YAMAHA GL1 Guitalele, Natural, Baritone

69 year old guitar hack here. Played electric, and some acoustic guitar in three bands way back in the 1970’s. Played acoustic at a wedding. My neighbor bought a Yamaha GL-1 “guitalele” A few years ago, and told me recently that he loves it! A GL-1 is basically a very compact 6 string classical guitar, but, instead of being tuned Eadgbe, it is tuned 5 frets up on each string, so the low and high e’s become a’s. This means that all the chord shapes I know on a regular guitar can be played in the same positions, but the name of the chord will be different. Example, an e major chord shape on a guitar, will really be an a major on the Yamaha. If I am just playing by myself for myself, there is no problem. If I was to play along with a regular guitar, we would have to work out what key to play in. Also, if I sing and play, then depending on what key I play in, I would have to sing in higher notes.

This thing came quicky to me in Hawaii, and it is in perfect condition! Since it had nylon/classical type strings, it is going to take much longer for the strings to settle down and stop sretching. Way longer than my steel stringers. So, don’t write a review after a few days complaining about this. All classical style nylon string guitars do this! Pick it up,tune it, play it, and keep tuning it. The tuners on mine seem just fine. It is a total blast for me to play. It sounds great, especially for the small body size. It has very good volume and sustain too. A bit stingy on the fret markers, both on the fingerboard and side of the neck. If you have big fingers, some chording might be a bit crowded. It doesn’t have a truss rod. But, many classical guitars and many other guitaleles don’t have them either. I have yet to read a review, or watch a video review, where the owner had a neck warp. In short, I should have bought one of these long ago.

Update after more than a year now. I still love this little 6 stringer! I have been selling some of my amps and ukes etc. I had considered selling my Yamaha, but cannot do it! It is just such a great insrument. Mine is still perfect. Drawbacks? Few. The 17″ scale is a bit tight for me. One string started unravelling after not too much playing. I was able to buy the one string and replaced it. I read a review somewhere where the writer returned his due to various flaws. Looking at mine it’s hard to believe. I think Yamaha should make an option of the GL-1 that would come with an under saddle pickup with tuner and volume/tone controls. Great price, great instrument, great FUN!!

Muy entretenido, buen sonido y buen tacto, calidad yamaha, lo unico malo es que si lo dejas guardado en la funda un rato se desafina un poco, pero la otra vez lo utilice en vivo en sustitución de un requinto por la afinación en A

This thing is super fun to play. I bought it as an instrument that I can easily travel with. I think it would be super easy to carry on a airplane, but I would get a better padded case for it. The case it comes with is very serviceable to store it away and carry to lessons or a gig, but it isn’t road worthy by any means. Being a fourth higher than a standard size guitar has me rethinking the keys I like to sing songs and I have found that to be very inspiring.

The action is very playable and the intonation is within a decent tolerance. The tone is pretty close to other Ukes I’ve played, but is not close to a full-size guitar, but that was to be expected from such a short scale length.

The only gripes I have is that there isn’t a strap peg. Also, the matte finish is a bit noisy when brushed against as opposed to a more glossy finish, so I have to keep my strumming hand in check. Overtime, with more playing, I expect the finish to polish up and be less noisy.

I wanted a very small and light instrument that I could bring on camping trips and still sounded and played like a guitar. Be aware that the guitalele tuning and strings on this instrument are not standard E out of the box. But, the good news is that several manufacturers sell standard E string sets that will fit the 17″ scale of the GL1. I grabbed sets from Aquila and Hannabach to test out. The ones in my video are the Hannabach “kinder” standard E and they allow you to use standard guitar tuning and chords. It sounds good for what I need and it’s even light enough to take backpacking. Larger hands will feel a bit cramped between the frets, but the neck width seems a normal size and is a comfortable shape.
As my title indicates, please do yourself a favour and lightly/sand polish the frets. They are rough and any bends or pulls will quickly fray your smaller strings. I just used a padded nail file to lightly sand and then buff them to a nice smooth shine when I changed the strings. I finished off the fretboard with a little lemon oil and now it’s nice and smooth. Good value and i love the natural finish. I won’t feel bad about it getting a few dings or scratches out on the trail.