Yamaha NTX5

YAMAHA NCX5 & NTX5
100
GUITARIST SEPTEMBER 2021
PROS Great contemporary
design; superb build; easy-to-use,
e cient preamp/pickup system
CONS Voicing is a little thick-
sounding, needs more ‘snap’ for
some players; NCX3 has similar
specs and is much less expensive
PROS Excellent contemporary
design like the NCX5 and its
‘crossover’ style has more general
appeal; hard to fault on any level
CONS Very little, although again the
NTX3 has very similar specs and is
considerably less expensive
YAMAHA NCX5
PRICE: £1,786 (inc soft case)
ORIGIN: Japan
TYPE: Classical cutaway nylon-
string electro with 12-fret neck joint
TOP: Solid European spruce
BACK/SIDES: Solid walnut
MAX RIM DEPTH: 100mm
MAX BODY WIDTH: 380mm
NECK: African mahogany
SCALE LENGTH: 650mm (25.6”)
TUNERS: Classical style 3-a-side
with black rollers, gold-plated with
black marble-like buttons
NUT/WIDTH: Bone/52.3mm
FINGERBOARD: Ebony,  at, no
position markers except side dots
at 5th and 7th frets
FRETS: 19, medium/small
BRIDGE/SPACING: Stained
walnut with ebony topped tie-
block/58.5mm
ELECTRICS: Yamaha Atmosfeel
with under-saddle, contact sensor
(top) and internal mic. Preamp
with master volume, mic blend and
treble EQ quick-release battery
holder end-jack/strap button
WEIGHT (kg/lb): 1.99/4.38
OPTIONS: See NTX5
RANGE OPTIONS: The all-solid
NCX3 (£940) is also available
with a cedar top at the same price.
The start-up NCX1 with solid Sitka
spruce top and more traditional
under-saddle pickup (with 3-band
EQ and tuner) costs £423; again it’s
available with solid cedar top. Back
are sides here are laminate and the
NCX1FM (£518) uses  ame maple
as opposed to nato or okume
LEFT-HANDERS: No
FINISHES: Natural (as reviewed)
– gloss with satin neck and
headstock face
YAMAHA NTX5
PRICE: £1,786 (inc soft case)
ORIGIN: Japan
TYPE: Medium-bodied cutaway, nylon
string electro with 14-fret neck joint
TOP: Solid European spruce
BACK/SIDES: Solid walnut
MAX RIM DEPTH: 90mm
MAX BODY WIDTH: 380mm
NECK: African mahogany
SCALE LENGTH: 650mm (25.6”)
TUNERS: Classical style 3-a-side with
black rollers, gold-plated with black
marble-like buttons
NUT/WIDTH: Bone/48.3mm
FINGERBOARD: Ebony, 600mm
(23.6”) radius, no position markers
except side dots at 5th and 7th frets
FRETS: 22, medium/small
BRIDGE/SPACING: Stained walnut
with ebony topped tie-block/53mm
ELECTRICS: Yamaha Atmosfeel
with under-saddle, contact sensor
(top) and internal mic. Preamp with
master volume, mic blend and treble
EQ quick-release battery holder end-
jack/strap button
WEIGHT (kg/lb): 1.86/4.09
OPTIONS: See NCX5
RANGE OPTIONS: The NTX3
(in natural or brown sunburst) costs
£940; the NTX1 (natural, brown
sunburst, black) costs £423, again
with di erent pickup/preamp and
laminate back and sides
LEFT-HANDERS: No
FINISHES: Natural (as reviewed)
– gloss with satin neck and
headstock face
8
9
8. The original NX models
used a block battery
mounted in a flip-top
compartment on the
upper shoulder – a
very similar way to ID
the original models.
Here, the battery
compartment moves to
the output jack/strap
button plate and it takes
a pair of AA batteries
8
Verdict
Yamaha’s considered approach to guitar
design is very evident here. Outwardly,
these new guitars look very similar to the
original decade-old models, but pretty
much every aspect of the design has been
tweaked. For the better?
Well, it’s doubtful these redesigns will
have any less appeal. The new pickup
system with its simplistic control takes
away the geekery of the previous preamp,
and the three-pickup source of the
Atmosfeel system adds to the available
voicings, in theory. The NTX5 ticks all the
boxes for that modern ‘crossover’, a nylon-
string for steel-string players that is, to our
hands, eyes and ears, pretty much state
of the art. In isolation, the NCX5 is just as
good, but the thicker voicing of our sample
does seem to move it further away from its
more classical style, and in this writer’s live
setup struggled to reproduce the lighter
and cleaner voice of our original and well-
gigged NCX2000R.
As we say in our introduction, though,
your idea of the ‘perfect’ nylon-string sound
might be different to ours, not to mention
how you want to use it, the style of music
you play and your amplification route.
What’s not in doubt is that these new NXes
throw down another gauntlet: if you’re in
the market for an electro nylon-string, this
is the place to start your search.
Pretty much every aspect of the
design has been tweaked from
the decade-old original models
VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra
GIT476.rev_yamaha.indd 100GIT476.rev_yamaha.indd 100 05/08/2021 14:5005/08/2021 14:50