Yamaha GL1 Guitalele, Natural, Baritone

I've been playing this little gem for a week now as a replacement for my full size acoustic that is in dire need of a neck reset. It sits next to my office chair where I can pick it up and play any time. So far it has done a pretty good job of staying in tune with only the usual nylon string settling in. Tone is interesting with a neat, plucky sound and, being tuned to A, it shares the same finger positions on the 4 treble strings as a ukulele. In fact, it is a good sounding baritone ukulele but could be a little bit challenging for some due to closer string spacing compared to a uke. Action is fine and I am in no hurry to change the setup. factory strings seem OK and i will play on them until they wear out. Yamaha states that low or standard tension classical strings can be used and Savarez, D'Addario and DR are recommended brands. No need for special guilele strings. The finish is very satin and may not be pleasing for those that enjoy glossy guitars though i think it's OK and seems tough enough. My GL1 came with a small blemish in the wood on the back which is an imperfection in the wood itself and not the finish. I would take 1/2 a star for the blemish but quality control is overall pretty good and the fret ends aren't noticeably sharp. I would not recommend this instrument for beginners due to the short fret spacing and slightly more difficult fingering for some chords. A 1/2 or 3/4 scale classical or steel string guitar will be a better choice for learning the fundamentals and will have more volume for performances later on when the player gains confidence. Who is this instrument for? number one, it's for me. I have been playing guitar for decades and have a soft spot for small bodied instruments and recently started playing my wife's ukulele due to my guitar being down for the count. Ukulele players might enjoy this instrument as a way to cross over to six string though the string spacing will take some getting used to. Guitar players who want a sturdy travel guitar will be well served by this instrument but will have to make peace with transposing everything up a fourth. Some players have used high tension strings to allow for standard guitar tuning. I'm not sure I will do so as I like the sound as it is and also play ukulele music. Overall I think the Yamaha GL-1 is a reasonable value for the money and I'm very happy with it so far.

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!! 2/28/2025 update: Just wanted to say my estimation of this instrument has gone up if anything. I am taking super good care of it. It us holding up great. I had one of the wound strings start to unravel early and replaced it. Zero problems. After break in it holds tune as good or better than my other string instruments. That alone is saying a lot. The climate here in the Puna District on the big island plays he'll with stringed instruments. Most go sharp sitting overnight, and flat sitting during the day. This little guy is built very well. I wish it had come with an active pickup with tuned and equalizer, but it's still a keeper!

This little thing is one of my dearest possessions!! I've played guitar as a hobby off and on for about 18 years and have a couple of full-sized acoustics. About a year ago I started researching smaller instruments because I wanted something easy to travel with. I looked into 1/4 size student guitars and I looked into the Little Martin and its Taylor equivalent. While the Little Martin has great reviews and a great sound, it costs 3-4 times more than this little guy does. It's definitely worth that price, but I didn't have that kind of money to spend. For about $100, the Yamaha Guitalele is excellent. It has a beautiful sound and it's very easy to pick up and take it with you on trips! (To keep it safer for long trips I bought a hard shell tenor uke case which works really well for it. I also bought one of those little Snark clip-on tuners and have been very satisfied with that as well.) Two things which take some adjusting to if you are used to playing a full-size guitar: 1) The strings are a lot closer together and your fingers may feel fat and clumsy at first. I got used to this pretty fast though. 2) The guitalele is tuned to A instead of the standard E tuning of a full-sized guitar. Basically this means anything you play on the guitalele is like playing your reg. guitar with a capo on the 5th fret. So when you play a C-shape chord on this guy, you are actually playing a G chord. I was used to playing a lot of songs on my regular guitar and had to figure out how to translate them to continue playing them in the same key. (It's possible to lower the tuning to E if you want, but the strings have a slack, kind of rubbery sound and they don't stay in tune as long.) I'd recommend checking out the YouTube video reviews for this instrument before you buy it if you have any more questions. You can hear what it sounds like and get some expert input! It really is great. I love mine to the moon and back and have had a blast playing it!

This guitalele has opened up a bit since I got it. I started playing ukulele 2 years ago, and started learning guitar almost a year ago. After having Amazon cancel an order I placed on an acoustic guitar from the Amazon Warehouse. (Grr! Btw on that! I feel really cheated considering the same guitar turned up with a seller who refabs and resells damaged instruments, and I was extremely excited about it, until I got the message "they couldn't find it," last minute on delivery day!!! 😠 That's so wrong imo.) I chose this guitalele in it's stead however. It has issues with frets not being cut long enough in spots but nothing that makes it unplayable. It's cosmetic for the most part. There's a few other purely cosmetic issues. Mine has a couple spots the factory missed applying the wood filler to, on the body to make it smooth. Theres a small spot on the bottom of the neck where the wood chipped before assembly and it wasn't filled with filler or even glue to fill the gap. It's a mass produced instrument at an affordable price. I was expecting small imperfections. The sloppy fret cutting job is the only kind-of annoying one to me. The one I have is actually a replacement for one I exchanged which had a mfg. defect which made it unplayable. The first one wasn't inspected properly and shouldn't have left the factory in the dangerous condition it was in. Amazon took care of me immediately and the exchange was smooth and painless. Hopefully yamaha corrects the quality control issues in their factory. For my own play style I had the nut filed down so my hand could glide over the nut. The stock nut height stopped my hand down there like a brick wall, and having the nut done cost as much as the guitalele. This probably won't bother most people. I'm just throwing it out there, that the nut sticks up above the string height, and if you like to slide in or out by the nut, it might be something to consider for someone. The piece of wood that was used on the back of the one I received is unexpectedly pretty. I got lucky. The top has nice strait grain. The neck is ugly. It's constructed in a few pieces and mine doesn't remotely match. One side appears to have had a patch of tear out or something, and Yamaha filled it really nicely with filler, but the filler is darker than the neck wood and adds to the kind of sloppy franken-neck look. Again, not a deal breaker. I can't feel a difference, and they have to keep costs down. When I got it, it sounded a little "stuffy." After playing it daily since I got it, the wood seems to have opened up a bit on all tones except the low A, which still sounds the same. If it does open up, this instrument is pretty impressive sounding for the money in my opinion. Someone said in another review the thing is built like a tank. I agree. It's not a delicate feeling instrument. It seems pretty well constructed until the fret wire though. Overall it's been fun to play. It's the perfect size. I left sheerness blank in the star rating. Not sure how that applies to a guitalele or any stringed instrument? Thickness doesn't really apply either, but I rated it 4 because the wood is thick. I might update this review in the future if anything changes, but I'd probably get another one if something happens to mine.

Mahalo used to make a similar product for less than half the price, so this guy seems a little overpriced to me – but since the Mahalo seems to be discontinued, there's no real competitor, and this hardly breaks the bank. It has entirely acceptable playability, sound, intontation, etc. I especially like to play it like a mandolin, flat-picking single lines, but of course it can play full-chord accompaniments, sounding just like a ukulele but lower. Travels fine, though one thing to note about the classic camp-singalong use is that the nylon strings are suuuuuper sensitive to temperature changes, so it's a bit frustrating playing it outdoors in chilly air next to a hot campfire – you might need to invest in a steel-string alternative if you can't abide that. You *can* tune it to standard guitar tuning (E2, A2, D3, ...), which is useful if you want to use it for, say, composing on the go and not get confused about which key you're in – but down there the strings sound like garbage and don't stay in tune. The recommended tuning is up a 4th, which I find a bit high, since you can't even play G2 (de facto a lot of things you play on guitars tend to be in keys like G, D, C ...). One solution is to use the recommended tuning but with "drop G" (lowest string = G2), which sounds fine. But you also can just tune the whole thing a major 3rd higher than a guitar (major 2nd lower than the recommended tuning), rather than a 4th (so: G2, C3, F3 ....) which IMHO sounds just as good and stays in tune just as well. (I just personally keep getting confused by the mental arithmetic that requires – what you expect to be a G major chord is actually Bb major ... etc.)

This little guy is so much fun! I love playing the ukulele, but sometimes it can be a little frustrating. With only four strings, uke chords often end up in awkward inversions, having a chord tone other than the tonic as the lowest note. By adding two strings to the bass side, you can always have the inversion you want. For uke players the chords will be a little more complex with two additional strings to deal with. Also, in strumming the "uke sound" you'll need to get the hang of not hitting the bottom two strings. But it's all worth the effort and makes for a more "musically complete" sound. For uke players aspiring to play guitar, this is a great bridge. I think guitarists will find it fun as well. The chords are all familiar but will sound a fourth up. Guitarists who are familiar with using a capo won't have any problem with this. Videos online show how to restring the instrument so it can play down in guitar range, but I think it's more fun as a "super uke!" I like the sunburst style and mahogany back and sides. It has a nice, warm uke-y tone. I'm glad I got it!

I've been playing, and writing music since 1984. I play a myriad of instruments and currently, I write and record commercially licensed music under BMI, Inc. My Wife bought this instrument for me for a holiday gift, but I wanted to check it out before it gets wrapped.. just in case of damage. I am glad that I did. I also know how to setup and do maintenance on both electronic and acoustic instruments. The good things about this instrument: This instrument sounds really good, as it seems to be structurally sound. I do not see any cracks in the body or missing glue around the neck joint. The strings are nice wrapped around to tuning pags. The open faced tuners and gears seem to be of a higher quality than others that I have seen. The bad things about this instrument: The bridge saddle is WAY too high. I have no issues in regards to setting up a bridge saddle, but I expected Yamaha to be a "bit more" on the quality control side of things and at least have the saddle to a more "normal" height. The fretboard and body of this instrument was "very" dry. I used some Music Nomad f-one oil on the fretboard and some of the body as it needed it "badly". The thing that was VERY surprising to me, is there were run-offs / rough spots in the back and sides of the instrument. For a more inexpensive instrument from a no-name company.. I could see that. .but for the price and the Yamaha name.. again.. VERY SURPRISING. I'm also having some issues in regards to getting a partial from Amazon for some reason, but I have amplified that further up the chain on the Amazon side. Other things to think about: I was able to tune this to a standard guitar tuning, that is very possible. The neck is "wide" just like a classical guitar. A lot of people think this is a hybrid instrument of an acoustic guitar and a baritone ukulele. It's really a cross between an Classical Guitar and a baritone ukulele. Conclusion: I am sure that I will have a really awesome time opening this on Christmas day and setting up the saddle on the bridge. And I can probably buff out the rough spots in the finish.. but buying this really changed my mind in regards to Yamaha quality control. UPDATE: I was able to take off a lot of material from the saddle, and lowered the strings, so the playability is better, but I still am a bit suprised in regards to the rough spots in the finish. The instrument should be priced in the $50.00 USD mark. Other than that, it does make a nice portable instrument in regards to classical guitar or baritone ukulele. - Tom

I love this thing. I tied a strap to it with some shoe strings, I slap it on my back, get on my bike. I take it with me when I go hiking, to school, to the beach, or anywhere really. The tuning on it is ADGCEA which would be equal to as if you had a capo on a regular guitar's 5th fret, which means that you can play the same chord shapes as a regular guitar, the notes will just be higher. As far as quality goes, I'm pretty happy with it. Some people said the strings that they got were no good, but I've had mine for about 3 months now and I have no complaints. The strings are very sensitive though. They bend very easily, so sometimes the chords played sound good and other times they might sound a little off. I see as a very delicate instrument.. when I press down my fingers for chords I press them straight down and make sure I'm not bending them. A;so, because they bend easily, it can go out of tune pretty easily too. I tune mine often, to make sure they are good to go. I have always tuned my normal guitars by ear, however I find that it is harder to do with the guitarlele, so I use a tuner usually. Visually I have no complaints, the wood and finish are nice, the neck has good action and feel, although a small part of me wishes that they had some artwork around the soundhole. As for sound quality, I love it.. the higher strings/notes do stand out more in a way, and definitely have the ukulele sound, but if you play gently enough it creates a nice balance. The resonance is beautiful. It has a very warm, mellow sound. It's pretty loud for it's size too. And it is so versatile, you can play Spanish style chords like Em and Am which sounds awesome (Onda Vaga uses a uke, perfect example, youtube them), .. you can emulate a mandolin to an extent.. I'm not saying it sounds exactly like a mandolin since it obviously can't replicate the resonant-sound of the double layered strings, but it does have the high notes from the strings that at least sound somewhat similar to a mandolin, if you want to cover a song with one. Or you can just play regular songs, normal chord shapes, even powerchords sound good. It's just like guitar. Just tuned to much higher notes. If you know music theory, you can do a lot with this little guitar. I even have used a capo on mine and it sounds good, although when I put it too high up the fret spaces are so small it's hard to make the chord shapes ;-) Before I saw the guitarlele I was looking at rogue instruments because they sell cheap mandolins and ukuleles. I checked out reviews of their instruments on youtube and they had some mixed reviews.. they didn't seem like very good quality. I saw someone mention the guitarlele on the comments, and when I looked it up I knew it was the 'travel' instrument I wanted. 100 bucks, for a completely unique Yamaha brand instrument? You can't go wrong. Yamaha aren't the super-high end guitars, but my bigger acoustic is a yamaha and I don't have any complaints about that one either (a friend gave it to me to replace my epiphone acoustic which I need to get a new saddle for). I hope this review was helpful. If you get one, enjoy it. I know I enjoy mine. I've even started buying other travel instruments like a melodica and a Buffalo Drum.. so yeah. Enjoy!!

Jag är väldigt nöjd!

Bought this guitalele and my expectations were justified. It very comfortable small guitar for travel and training for me. Sound very good: include all frets and play chords. My variant has few scratches but for me it is not a problem and I think in common quality is good. Also it has good price. When I use it tune it to E (recommended A) and it’s sound good, string tension also normal with it.

Excelente producto, lo recomiendo, buen sonido y cómodo.

At this price level I had low expectations, but having respect for the Yamaha brand I took a chance and ordered the guitar, half expecting to send it back it it proved a disappointment. It didn’t disappoint at all. As an experienced player of various full size acoustic guitars I must admit this little guitar is surprisingly well made and pleasant to play for such an economy price. TBH I didn’t buy it for myself, it was supposed to be an alternative instrument for my Ukelele playing partner to progress to. She didn’t like it, because two extra strings aid a step to far for her. Ah we’ll never mind I tried. Also I hope to use it to teach guitar to my 8 year old grandchild but haven’t introduced it to him yet. The body size is ideal for him, and the classical type nylon strings should be easier for him. However the neck width is about the same as a full size guitar and flat rather than radiused, which is not ideal for small hands. Also due to the necessarily short neck the tuning cannot be standard EADGBE like a full size so that’s an obstacle to learning the fretboard for later progression to a full size guitar when he’s older.

La verdad es que había leído mucho de este producto antes de comprarlo y, una vez lo he recibido, me ha sorprendido gratamente. Las calidades de la madera son muy muy buenas, la acción de las cuerdas es correcta y el sonido acorde a la dimensión de la caja del instrumento. Llevo años tocando la guitarra y quería ésta para estar en casa tranquilo en el sofá. La afinación en La no es un problema. La puedes afinar con un afinador de click en modo cromático. Mantiene la afinación muy bien desde el principio y las cuerdas venían nuevas, para nada oxidadas y no se estropean con los trastes como decían algunos. La funda es mucho mejor de lo que yo esperaba con un ligero grosor y un asa. El problema que dice la gente de que la afinación es diferente no es ningún problema. Puedes tocar las mismas canciones pero suenan un poco más agudas, pero ningún problema. Antes de comprar el guitalele prueba con tu guitarra con una cejilla en el quinto traste y así te haces una idea de cómo suena el guitalele. Así que muy muy satisfecho con la compra.