I’ve started playing guitar with the help of this website about a year ago and now want to upgrade my current 50€ Finlay acoustic (was a gift) to something a little bit better. I have been scouting my local online music shops for some electro-acoustics for around 800-900€. I was wondering could you give me some tips on what exactly to look for when trying these in-shop and if you have any experience with these guitars?
Welcome to the forum Karolis.
Buying you first quality guitar should be done in person. People can tell you what they like but that may not be what you like. So if possible go to a music store and play every guitar in you budget. Things like body shape/size, fret board radius, scale length, string spacing and nut width make or break how a guitar feels in your hands.
I can relate my personal experience… about 15 years ago I went to a local guitar shop with the intent of buying a Taylor. I played several different instruments, but none of them appealed to me other than being visually pleasing. Another customer was playing a Seagull S6 & it sounded amazing! It was half the price of the Taylor I was trying to talk myself into… guess which one came home with me! I love my Seagull but no pickup on that one!
All that being said, my favorite acoustic electric is a Takamine EF508KC - it’s a bit more than your price range but I have played a Takamine GN20CE that has a cedar top & okoume back & sides that sounds sweetly mellow - about $600 US dollars.
Good luck with your purchase!
check out the epiphone masterbilt dr-500mce. i bought one used on reverb for about $350 and it sounded leaps and bounds better than my martin eric clapton model ($2000) which i immediately sold.
Hi Karolis,
I’m a fairly new guitar player and find it challenging to objectively assess guitars I try out. That said, based on my limited experience, here some suggestions… Pay attention to the neck - how does it sit in your hand? How does it feel when you try to form your most challenging grips? For me, my thumb gets sore on many necks (I’m learning to mute string six with my thumb) so I’m sensitive to that when I try out guitars. Also, be sure the body is comfortable for you, especially if you’re mostly playing sitting down (it may be important for standing as well, but I’m just beginning to experiment with that). Play something that is easy for you, and play something challenging, and try to note how both experiences feel. And, of course, take your time.
Happy shopping! Let us know what you decide on!
A couple of things to pay attention to. Nut / string width at saddle. When I was first starting out I played a mini-maton that had 1 11/16 nut width. A friend sold me an Epiphone that had not just 1 3/4 nut width but also 5mm wider at the saddle. Made a huge difference in ease of fingering chords. Chords that were impossible to finger now because just difficult.
The other thing to pay attention to is the volume produced by playing the guitar the way you play. I do a lot of fingerstyle without finger or thumb picks with no fingernails and some guitars played that way are so quiet I can hardly hear myself.
My epiphone has such great volume with a pick that when playing in a smallish jam with others I won’t use the pick as it just overpowers the others there.
So it comes down to how does it feel, how does it sound. And above you have just a couple of specific things to look at, I’m sure there are other specifics you could drill into.
Personally I would just go and pick them up and spend 20 minutes or so just seeing what they feel like, looks help but the feeling is most important. At the end of the day unless there’s one that really jumps out at you and wants you to take it home carry on looking. With the amount of money you are spending it has to be that way!
I’m somewhat in the same boat but not able to purchase any time soon. Are eletro-acoustics just acoustic guitars with a pickup in them? I guess after purchasing one you have to also buy something to plug them into? As you can see I’m very much a newbie on this topic. More or less I’m adding to questions you might have as well…lol. I am curious because when played electro-acoustic seem to give a rounder, warmer sound when plugged in?
No you don’t have to. A pick up is handy for recording and there are patch cords that can plug into the usb port on your computer to record to a DAW
This all depends in the quality of the pick-up and the amp it’s plugged into. A good acoustic amp will sound a lot better than one made for electric guitars.
Yep. I only have small amps but my Taylor 114e sounds very different (much more natural) through my Fender Acoustasonic 40 amp than it does through my Fender Champion 20.
