Home › Forums › Discuss Your Gear › Acoustic guitar advice
- This topic has 15 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 2 months ago by Canada Moose.
-
CreatorTopic
-
January 16, 2021 at 9:07 am #230380
Hey folks,
Love being a member of active melody. Started with the first lessons Wayback win and working my way to the top. Just bought my first electric. Tell me what you think. Just what I wanted. Looking for advice on An acoustic under $1500. Any advice.
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files. -
CreatorTopic
-
AuthorReplies
-
-
January 16, 2021 at 10:24 am #230398
Hi Mike!
I’m glad you’re enjoying Brian’s lessons and your new guitar! Looks nice, congrats on your first electric! It would be even better if you played something for us so we can hear it, too 🙂
There’s tons of great acoustic guitar choices for under $1500, everyone has their own preferences and priorities. Most of the experts will tell you to find a guitar store and play as many of them as you can and see which one YOU like the most. Other than the sound, the comfort of playing should be high on your priority list, otherwise you won’t bond with it. Good luck!
🎸JoLa
-
January 16, 2021 at 12:00 pm #230412
Congrats on the new guitar Mike.
$1500 is a very healthy budget to have for an acoustic guitar.
Like Jola said, have a visit to your local guitar shop/store and have a play on all the “Brands” they have, Scale length is important, so trying different scale guitars is a must...Billy..
-
January 16, 2021 at 1:05 pm #230426
All sound advice so far Mike, if you’ll excuse the pun, a definite ‘no-no’ is to buy an acoustic without playing it first. Regarding quality, you generally get what you pay for but at your $1500 range, things can get a wee bit marginal. So take the above advice and get down to a major music store.
Richard
-
January 16, 2021 at 1:50 pm #230441
Like Justin Johnson and many other acoustic guitarists, I prefer the 3/4 or parlor size guitars. I have a Taylor GS Mini, and an Alvarez AF30CE. I wish I had a Washburn G-Mini 15S, since they have a unique kind of cutout that is really nice for getting up the high end of the neck. I do prefer the ones with a good quality pickup and a built-in tuner.
Sunjamr Steve
-
January 17, 2021 at 9:58 am #230523
Thanks guys for the sound advice.
-
January 24, 2021 at 10:15 am #231021
There’ a lot of good guitars in this price range. Good playability and happiness depends much from right set-up. Try to avoid cedar tops and too long scales (more than 645mm). These made string tension hard and guitars tough to play.
Lights. -
January 24, 2021 at 7:59 pm #231044
PRS acoustic guitars are hard to beat for the price. Many models to choose from and all but 2 models are under $1000
-
February 5, 2021 at 4:21 am #233994
MMmm that is Interesting .Lights ,about avoiding Cedar top guitars could you explain that point I would be interested in why to avoid them…
Thanks -
February 6, 2021 at 9:56 am #234109
Frank, cedar top ain’t bad itself, but it has some typical specs which does not fit to me and here is the good moment to share my experience and knowledges about it.
Cedar is tough, much tougher than spruce. This characteristic impacts the tension of strings. As harder is the building material of the guitar than bigger is the resistance of the instrument to the string tension.( Check the basics of technical mechanics and strength of materials).
High grade cedar on premium brand guitars sounds fine (Takamine).
Cedar is stable. While good spruce gets better for years then cedar remains the same for centuries.
I’m the owner of two cedar top guitars, both got 650mm scale. The cheap one is HB CLD-30SCM, 350€, solid mahagony, solid cedar top, sounds cheap and little bit hard to play.
The second is Dowina Cabernet 1200€, with cedar top which I bought and disappointed after compared it with spruce version of friend of mine. Spruce version was much easier to play however scale length was the same,(650mm). And it sounds much juicy and silky.
I hope it was helpful.
Lights. -
February 9, 2021 at 8:22 am #234419
I’ve just recently bought a PRS Parlour a remarkable thing, it has a bone nut ebony fingerboard the radius is described as flat wide and the general feel with the shorter scale length is loose
cost to me was 420£ it was an ex demo made in china but the quality is outstanding for the price
Top is mahogany and you get a rich mid focused sound
-
February 9, 2021 at 4:50 pm #234443
I’ve just recently bought a PRS Parlour a remarkable thing, it has a bone nut ebony fingerboard the radius is described as flat wide and the general feel with the shorter scale length is loose
cost to me was 420£ it was an ex demo made in china but the quality is outstanding for the price
Top is mahogany and you get a rich mid focused sound
For the money, I doubt that you can buy a better imported acoustic guitar that the PRS SE imports. They were once made in Korea…..
Leo Fender & Les Paul contributed so much to the technology of solid body guitars, amps and studio recording equipment – to me Paul Reed Smith is our modern day contributing engineer on the level with Leo & Les.
If you look at his USA acoustic guitars, his approach was very different from convention thought and his guitars that are made in Maryland are not only a beautiful work of art, their tone is amazingA sales person told me that with Gibson electric guitars, you have to play & examine a Les Paul or an ES-335 very closely because the QA isn’t as stringent as Paul Reed Smith guitars. He said with Paul Reed Smith guitars, it was OK to order one of their guitars because every guitar that comes off of the assembly line in Maryland is the same
With the PRS SE imports, they apply the same strict QA standards and when you buy one of them, you can be certain that you are getting a really good guitar.
-
February 11, 2021 at 7:49 am #234578
There’s a really good video of a tour of the SE factory think its the Korean one
Anyway they emphasise quality control, quality wise its off the scale playing it you’d not know it wasn’t a more high end product.
-
February 11, 2021 at 11:27 am #234583
For sure it’s a good guitar, but ebony fingerboard just for 420.- … sounds kind of fairytale.
Lights. -
February 11, 2021 at 5:04 pm #234616
For sure it’s a good guitar, but ebony fingerboard just for 420.- … sounds kind of fairytale.
Lights.Its interesting that if you check prices at a lumber supplier, ebony fretboard blanks aren’t that much more expensive than rosewood. I don’t why more guitar makers don’t use it.
But I agree with you that with things are they are, to find a guitar with an ebony fingerboard for the price is surprising. It usually doesn’t happen
-
February 11, 2021 at 8:17 pm #234632
Most important thing for me has always been how it feels in my hands;.
You’re going to be holding this baby in your hands for many many hours over many years.
Playing guitar is very personal, so I have to love how it feels in my hands.As for tone; every guitar has a different tone; so even a cheaper guitar might sound better to you than a high end. Some are more trebly or bassy; depends what sound you’re going for.
So there’s a thousand factors, but if it feels and sounds like this is what you’re looking for, then that’s the one for you.
-
-
AuthorReplies
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.