The Dirt Cheap Acoustic Quest

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Richard Monroe

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OK- I have a clever plan, and it seems to be working. If you are an old folkie, or country, blues, whatever- You know you have to have a cheap beater that you can haul up to the top of the mountain and play by the campfire. I work for a living, and I like being married, which means the Taylor is not going up said mountain. For years, my antisocial psycho brother has been abousing, neglecting, and trying to kill, a circa-1970's Yamaha classical that absolurely rocks. Chris Woitach, the best guitar god I know, picked up my Taylor 710CE (and it's one of the good ones) and said, "This will be acceptable." In 1980 he played this Yamaha and said, "This is a pretty good guitar-I'd hang on to this if I was you." You get the idea.

Fortunately, my bro has always had a hankering for my old Epiphone, which is my beater. It's a Japanese made PR-something-or-other, clunky neck, a stable crack in the spruce top. No buzzes, good tone. I bought it new in 1982 for about $300. Normally, I wouldn't take advantage even of my looney brother's ignorance, but please note that this Yamaha is leaning in a corner, no case, and probably hasn't been played since I played it 2 years ago. I'm just trying to save this guitar from him. I can't believe the top hasn't sunk yet. Gentle hydration will be required.

But- this means I needed a cheap acoustic to replace the Epiphone. I was spooking around Guitar Center on July 4, 2 days after my birthday, and I found a Mitchell MD-100 marked down to $85.00 new!!! My first assumption was- Now here's a guitar that sucked the day it was made, *and* it's defective, damaged, or both. So I picked it up and...Holy shit, yeah, it has the tinny sound of a laminated top (cedar, I think with Rosewood sides and back), but- very good intonation, excellent action, no buzzes. Compensated saddle, purfling, sealed tuners (probably 12:1). I swear I went over this cheap axe from stem to stern, and could't find a scratch, a ding, a crack, a loose brace, nada. It least it doesn't have the clunky neck of that old Jap Epiphone. What the hell, my new expendable acoustic. In 2 weeks, I get my grubby little hands on that Yammy. Just sharing-Richie
 
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Yeah, things have changed a lot since the days of my first guitar (a Kay) and Chicago Musical Instruments built everything.......and did it poorly.

I'm doing some group teaching these days on folk instruments and down the line it looks like I'll need some guitars, banjos and mandolins that are player friendly but cheap. I'd heard good things about an Epi AJ-1, so I ordered one from MF but they've ended up being so back ordered it won't arrive till my two week summer camp that starts Monday is over. At $79 it's worth a hard look...even if I have to do a little setup on it.
 
"But- this means I needed a cheap acoustic to replace the Epiphone. I was spooking around Guitar Center on July 4, 2 days after my birthday, and I found a Mitchell MD-100 marked down to $85.00 new!!!"

Yo Ritchie, I walked out of GC with a Mitchell MD-100S (solid top) for $120 out-the-door last year at this time. It killed everything under $200 in the store. I bought it for a beginning guit player but almost kept it for myself!:D

I think these are made for GC by Samick. Amazing fit and finish, tone, and playability for a cheapo guit.
 
I've played a $100 Fender classical that was surprisingly good. And also a $120 Yamaha 12 string. Their 6 strings sounded like crap but the 12 string sounded real good.

Those are the only 2 guitars < $150 that I've played and liked regardless of price.

In the next range up ($250-$300), Art & Luthrie make good guitars. And Sigma also makes good ones. Probably the best budget brand I've tried.
 
I lied. The top is spruce, the sides and back mahogany.-Richie
 
Richard Monroe said:
OK- I have a clever plan, and it seems to be working. If you are an old folkie, or country, blues, whatever- You know you have to have a cheap beater that you can haul up to the top of the mountain and play by the campfire. I work for a living, and I like being married, which means the Taylor is not going up said mountain. For years, my antisocial psycho brother has been abousing, neglecting, and trying to kill, a circa-1970's Yamaha classical that absolurely rocks. Chris Woitach, the best guitar god I know, picked up my Taylor 710CE (and it's one of the good ones) and said, "This will be acceptable." In 1980 he played this Yamaha and said, "This is a pretty good guitar-I'd hang on to this if I was you." You get the idea.
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I have a 1969(roughly) Yamaha FG-150. Total beater but plays and sounds good.
 

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I have a 77 Yamaha FG335 that's on par with any old Martin that costs $thousands$ of dollars.

Plays like a dream and has the sweetest, smoothest tone you ever heard.

You can still find old Yammies pretty cheap on Ebay and Craigslist.

It's the best affordable acoustic guitar out there. :)
 
i have a crappy built yamaha f130 that sounds pretty good. i used to see these floating around ebay for $99. buck, i've played a fg-335 that sounded pretty sweet. i tried to buy it but the guy wouldn't let go of it. he didn't even play! ez, i found one of those fg-150s in a pawn shop last year but it was coming apart. it still sounded good and i almost bought it any way.
 
my bad. the 150 was a 110.

my theory on those old yamahas is that the finish is a big part of the sound. all the good sounding ones have that thin butterscotch looking finish.
 
I am a big fan of Yamaha acoustics. I bought the FM-450s I believe the model is. It was almost 4 bills new, but worth every penny. It has sycamore back and sides, spruce top, fancy tuners and plays like butter. I recently slapped some Martin "Clapton's Choice" strings on there and it's better than ever!!
 
philboyd studge said:
Yeah, things have changed a lot since the days of my first guitar (a Kay) and Chicago Musical Instruments built everything.......and did it poorly.

I'm doing some group teaching these days on folk instruments and down the line it looks like I'll need some guitars, banjos and mandolins that are player friendly but cheap. I'd heard good things about an Epi AJ-1, so I ordered one from MF but they've ended up being so back ordered it won't arrive till my two week summer camp that starts Monday is over. At $79 it's worth a hard look...even if I have to do a little setup on it.
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Screw MF, that thing is so backordered I'll never see it, so I made a change in plans. Since new players young and old have a hard time fretting acoustic guitars as they learn I went with a 3/4 sized guitar by friend with a local store just got in from his distributor. It's a Chinese reverse engineered all mahogany Taylor Baby down to the last detail including the gig bag.....called a Coronado. The thing is dream to play with neck feel, fret dressing and general setup I haven't seen on anything in this range. In fact I've been hauling it around the last two days just to fool with it. The short 22" scale makes it super easy to fret. Anyway, it's the kind of thing you'd hang on to no matter how high up the ladder you go. I paid wholesale but I'd imagine street price would be about $110 with a retail of $200 or so. I imagine it won't be long before Taylor clouds up and rains on these guys.
 
i love those old Yamahas. ez, you got a real nice one there dude. my FG-345 ('82 i believe) rocks, only problem is that the frets are worn in places, and it does have some buzz (which is probably mostly due to the fact i can't play guitar). but other than that i think it sounds great.

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i really want one of those red label Nippon Gakki guitars though.
 
I had an FG-150 for 30 years. The string spacing on the nut was a little tight, so I redid the nut. A few months ago I traded it for a like-new Sears 10 HP snowblower - it doesn't have that sweet tone, but it sure can move the snow.
 
A couple of weeks ago I got an all-maple Greg Bennett (Samick) new at GC for $50! It plays pretty good, came in tune out of the box (except for the G), and is extremely bright. Almost hast a piezo sound even though it's strictly acoustic. Not as bad as a Stratacoustic or Telecoustic though.
 
notCardio said:
A couple of weeks ago I got an all-maple Greg Bennett (Samick) new at GC for $50! It plays pretty good, came in tune out of the box (except for the G)...
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I hope you sent it back. There's no excuse for that G string not to be in tune! ;^)
 
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