new acoustic

[gibsonguy09]

im in desperate need of a new acoustic. i need a Acoustic Electric thts not a cut away. I hate the way cut away sounds. adn i woudl ike for it to be 450 and under

 

[kludge]

There are lots of good acoustics in that price range. What sort of style is it for? Fingerstyle, strumming, country or rock? Will it only be played onstage, or will it be a recording/daily guitar too? And if you're playing it live, keep in mind you'll want a hard case for it too - probably $50-100.

Acoustic-electric behavior is different from pure acoustic behavior. For example, Ovation guitars sound great onstage, but sound like wet farts unamplified. The stock (usually Fishman) electronics in budget acoustic-electrics often leave much to be desired. You might be better off buying a guitar without electronics and using an inexpensive soundhole magnetic pickup, or buying a nice B-Band or ABF (Anything But Fishman!) pickup and having a shop install it for you.

Also, what do you want it to look like? In that price range, there's a lot of tradeoffs of shiny/fancy appearance versus simple trim (supposedly putting the money into sound instead).

For the best ACOUSTIC sound in that price range, I'd get a low-end Blueridge like a BR-43, and then use a magnetic pickup. You could get in under $450 with a hard case that way. But the Blueridge appearance is... well, a matter of taste. They sound excellent though. Seagull (and other LaSiDo brands) sound really good in that price range too, although again looks are not typical.

Don't put too much concern into solid tops. That matters more as the guitar ages, and laminate tops can actually be really good live (where you want LESS detail, not more).

Oh, and yet another option for pure stage use is Graph-Tech saddle pickups for electric guitars. They sound REAL good, and you can get them installed cheaper than buying a decent acoustic. You won't have to bring an extra guitar then, either.

Anyway, tell us more about the context you'll be using this guitar in and I'll have some more ideas.

 

[dtb]

I second the Blueridge guitars.......especially in this price range.......I'm thinking of getting one, and put an undersaddle thingy on it.

 

[Thatupstateguy]

I recently ran across a brand that amazes me for the money,......

Walden guitars,......


less than $400 with Fishman electronics,....and they sound great..... and play like a much more expensive guitar......



Try one if you can find one,.... or go to .....


www.parkwaymusic.com

They are a distributer...... and do quite a bit of shipping.....


Steve

 

[guitar junkie]

the way i see it is that you can find something that looks cool or sounds cool, sometimes you can do both! myself i would look around for a high end used acoustic with no pickup and throw in something pretty nice to sort of build on the guitar a bit, while you will not gain any money on the value of the guitar you will make it some working tool that you did not pay the going rate for new... i like the sound of the Blue Ridge guitars myself and we stock them at work sometimes now, its pretty good for the money, another option is the new line of guitars Parkwood made by Cort and sold only in Guitar Center they are pretty sweet for the buck and all solid wood too... i think they start at $299 or something... another choice is Seagull and i really like the sound of them and the feel is not bad but i think they are ugly guitars.... Breedlove has some cheeper models now i think as well that are not bad and of course to keep apl happy!

Carvin seems to do a great job making acoustic guitars, i have been shocked at how nice the last two i have seen are built... but i think they might be a little out of budget, not sure any more...

good luck and have fun with this if you can and tell us all what you got in the end ok?

 

[andycerrone]

Personally, in the price range I'd suggest a Takamine. I've always been impressed with their low end guitars, but not so much the high end. It's like the price goes up but the quality doesn't. Also, I'm a HUGE fan of Bill Lawrence acoustic pickups. I have one and it makes my Taylor sound completely amazing.

 

[gibsonguy09]

Personally, in the price range I'd suggest a Takamine. I've always been impressed with their low end guitars, but not so much the high end. It's like the price goes up but the quality doesn't. Also, I'm a HUGE fan of Bill Lawrence acoustic pickups. I have one and it makes my Taylor sound completely amazing.

find me a taylor for my price range and we got a deal. but i don't really care about looks i prefer a satin finish ( i think that is what they call it) once again i hate cut aways!! the soudn just gubs me, it isn't "full" enough. i might have to look in to blueridge, might be hard to find one to actually play. i have to play a guitar for 30 minutes atleast before i get it. what about a washburn wd45ds i think that is what it is called, im remembereing it off the top of my head

 

[andycerrone]

Yeah, I've only played a few select Washburns, and I wasn't very impressed. Once again, for the price I really don't think you can beat a Takamine. In my opinion, buy an acoustic, and later try out some pickups and see what gives you the "sound" you're looking for. A lot of times you'll like one but not the other with guitars that have them built in, and a lot of times because a big block of electronics in the body ti will have the same effect to the sound of the guitar like a cutaway does. That's my $.02

 

[Treeline]

Nice bang for the buck is a Seagull, built in canada by Godin.

 

[andycerrone]

I second the Seagull, I've played a friends before and for the price it was incredible. I kind of forgot they existed though.

Good guitars though.

Good call Treeline!

 

[G-String]

You can get A Taylor 110 for around $450.00. Excellent guitar for the price. I have one and I love it. No electronics though, I mike mine. For $75.00 to $100.00 more, I think, you can get the next one up, which is the 110E (I think, someone correct me if I'm wrong), but it has electronics. These guitars
have Sitka Spruce tops, but the back and sides are Sapele Laminate, so they don't really get better with age, but they sound really good nonetheless.
Get this, they have Ebony fretboards and bridge, A really nice touch on A lower end acoustic. They have the Martins beat for the price range. Oh, and
Mahogany neck.

 

[LI_Slim]

I like Seagulls, but I would also check out a Martin DX1.

 

[Redline]

So you can hear the cut away? I have not been able to distinguish a characteristic 'cutaway' sound.

 

[tourettes5139]

My guess is that he just had a problem with a guitar that just happened to be a cutaway, and then generalized it to all cutaways. Not that he is completely wrong, but I just think that other aspects of a guitar can make a larger difference on the sound than the presence or lack of a cutaway.

 

[LI_Slim]

theoretically, the fact that the cutaway reduces the volume and/or shape of the cavity reduces and/or changes the resonance. from what i can hear, if it's a good guitar it's very difficult to tell the difference; the natural differences between guitars of the exact same model are probably greater than the difference attributable to the cutaway.

 

[kludge]

According to two different luthiers I've talked to, a typical cutaway has no audible effect on acoustic guitars. They both make the same bodies with and without cutaways, and it's just an aesthetic issue for them. Bracing, soundhole size, top thickness, wood choice, and strings all have FAR more impact on the sound of the guitar. So if you played a guitar that sounded like crap, odds are it wasn't the cutaway that caused the bad sound.

 

[gibsonguy09]

My guess is that he just had a problem with a guitar that just happened to be a cutaway, and then generalized it to all cutaways. Not that he is completely wrong, but I just think that other aspects of a guitar can make a larger difference on the sound than the presence or lack of a cutaway.

Thats wat happened, i like my friends taylor (not cutaway adn was 800) better thna his dads (cutaway adn 3000) so i generalized.. my bad i found a weird fender that i never seen befreo and im tkagin a likign to blueridge so i don't know