Which Acoustic Guitar

[anonymous-user]

I'm primarily a keyboard player but like to strum a few songs. I've been strumming for about 40 years so I'm not a beginner but still a rank amateur.

I've got a lovely old (30 year old) Ibanez electric and a horrible 20 year old Ovation (Japanese made I think) that's got a terribly high action and pretty dire sound.

I'm now ready to replace the Ovation and wondered what guitars I should look at. I saw some lovely Yamaha electric acoustics (FJX?) at the weekend but the specific shop only sold Yamaha so keen for some advice at what else to look at as it's going to involve a road trip I think.

Thanks in advance
Gary

[PVN]

Epiphone masterbilt electro acoustics are cracking value with all solid wood construction and excellent electrics.

[davepoth]

garyhun said:

I'm primarily a keyboard player but like to strum a few songs. I've been strumming for about 40 years so I'm not a beginner but still a rank amateur.

I've got a lovely old (30 year old) Ibanez electric and a horrible 20 year old Ovation (Japanese made I think) that's got a terribly high action and pretty dire sound.

I'm now ready to replace the Ovation and wondered what guitars I should look at. I saw some lovely Yamaha electric acoustics (FJX?) at the weekend but the specific shop only sold Yamaha so keen for some advice at what else to look at as it's going to involve a road trip I think.

Thanks in advance
Gary

What sort of price are you looking at? Yamaha do make consistently decent guitars.

[anonymous-user]

Happy to go to around £500 but obviously happier to pay less if I can.

[davidd]

Faith are very good value.

[campionissimo]

I can really recommend Freshman guitars.

[anonymous-user]

Thanks so far everybody. Never heard of Faith or Freshman so this is really helpful.

[Tom_C76]

Sigma guitars are far-east copies of Martin models, and at one stage were owned by Martin. The other half of my duo uses one, and whilst I wouldn't swap my Guild for it, you get a lot of guitar for the money.

Agree Faith are lovely but I'm not sure your £500 would get far there, Guild likewise.

[anonymous-user]

Tom_C76 said:

Sigma guitars are far-east copies of Martin models, and at one stage were owned by Martin. The other half of my duo uses one, and whilst I wouldn't swap my Guild for it, you get a lot of guitar for the money.

Agree Faith are lovely but I'm not sure your £500 would get far there, Guild likewise.

I have a feeling that it may well be a case of budget creep once I start playing some

[red997]

Dont rule out eBay...

Earlier this year I bought a brand new Solid top Tanglewood electro acoustic off of eBay

Retailed at £500 ish in all the usual shops, but won it for £160 - sold from a real music shop, and really well packaged.
100% mint on arrival and sounds superb !

[enjo]

I've heard good things about Sigma also.
I love my Taylor GS mini which I picked up second hand for well under budget.

[anonymous-user]

languagetimothy said:

I think u need to find a shop that stocks quite a few makes n models n give some a play. You don't mention if you
Need to be able to plug it in, which u might want to.

I've a couple of Fenders which are ok but my main acoustic is a Martin.(tho that would be out of your budget)

I used to have a Taylor which was very good but I didn't like the plugged in sound.

I'm off down to Poole in a few weeks and there are 2 big shops (Absolute and Guitar Mania) so that's going to be my big chance.

[Le TVR]

I bought one of these a couple of years ago:

http://www.simonandpatrick.com/29099_woodlandspruc...

And it really surprised me for the quality and playability. In budget as well.

You probably wont need to mic it as they are really loud.

[audidoody]

+one for Taylor GS Mini (with acoustic circuitry)

[davepoth]

Le TVR said:

I bought one of these a couple of years ago:

http://www.simonandpatrick.com/29099_woodlandspruc...

And it really surprised me for the quality and playability. In budget as well.

You probably wont need to mic it as they are really loud.

Those are lovely guitars. The neck took a bit of getting used to for me though, as they seemed quite flat and wide for an acoustic guitar.

[anonymous-user]

After reading a fair bit and watching YouTube videos I have to say that the Taylor GS mini looks favourite right now.

I hope to be able to play a few in early December.

Thanks you for all the suggestions.

[Djr1]

Have a look at the Faith range. Nicely put together with a range of sizes, finishes and prices. I mainly play electric, but picked up a Faith naked Neptune for some home use/recording, and absolutely love it. I played it back to back with several others at the same price point, and some at twice the price, and the Faith was the one I didn't want to put down. I'm now eyeing up one of their little parlour size guitars...

[anonymous-user]

Just to close this down.

It took until yesterday for me to get to the shops and I tried a fair few guitars and ended up purchasing a Taylor GS mini electric acoustic.

It just felt right, very easy to play and a great rich sound from such a small body:

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[ChrisPackit]

Nice! I have a Taylor 318ci and I love it, amazing sound. I think since Ed Sheeran's come on the scene, the minis have really taken off. Good purchase!