Recommend me a decent, good value acoustic guitar!

I've recently been looking around for a good value acoustic and have found myself a bit stumped as to what to go for!

I've been playing my electric for the last few years but still know very little about different brands and their respective qualities of guitar. Also, other than the big names, such as Fender, I wouldn't know what else to look out for.

I'm not really bothered whether the guitar is new or second hand so long as it's in good condition. I had a look in a local shop today that sells second hand acoustics and found the following names (in addition to Fender and the like) for prices ranging between £50-£200:

- Ashland by Crafter
- Westville
- Guvnor
- Cort
- Sierra

Are any of these known for decent quality?

Realistically my budget is not really much more than £100, but I would like to hear any recommendations people may have from their own experiences!

Thanks!

Don't know much about those makes.

If you go into a decent guitar shop and explain what you're looking for. Tell them your budget and they'll be able to recommend a few to try.

Just play them for a bit and see what you like.

I used to be uncomfortable in guitar shops trying something out while some poser nearby was playing funk licks in the corner. Eventually I realised you need to stop being so self conscious and just try things out or you'll end up buying crap.

I went in with a budget of £100 and eventually got a nice one with a solid body and a set neck for £99. Jack and Danny was the make. I've never heard of them and I reckon it's not an amazing make, but the guitar is well made and sounds good.

It sounds excellent especially considering the price.

If you're willing to spend 100-200 you could get something good that is brand new.

I'd recommend getting a brand new one rather than second hand.

Some of the Yamaha acoustics are meant to be pretty great as well within that price range. I haven't had a chance to try them but one of my mates bought one and is very happy with it.

I don't know about the brands you mention but for cheap-but-good Yamaha are always a solid brand to go with, electric or acoustic. Not a fashionable brand, but they generally punch well above their price tag in terms of quality.

I also have a Fender acoustic which isn't half bad and was only £80 new. Sounds a bit tinny but it's got a lovely neck.

I'd definitely buy new, especially with an acoustic, and most importantly try before you buy.

Steel string or nylon?

For nylon, you can't beat Joan Cashimira. It's a three generation old Spanish family business and all the guitars are made completely by hand traditionally. I played one for about 15 years so I can certainly vouch for them, I think mine was about £230. Great sound, full, clear and projected, minimum fret buzz (this was a classical guitar not flamenco), very pronounced bass and excellent dynamics. Generally clear and fun to play and looks great. And it lasted a fair bit of abuse, has its nicks all over the place. It has one crack in it where it really slammed into the corner of a bedside table and then cracked more due to temperature changes but that is entirely my fault. The amazing thing is that it never got any worse and it still sounds just as good - good quality, properly treated wood there.

Otherwise, I strongly recommend a Martin or Simon & Patrick. My younger brother builds guitars from scratch and these are his favourite brands. He has been playing for about 8 or 9 years now I think and plays these guitars on a daily basis and they sound excellent, both acoustic and amplified, with a very fine build. The articulation of the notes is very clear and sustain is also satisfying. The necks are finely shaped and fret laying is spot on. I couldn't fault those guitars although they may be out of your price range, I don't know. I think they're in the £200+ bracket usually.

Whoops I just realised they are totally out of your price range.

Well he also had an electro-acoustic Crafter which I thought was decent but I can't remember it. I know it unfortunately had a problem with it's built in pick-up control, but it sounded good if a little tight-strung (this was probably the strings my brother was using it). I've played Ibanez, Fender and Yamaha acoustics and couldn't really fault them in particular way but I just considered them normal low end guitars so didn't really scrutinise them. My housemate has an Ibanez and I thought that sounded quite nice (could do with some new strings!!), seemed well made and quite a nice design too. I own an Ibanez Prestige electric which is strawberry floating amazing but then that is worth £1,200. Same housemate has recently bought a 12-string Crafter which sounds excellent and is very nicely finished with attractive woods, looks solid.

I've played 3 Yamaha Pacificas (electric) and always been happy with the quality of their guitars. They use good woods and solid parts, nothing amazing but they seem to use simpler parts in order to fit in better quality wood and they are probably just manufactured on a line to reduce costs, which is fine for a cheap guitar if you get your bang for buck.

The Fender acoustics seem to have a somewhat boring quality if you ask me but then I was at college and I was bored so I wouldn't take that to mean anything, I have pretty much no experience with their acoustic guitars.

So yeah, go to a guitar shop and try

Ibanez
Yamaha
Crafter
Joan Cashimira (nylon string)

I simply don't have an opinion on the other brands you have mentioned but this is merely a coincidence, don't let that stop you trying them out. Guitar shops exist to demo guitars, everyone knows you are probably an amateur if you are buying a second hand acoustic so they have no expectation of you to start playing amazing stuff. Besides most of the gooseberry fool people play on guitars in shops is just boring wanking anyway in Speed Wars.

Just strum a few chords and try a few melodic lines all about the fret board, with different hand positions and at different volumes. Try to hold a strong chord and just strum away enthusiastically to get a feel for the full range of sounds. If you can hold a clear barre chord, test fret buzz on a higher fret with a barre chord.

This might sound funny but a good guitar made of decent wood that has been treated properly will have a lovely aroma and feel good in your hands, not hard, cold and tacky. If you get the feeling a guitar is lacklustre, just put it down - it's not for you and you don't have to justify why. Buy a guitar you like playing that feels good - nothing else matters more.

Do not buy a guitar on the Internet without at least first trying a very similar guitar in a shop or with a friend. Guitars are far too subjective to judge on specifications and looks alone.

Can't go wrong with a decent seagull make, depends how much you play i suppose.

Forgot about Seagulll, step mum has one and they're good instruments too. They have a very clean and subtle look to them.

Wow, thanks for all the replies guys!

Sorry I haven't responded quicker, but I've only just had the chance to visit a local guitar shop and try a few out earlier today.

I decided that I would like an electro-acoustic just so that I have the option to amplify it should the situation arise! My favourite one of all the few I tried was an Ashland by Crafter model and was £149.

The first one I played of this type had an absolutely lovely sound and it felt great in my hands, however I wasn't too keen on the colour of the body. They had the exact same guitar in a beautiful blue colour, which I much preferred, however it didn't sound anywhere near as nice. We tried seeing if if was the tuning that was out but it still sounded different...more tinny (I think that's the word I'm looking for!).

Is there any other reason for this difference? It is the exact same guitar so I don't really understand. I loved the sound of the first model, but I don't want to buy it knowing that I'm not totally happy with the aesthetics of it.

Perhaps the first one has been in storage for a while, and has aged a little more. Acoustic guitars tend to sound better after they've aged a bit.

ignition wrote:I've recently been looking around for a good value acoustic and have found myself a bit stumped as to what to go for!

I've been playing my electric for the last few years but still know very little about different brands and their respective qualities of guitar. Also, other than the big names, such as Fender, I wouldn't know what else to look out for.

I'm not really bothered whether the guitar is new or second hand so long as it's in good condition. I had a look in a local shop today that sells second hand acoustics and found the following names (in addition to Fender and the like) for prices ranging between £50-£200:

- Ashland by Crafter
- Westville
- Guvnor
- Cort
- Sierra

Are any of these known for decent quality?

Realistically my budget is not really much more than £100, but I would like to hear any recommendations people may have from their own experiences!

Thanks!

Those are nice, I have used and still use a Cort. I also have a Martin Bacpacker. Looks like an oar, great starter guitar and even a great travel guitar.
The Backpacker is especially a favorite becuase I sail and it could, (theoretically) be used as an oar, in an emergency.
Seagulls are nice.
VOX rules. They are mostly electric, but I have a 1968 Vox Bass that is an Electric Hollow Body with F Holes, not a real good acoustic bass, but can be picked up on mike and can be heard with an Acoustic Guitar.
I have heard Sierras , they sound nice.
Best advice I ever got was, do not get the guitar because it looks cool. get the one that you like and are comfortible with.
After 10 years of playing, you can usually make any box guitar sound like anything you want it to be.
Condition does matter, look at the neck, look at where the neck attatches to the body, look for any stresses or strains or cracks. I saw a sweet 1949 Hohner in a pawn shop, a good once over and was a NO SALE! The neck was warped, the back board was cracked, the seams were splitting, took a fine eye and 20 years of plying to notice that stuff, but it is always caveat emptor when buying a used box.
Epiphone makes some nice ones.
I am not a musical instrument salesman nor do I suggest that you purchase anything that I may or may not have mentioned, I do suggest that you get the guitar that you like, that is comfortable to you and that has a sound that you like.
Good Value and Cheap never really go together. Those phrases actually cancel each other out.
That is like a sign at a Luthier near my home, It is a pie chart, one says Cheap, one says Fast and one says Quality. Under it it says, choose 2.
Goes like this, you want cheap and fast, is NOT going to be quality.
You want Fast and Quality, is NOT going to be cheap.
You want Cheap and quality, is NOT going to be fast.
Choose wisely.

I've got a beautiful £240 electro-acoustic Cort. It's my most treasured possession

Hi gnewb, welcome to the forum - sounds like you know what you are talking about. I am wondering, what do you mean by a "fast" guitar though? Do you mean what I would call playability of the fretboard?

Perhaps he means the time it takes the luthier to build it, though I don't see how that would apply to ignition's situation.

Ah yeah that must be what he means.