Yamaha FINALLY bringing the Guitalele to the US

ChiyoDad

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I was down at NAMM and briefly talked to the Yamaha reps. The GL-1 Guitalele is finally coming to US retailers. Not clear exactly when but it will be early 2011. The rep I spoke to didn't know what the street price would be.

That explains why the Canadian retailers had been discouraged from selling them to us across the border.
 
I hope they make the Mickey Mouse one that was produced overseas. If so, I seriously might have to get one!
 
This is good news - a guitalele for around $100 would be awesome! Yamaha makes good products that are priced well. I just hope they start making ukuleles once again.
 
The rep I spoke to didn't know what the street price would be.

Not sure how accurate but my boss (who just got back from NAMM) was told $99. He's already trying to decide how many to get for the store. I told him to add one to the number as I'll definitely want one as well!
 
Ukes have satisfied my desire for small and portable, so now I'm not so sure I really even want a guitalele.
Sure you do. Just think of all the 6-course lute pieces you can now play. :)
 
That's great news! :)

What's ironic is I really wanted a guitalele and then I won a uke in a drawing. Ukes have satisfied my desire for small and portable, so now I'm not so sure I really even want a guitalele.

That's funny - I am in somewhat the same boat as you. The guitalele actually led me to the uke, because before I got a uke, I wanted a guitalele. I considered getting one from Canada, but before I did, I ended up buying a Kala tenor in a local store. Little did I know where that was going to lead. I already had an old classical guitar, but had never bothered to replace the broken strings. The full size guitar is just too big to feel comfortable with. About 6 months after buying the uke, I bought a cedar top acoustic guitar to use for accompanying the uke. I believe if the guitarlele was available locally when I bought the guitar, I might have ended up with one. The guitalele is still a really cool little guitar though, so who knows?
 
Sure you do. Just think of all the 6-course lute pieces you can now play. :)
I do have two full-sized handmade classical guitars. ;)

That's funny - I am in somewhat the same boat as you. The guitalele actually led me to the uke, because before I got a uke, I wanted a guitalele. I considered getting one from Canada, but before I did, I ended up buying a Kala tenor in a local store. Little did I know where that was going to lead. I already had an old classical guitar, but had never bothered to replace the broken strings. The full size guitar is just too big to feel comfortable with. About 6 months after buying the uke, I bought a cedar top acoustic guitar to use for accompanying the uke. I believe if the guitarlele was available locally when I bought the guitar, I might have ended up with one. The guitalele is still a really cool little guitar though, so who knows?
I'm with you here. I might still eventually get one, but I do have the aforementioned "real" CGs and ukes to satisfy me for other purposes.
 
I do have two full-sized handmade classical guitars. ;)

Ah, but they sound like classical guitars with their resonance and sustain! :D

It looks like Yamaha is just bringing the basic GL1. If I get one of these, I'll probably want to install a pickup and amp.





 
I don't know if its available in the US or outside Europe, but there is an alternative (and a cheaper one) to the Yamaha Guitarlele, which come from none other than Mahalo.
I looked, played, and compared the Yamaha Guitarlele with the Mahalo Ukulele-Guitar before buying, and to be honest, the Mahalo sounded and played better, and felt more balanced to hold. To me, the body shape was more uke, and the neck felt less chunky and awkward than the Yamaha.

It comes in either steel strung

http://www.dangleberrymusic.co.uk/p-71-mahalo-black-childrens-acoustic-guitar-12-size-ukulele-guitar-steel-string-travel-guitar.aspx

or Nylon

http://www.dangleberrymusic.co.uk/p-101-mahalo-black-childrens-acoustic-ukulele-guitar-12-size-acoustic-guitar-nylon-string.aspx

and in loads of colours. The price here in the UK seems to be between £25 - £40 depending on whether its steel or nylon, and what colour it is.

On getting mine, I ditched the cheapo strings it came with, and changed for a set of Ultra High Tension D'Addario J44 nylon strings, and tuned it EADGBE, but you could just as easily put low tension strings on and tune it up 5 (to A-D-G-C-E-A) to retain the Uke like sound and chords.
 
Aloha,
I'm so bummed. I just so ordered my Yamaha guitalele from the Rock Shop in Germany 2 weeks ago. Probably no fault of theirs, but I haven't heard anything regarding where my guitalele is in 8 days. As far as I can tell it's in Frankfurt, stuck in customs. I'm not complaining - it's just the way it goes with International shipping these days. Not sure when to expect it....:(
Had I known I could buy one from a dealer in the U.S. I would've waited, for sure.... *** sigh***
Jill
San Diego
 
I don't know if its available in the US or outside Europe, but there is an alternative (and a cheaper one) to the Yamaha Guitarlele, which come from none other than Mahalo.
I looked, played, and compared the Yamaha Guitarlele with the Mahalo Ukulele-Guitar before buying, and to be honest, the Mahalo sounded and played better, and felt more balanced to hold. To me, the body shape was more uke, and the neck felt less chunky and awkward than the Yamaha.

It comes in either steel strung

http://www.dangleberrymusic.co.uk/p-71-mahalo-black-childrens-acoustic-guitar-12-size-ukulele-guitar-steel-string-travel-guitar.aspx

or Nylon

http://www.dangleberrymusic.co.uk/p-101-mahalo-black-childrens-acoustic-ukulele-guitar-12-size-acoustic-guitar-nylon-string.aspx

and in loads of colours. The price here in the UK seems to be between £25 - £40 depending on whether its steel or nylon, and what colour it is.

On getting mine, I ditched the cheapo strings it came with, and changed for a set of Ultra High Tension D'Addario J44 nylon strings, and tuned it EADGBE, but you could just as easily put low tension strings on and tune it up 5 (to A-D-G-C-E-A) to retain the Uke like sound and chords.

I agree! I've managed to play Yamaha's Guitalele, a friend of mine bought it in Taiwan. Played it, and didn't like the sound of it. I tuned it to ADGCEA, tough in the tune of C but you need to play in G (in guitar fingering). Overall it didn't really please me, but is really something you could show to the crowd! :)
 
That's good news that they're bringing it over here. Now people don't have to give in to the price gougers. It always bewildered me why they didn't bring it over when there was pretty strong niche demand for it.
 
OK Folks, it looks like the Yamaha GL-1 Guitalele is here in the US...NOW.
I just saw a couple US listings on ebay for $99-$130 shipped.
 
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yeah someone had posted on underground the mahalo sounded better but the mahalo has 19 inch string length vs. the guitalele 17" tenor length plus the reviews for the mahalo on amazon were not so good. Sounds like yamaha setup is better etc.
 
What is the difference between a guitalele and a half size classical guitar?
 
What is the difference between a guitalele and a half size classical guitar?

The Yamaha 1/2 size guitar is 21" scale and standard guitar or a but higher tuning, while the guitalele is 17" (tenor) scale and ADGCEA tuning.
 
yeah someone had posted on underground the mahalo sounded better but the mahalo has 19 inch string length vs. the guitalele 17" tenor length plus the reviews for the mahalo on amazon were not so good. Sounds like yamaha setup is better etc.

I bought the yamaha guitarlele and it certainly is attractive and well made, and a delight to play. The fingerboard doesnt feel too crowded with the 6 strings
 
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