Good acoustic guitars...

Hey all,

I'm wondering what would be a good acoustic guitar in the 150-200 price range...

Gibson's are a bit expensive...but how are the Epiphones?

Thanks.

Started on an Epi... things are wonderful. I wouldn't recommend a different brand for an intro acoustic guitar

I got myself a bargain on my Gibson now you mention it. It's a make they simply called 'Gibson Baldwin 3/4.' Sure the guitar isn't a big name for a Gibson like the Epi, but it makes a wonderful noise and is pretty cheap considering it's actually a professional standard guitar. I got one brand new for £80 (not sure what that is in American dollars but it will be within your price range) down from £110 with a 5 year warrenty. I has the essentuals like steal strings and since it's not a full sized gaccoustic the sound echos brilliantly.

That's another consideration for you. But I have to admit, if I could get another accoustic guitar I'd probably go for an epi despite having a perfectly good one already. They sound briliant! (Okay, so now I think I'm just saying all the guitars I've listed in this post are brilliant...sorry if that's confusing!)

I also think you can get some good Martins for a good price from what I've heard, they're good quality and realitively cheap. But I don't know much about those myself so you might have to look into that.

The Baldwin will be cheaper then the Epi although the overall quality I think is just as good (I think it's cheaper because it looks more common and has a small name myself), but that's not to say the Epi is tooexpensive. The price for an Epi is good. But ask some music stores or perhaps friends with these guitars if you can try them out, that's when you really know what you want.

Samick makes cheap acoustics that are decent starters. They say Greg Bennett on them. I know a guy who has an Epi acoustic and he never complains about it.

i'm gonna have to say ibanez or dean

Walden. epic win for cheap

ive been told that epiphone acoustics are crap, but ive only played one

I play an Epi AJ500R, which is from their Masterbilt collection. It's more in the 600-800 range, but it's one of the best I've played or heard. I started with a Yamaha Gig Pack guitar with a solid spruce top, and I also have a Yamaha F335 BL(the BL stands for black), which I carry around as a beater. It is a great guitar and holds up well in group jams, etc. It was only $149 at Guitar Center. My experience is that the lower priced Epiphones are sort of hit or miss, so you have to play them before you buy them. If you can afford the 300-400 range, Epi Hummingbird or Dove copies are usually pretty decent.

I think I'm going to go down to the music store tomorrow and just check some of them out. I guess Epiphone is what I'm going to first try out.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I greatly appreciate it!

Are any of these recommendations, specific or just general brand wise, electric acoustic?

Does that simply mean you can plug them into amp or can you plug a regular acoustic into amps as well?

Thanks!

I would check out the Epiphone EJ-200 and EJ-200CE (CE is Acoustic-Electric).

I am a starter and bought a Ibanez PF for like $80 out the door at a pawn shop... Very nice sound to learn on... it is helping me with my ear...

A couple of things to look out for when buying an inexpensive guitar:
Fret wires, wrap your hand around the neck like you are holding it to play, and put your thumb and first finger on the edges of the neck. Slide them down toward the body and feel the edges of the fret wires. You don't want rough unfinished edges. It indicates very cheap quality and it will probably scratch your hands and fingers when you start playing up and down the neck. Straight neck, hold the guitar with the body next to your face, almost like you are sighting a rifle, and look straight down both edges of the neck. It should be straight as a ruler. If not, move on. Action, action is the height of the strings above the frets. Play every fret on every string up to about the 15th fret. You need no buzz on any fret, but at about the 12th fret and above, you don't want the strings way high. A simple way to check, if you are in a store with a lot of guitars, is try fretting a couple of notes and chords on a few of the expensive guitars, which should be set up better, then do the same on the inexpensive ones you're thinking about. You'll see what I mean.
Hope these tips help. Oh, and try to get a solid spruce top if you can. Alot of guitar companies have lower end models with solid tops and laminated sides and backs. I think I read that the top accounts for about 50% of the sound quality. It's not the only thing, but all else being equal, go for the solid top.

I went by the guitar shop earlier today and looked around. They carried a bunch of Walden, Fender, Taylor, and Ibanez. Two Epiphones...a Hummingbird and Dove. Out of my price range but I really fell in love with the Fender CD60 they had there. Only 200$ USD + a hard case and it sounded amazing.

So, I came home and did a Google search for some reviews and from what I read it's an amazing guitar for the price so I think I'm going to go with that one...

I really like Ovations.Heard some bad things lately about the body cracking though.

check out fender's telecoustic, its cheap and sounds wonderful