New Yamaha Guitalele GL-1

tozan

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My curiosity got the better of me and my wallet.
I just received my Yamaha GL-1 Guitalele from Long & McQuade in Vancouver, Canada. I just followed the directions given by ChiyoDad on his blog. Ordering by phone was easy and the salesman, Jovahn, was very helpful. It took about 15 minutes to give them my shipping and payment info. The order was put in last Thursday and would have arrived Wednesday but UPS had trouble find the address. $99 US + $30 Shipping.

Apologies for the phone camera pictures.
The GL-1 (left)is next to my Ohana TK-35G Tenor (right) - similar in size and fits in the same case.
Total length = 28"; Body=12.5", upper bout=7"; lower bout=9"
12 frets to the body; 17 frets total
Position dots on the side only at 5 & 7 frets.

Satin finish. Lighter in color than shown in photos.
Fit and finish is good, well made.
The intonation seems to be right on even up to the 12th fret according to the FT-800 tuner. it has a compensated plastic saddle.

Now to find some music so I can be terrible on both the ukulele and the guitalele.

This is the first time I've posted pictures, yay!




 
I haven't seen a uke Yamaha before. It's a beautiful instrument. I have a Yamaha Classical guitar. It's a great sounding instrument that ha held up well for about 20 years.
 
I've been trying to decided if I want a tenor uke, guitar or the Yamaha GL-1. I bet you will have fun with it, it looks like a great instrument!
 
That is so cool! Where would you get one in the states (or are they only available in Canada)? I don't see them listed on the Yamaha web site. I had thoughts of buying their 1/2 size classical and tuning it ADGCEA, but this would be even cooler.
 
I've been trying to decided if I want a tenor uke, guitar or the Yamaha GL-1. I bet you will have fun with it, it looks like a great instrument!

Melissa,
I have three guitars and 2 ukuleles. Guess what guess picked up most? I the the ukulele has some kind of magnetic properties that attracts people. I told my wife that it's my equivalent of her knitting needles. I'll just pick it up and quietly strum it to keep my hands busy.
 
Melissa,
I have three guitars and 2 ukuleles. Guess what guess picked up most? I the the ukulele has some kind of magnetic properties that attracts people. I told my wife that it's my equivalent of her knitting needles. I'll just pick it up and quietly strum it to keep my hands busy.
It's kinda funny, cuz I have people on a guitar forum telling me to start with guitar, lol.
 
It's kinda funny, cuz I have people on a guitar forum telling me to start with guitar, lol.

Not meaning to hijack the thread...but I'm doing it anyway.:rolleyes:

I played guitar for years, then haven't touched it much in the last 5 years or so. Then I started to learn the ukulele about 6 weeks ago. First of all...I have accomplished more in the last 6 weeks than I ever have on the guitar. Second, I picked up a guitar the other day and had a hard time playing it. It just felt rediculousely huge and clumsy. I don't think I will ever go back to a full-sized guitar.
 
That is so cool! Where would you get one in the states (or are they only available in Canada)? I don't see them listed on the Yamaha web site. I had thoughts of buying their 1/2 size classical and tuning it ADGCEA, but this would be even cooler.
There were a couple of old threads about it and availability in the US is pretty much non existent. Although something similar, the D-VI 6 String is available through KoAloha however I don't think it's in the price range you're looking at. Daniel Ho plays plays a custom D-VI . . .

Daniel_DVI_017.jpg
 
Tuning for the GL-1

I have heard these on YouTube. They sound really nice. So, how do they tune the Yamaha GL-1? Does it come as EADGBE?

Anybody know why it's not available in the USA?

–Lori
 
That is so cool! Where would you get one in the states (or are they only available in Canada)? I don't see them listed on the Yamaha web site. I had thoughts of buying their 1/2 size classical and tuning it ADGCEA, but this would be even cooler.

I did that with a Yamaha 1/2 size CS-102 classical guitar and it sounds real good...in my opinion, better than the lower guitar tuning. When I upped the tuning, I used strings sold by Mele for their "guitarlele" that are slightly lighter in gage than the strings that originally came with the instrument...I think the Yamaha guitalele is a 1/4 size instrument...:)
 
I have a 1/4 size classical guitar, mine's a strunal (I picked that one because of the solid cedar top) I use regular classical strings and tune them up ADGCEA. Its really great for if you play guitar and you want to transpose songs you know over, I found it much easier to mentally switch things over to the guitalele, and then using the bottom 4 strings to figure out uke chords, then i go the uke to get the voicings right because sometimes they dont quite work. Works really good also for uke covers that you have where maybe theres this one part you had to bring up an octave and it doesnt sound quite right cause u didnt have the low strings, etc. etc.


Strunal ↓
 
You can get a Requinto a Mexican mini guitar tuned ADGCEA at reasonable cost, and they are available in solid wood whereas the Guitalele are laminate. Just another option since Guitaleles are foolishly not available to the American market.
 
There were a couple of old threads about it and availability in the US is pretty much non existent. Although something similar, the D-VI 6 String is available through KoAloha however I don't think it's in the price range you're looking at. Daniel Ho plays plays a custom D-VI . . .

Daniel_DVI_017.jpg

Thanks Kanaka. That's a beautiful instrument, but about 10 times what I wanted to pay. This is purely a novelty item for me, so I was looking at something in the $100-$150 range.

I did that with a Yamaha 1/2 size CS-102 classical guitar and it sounds real good...in my opinion, better than the lower guitar tuning. When I upped the tuning, I used strings sold by Mele for their "guitarlele" that are slightly lighter in gage than the strings that originally came with the instrument...I think the Yamaha guitalele is a 1/4 size instrument...:)

That's what I had in mind. They have one at my local GC for $120, but I haven't gone to check it out yet. Do you have to change out the strings? Is there any potential for damage tuning it 5 semitones higher?

You can get a Requinto a Mexican mini guitar tuned ADGCEA at reasonable cost, and they are available in solid wood whereas the Guitalele are laminate. Just another option since Guitaleles are foolishly not available to the American market.

If I'm not mistaken...GrumpyCoyote did a video with one of these (which is what got me started thinking about this in the first place)
 
Thanks Kanaka. That's a beautiful instrument, but about 10 times what I wanted to pay. This is purely a novelty item for me, so I was looking at something in the $100-$150 range.



That's what I had in mind. They have one at my local GC for $120, but I haven't gone to check it out yet. Do you have to change out the strings? Is there any potential for damage tuning it 5 semitones higher?



If I'm not mistaken...GrumpyCoyote did a video with one of these (which is what got me started thinking about this in the first place)

Don't tune it up to ADGCEA with the strings that come with it...That will place a lot of undue tension on the neck...Get a new set of strings and store the low E for other uses. Install the ADGBE strings and find another high A string and you're there...Or, you can just move each of the ADGBE strings that come witht the guitar over a notch and get another high A string and you're there...This setup will place about the same and maybe a little less tension on the neck than what it had with the EADGBE tuning...:D

Mele makes a nice "guitarlele" in the $700. range...I have one of these also and love it...Here is a link to a review I did on it:

http://www.youtube.com/user/WhenDogsSing#play/all/uploads-all/2/X7ApTpmelU4
 
Not meaning to hijack the thread...but I'm doing it anyway.:rolleyes:

I played guitar for years, then haven't touched it much in the last 5 years or so. Then I started to learn the ukulele about 6 weeks ago. First of all...I have accomplished more in the last 6 weeks than I ever have on the guitar. Second, I picked up a guitar the other day and had a hard time playing it. It just felt rediculousely huge and clumsy. I don't think I will ever go back to a full-sized guitar.

That happens when you don't play guitar frequently, but, I play uke and guitar both very frequently and jumping from one to the other is easy. The interesting thing is that I really prefer playing uke most of the time. It's just that some songs are really much more enjoyable on the uke, Even my original songs, I play some on guitar, some on uke, both when I gig.
 
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