so i'm planning on buying a new guitar within the next week or so

i've been playing for about 4 years now and think it's time to upgrade from my entry level acoustic

also i'm debating between plain acoustic or getting an acoustic-electric, is there any cons to getting the combination?

i never use a pick as well and do a lot of strumming/finger picking

is there any brands or models geared specifically towards this type of playing without a pick? maybe a gentle sounding guitar or something i'm not really sure

any help would be GREATLY appreciated

oh and my budget is maybe around $700 ish, i can do a little more if really necessary and can always do less

just it's very intimidating going to a guitar store and i'm never sure where to start, so at least if i have a few models or brands in mind that i could try i'm sure it would help a lot

if it helps i play a lot of stuff like this:



sorry for the wall of text

This post was edited by BB_MelloYello on Jul 28 2013 09:27am

#1 - If you are debating acoustic / elec/acoustic, then get the electric acoustic and i'll make it real simple for you.


Acoustic guitar - $300
Elec Acoustic - $300


You may have no aspirations to play live and thats fine,. You loose nothing from the instrument by having electric input, you do not have to use the input ever but it's good to have just in case.


Given your awesome budget, I would look at Fender / Takamine / Taylor / Martin / Gibson branded acoustics. There are other brands out there, and ofc try out as many as you want, but your price range means you can get real quality which in the long run is what will matter.

^

My pops recently got an Ovation electric acoustic for around 300$, plays great, and sounds good as well, can plug it str8 into the PA and just makes it that much bigger ya know?

I got an epiphone custom humming bird, regular acoustic and for me I don't mind that it doesn't plug up, just a really good playing acoustic, but I would like the option sometimes to plug it up, tho I don't really want to install it

thanks for the posts guys

yeah i was looking into some martin guitars bob, but the ones that i saw with great reviews were around $1000 a little out of my price range haha

also a friend of mine suggested simon & patrick as a good brand any opinions about those guitars?

are there certain guitar models/brands that are better for finger picking/strumming, etc. or does that just depend more on the setup (ie. strings, action, etc.)?

This post was edited by BB_MelloYello on Jul 29 2013 10:30am

Check out Yamaha acoustics at your guitarcenter, i have one and they are awesome. They run you $300+ Get the electric with eq, I can make mine sound like a martin and sometimes even better when i run it straight threw my PA.

Look at Breedlove. And Seagull. I love Seagulls. I've always hated Fender acoustics, and haven't been impressed by yamaha either.

God you literally took the words out of my mouth.

Breedlove is an up and coming USA brand of guitars -- their higher models, I know, are made in the US, not sure about their other ones.
I played a Seagull for 3-4 years, and I loved every second of it. I upgraded to a Martin, and I'm letting my friend have my Seagull.
Still plays well after plenty of wear and tear.

To get that sound, use Nylon strings.

This post was edited by Seven11even on Aug 28 2013 01:01am

so i went to my local guitar store finally and ended up coming home with this

i am super happy with my purchase so far, thanks for all the input guys

it's a taylor 214ce, i kinda blew past my price range but whatever

except that you have a 3x4" piece of the side cut out and replaced by a plastic box. seagull, blueridge, takamine at that price range. must have a solid top, otherwise keep looking. good luck!

p.s. i own a blueridge br-140 and have had no issues in 8 years. made in china by pretty well trained luthiers.

edit: nice taylor! i hope that you enjoy it for a very long time!

This post was edited by juliusjuice on Oct 28 2013 11:27pm

Exactly this. I walked into a Guitar Center and was looking for a single cutout acoustic for a budget of $350. I saw this nice looking single cutout Yamaha Electric Acoustic that just screamed my style. I had the guy [Who went through a lot of trouble just to reach up and grab it lol] get it so I could playtest it and it was like heaven in my hands. It only cost me $300 flat.

I'll put it this way, I've owned the thing for well over a year now and I'm still rocking the same full set of bronze strings that it came with off the floor of GC when I bought it. It still sounds amazing. I couldn't be more satisfied.

...and yeah, the Electric factor doesn't sacrifice your sound at all. In fact, plugging it in makes it sound even more incredible.