEMBER 2021 GUITARIST
YAMAHA NCX5 & NTX5
spacing at the bridge, and slightly thinner
than the NCX in depth. Both are cutaway
nylon-string electros with similar aesthetic
style, but the differences for the player are
quite marked.
So, what’s changed? Firstly, the model
numbers move from a three- or four-digit
suffix to a simple 1, 3 and 5 designation.
The 1 and 3 levels are completely made
in Yamaha’s Chinese mega-factory. The 5
models that we have here are made in the
same factory but are finished off in Japan,
as we explain in our interview with Yamaha
later in this feature.
Also something for you to decide is
whether the additional £846 of the 5s is
justified over the middle 3 level. Both have
exactly the same specification with the
exception of the tops: European spruce on
the 5s, and Sitka or red cedar on the 3s; the
nut/saddle material drops from bone to
synthetic (urea); and the spec of the tuners
is slightly lower. Our NTX5 also has 24 frets
(the upper two are partial) as opposed to
YAMAHA NCX5 & NTX5 BOTH £1,786
CONTACT Yamaha PHONE [phone] WEB http://uk.yamaha.com
Y
ou sometimes hear an adage about
old Gibson Les Pauls: “no two sound
the same”. This can also be applied
to the steel-string acoustic, and perhaps
more so to the nylon-string classical guitar.
It’s one thing making a great-sounding
acoustic guitar, but a whole different
world when it comes to amplifying it to an
audience. Creating a good sound in both
environments, then, is challenging. But
that’s exactly the design brief of Yamaha’s
decade-old NX guitars. “With resolution of
these problems firmly in mind, we set out to
create a guitar that would satisfy in terms of
design, playability and sound quality,” said
Yamaha designer Kenta Hori.
But we’re not talking one guitar. If the
above wasn’t enough to chew over, Yamaha
created the NCX to appeal to a more
classically trained (or aimed) player, while
the NTX is for someone more used to a
steel-string, a ‘crossover’ player.
The new models are closely based on
those original designs with their two
distinct styles. The NCX is a 12-frets-to-the-
body ‘classical’-based nylon-string with a
broad nut width of 52mm, a flat fingerboard
and wider string spacing at the tie-block
bridge. In contrast, that more ‘crossover’-
style NTX is a 14-fret that’s based on
Yamaha’s APX body shape, with a narrower
nut width of 48mm, a lightly cambered
(600mm) fingerboard, narrower string
What You Need To Know
What’s the deal here?
Simple: Yamaha wanted to create a
nylon-string guitar that really worked
plugged in. The NX series plays
hard and fast with the construction
style of the traditional Spanish
classical guitar – of which Yamaha
has considerable history – resulting
in the ‘crossover’ style of the NTX
models and the more classical-
inspired style of the NCX.
Aren’t Rodrigo y Gabriela involved
in these guitars?
Yes, they were consultants on the
original series – and use heavily
customised versions of those guitars
– and had considerable input on
these new NTX5 and NCX5 models
we see here. In fact, although they’re
not signature models, they do bear
their signatures on the labels.
Has much changed?
Yes, these new models retain the
look and function of the originals but
have gone through a major overhaul,
which includes new bracing, woods
and a new proprietary pickup
system. The range is trimmed, too.
1
2
3
It’s a whole different
world when it comes
to amplifying an
acoustic guitar to
an audience
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