A Small Body With a Lot to Say
Sometimes the right guitar just clicks — and the Yamaha FSX800C has a way of doing that pretty quickly. It's built around Yamaha's FS body, which is about 10mm slimmer than their full-sized FG, making it easier to wrap your arm around without sacrificing much in the volume department. Toss in a cutaway for upper-fret access, a solid Sitka spruce top, and a plug-in-ready electronics system, and you've got a guitar that's equally at home at an open mic or a Tuesday-night writing session in your living room.
The FSX800C descends directly from the well-regarded FS800, adding two things players often want: a cutaway for reaching the dusty end of the neck, and Yamaha's System66 pickup system so you can run a cable when the room calls for it. The result is a guitar that doesn't force you to choose between acoustic comfort and amplified versatility.
Yamaha describes this one as suited for intermediate to upper-level fingerpicking-style players — but don't let that narrow the scope. Whether you're strumming open chords, fingerpicking, or just looking for a smaller body that doesn't fight you, the FSX800C is worth your time.
Solid Top, Scalloped Bracing
The top is solid Sitka spruce — which matters more than it might seem at this price point. A solid top resonates differently than a laminate one: it's more responsive to how you play, opens up over time, and generally gives you more dynamic range when you vary your attack. Pair that with Yamaha's newly developed scalloped bracing pattern underneath, and the result is a top that's been engineered to move efficiently and project well even in the smaller FS body format.
The back and sides are nato, a wood in the same tonal ballpark as mahogany — warm in the mids, fairly even across the frequency range, and a solid match for a spruce top. Together, they give the FSX800C a voice that leans toward balanced and focused rather than boomy, which works well for fingerstyle and lighter strumming alike.
System66 Electronics — Ready When You Need It
When it's time to plug in, the FSX800C runs on Yamaha's System66 preamp with an undersaddle piezo pickup. The controls give you volume, a 3-band EQ (bass, mid, treble), a sweepable mid-frequency control for dialing in your tone, and a built-in chromatic tuner. That's a genuinely useful set of tools for live playing — the adjustable mid sweep in particular helps you shape around the room or cut feedback if things get loud.
The output is a standard 1/4" line out, so any cable and any amp or PA input will do the job. Players who've used the System66 in live settings generally find it honest and easy to work with — it doesn't color the tone dramatically, which is usually exactly what you want from an acoustic pickup.
The Feel of the Thing
The neck is nato with a matte finish — a practical touch that keeps your hand moving smoothly without the stickiness that can come with a high-gloss neck. The nut width is 43mm (about 1-11/16"), which sits comfortably between a narrow electric neck and a full classical width. Scale length is 25" (634mm), and the fingerboard radius is 400mm — that's a fairly flat radius that suits chord playing and single-note runs equally well.
The fingerboard on current production units is walnut. The body gets a gloss finish, and the tortoise-patterned pickguard, black body binding, and black-and-white soundhole inlay give it a traditional acoustic look that holds up well. Die-cast chrome tuners handle intonation duties on the headstock.
Product Features:
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Top: Solid Sitka spruce with scalloped bracing
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Back & Sides: Nato
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Body Shape: Concert with single cutaway
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Scale Length: 25" (634mm)
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Nut Width: 43mm (1-11/16")
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Neck: Nato with matte finish
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Fingerboard: Walnut, 400mm radius, 20 frets
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Electronics: Yamaha System66 preamp with undersaddle piezo pickup
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Controls: Volume, 3-band EQ, sweepable mid frequency, built-in chromatic tuner
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Tuners: Die-cast chrome
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Finish: Gloss body, matte neck
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Color: Natural
Brand: Yamaha
Model: FSX800C
SKU: FSX800C
Condition: New
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