fantastic cheap ass acoustic

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jimistone

jimistone

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I had been shopping for an acoustic guitar for the past few weeks. I didn't want to spend more than $300 and i wanted an internal pickup and a hard shell case. Thats tough.

(the more i shopped the more i tried to convince myself that a hardshell case wasn't absolutly necessary.)

All the cheap acoustics i played sounded...well...cheap. I would find one that i thought sounded pretty good and play it for a while...then, grab a nice taylor off the wall and compare the tone and realize how chezzy the cheap acoustic sounded. Then i tried a Briarwood acoustic (they are a Peavey line of acoustics) and i was floored. It has deep rich tone like a much more expensive guitar. Has a one piece ceder top and rosewood sides and bottom. It sounded as good or better than most of the taylor spruce tops I compared it to (the store stocked about 20 taylors). The only taylor that sounded better than the brairwood was a ceder top w/rosewood body one (and the rosewood was the rare kind....that taylor was priced at close to 4 grand). The Briarwood acoustic didn't play as good as the taylors but didn't play bad by any stretch of the imagination and stays in tune after heavy playing. On top of that it is a very pretty guitar (has a flat "no gloss" natural finish and an internal pickup (no ugly volume and tone sliders....the cord plugs into the strap holder).

The guitar cost me $250 bucks.

I walked out the door with that acoustic and a hard shell case for $300 and a smile on my face.

just wanted to pass that along to anyone in the market for a reasonably priced acoustic that delivers great tone.
 
i have played 4 or 5 different brairwood guitars and the painted ones don't sound as good as the ceder top/rosewood body ones..they all sound good, but the ceder top ones especially so.

the painted ones have mother of pearl inlays, abalone neck and sound hole binding. It really looks nice (especially in black)
The ceder top ones have white binding, but they sound better.

i don't see how they can do a one piece ceder top and rosewood body for $250 (and be acoustic /electric to boot)

i compared the sound to some high end stuff and it held its own.
 
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i certainly can't speak for differences in perception, but if it's half as good as you say, i will likely be rather impressed. that said, all of the taylors i've played have been spruce-topped, and sounded way too thin. cedar tends to sound warmer right off the bat, and "open up" less. 250 bucks for a solid cedar top and electronics would be the cheapest i've seen. nice score!
 
Sounds pretty nice. Carvin has a group of acoustics that are in a similar price range that are spooking people too. But I tried a Larrivee that other day that was really distracting. Seems these days it's kind of hard to lose...:cool:
 
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