Best acoustic guitar under $1000?

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: mrmoe
Date: 20 Dec 09 - 09:31 AM

I'm very fond of the 03 series (recording series) Larrivees.....street price - about $1000

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: t.jack
Date: 20 Dec 09 - 09:58 AM

go to store with friend.sit down blindfolded,he hands you a number of different guitars ,you play ,you like action? you like sound,put that one aside.He sits down plays the ones you chose ,you listen not not looking at guitar but LisetN.Walk away with your guitar .forget trying to define it by name ,etc, every tree is different.

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 20 Dec 09 - 10:36 AM

If you're willing to spend just a little over $1000 - maybe $1200 - you can get Nick Apollonio to make you a guitar that will outshine any other you've ever played. This is a limited time offer - it's only good until Nick comes to his senses and starts charging what his instruments are worth.

Dan

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Dec 09 - 10:40 AM

One thousand dollars for an acoustic guitar? Good grief.

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: Willie-O
Date: 20 Dec 09 - 01:17 PM

I'm not a fan of Seagull/Norman/S&P/Godin etc...some are OK but if you're looking at spending close to $1000, don't go there--they won't have the resale value a couple of years later if you fall out of love. (EG my bandmate had a decent Norman, upgraded to a Martin and they offered her $200 tradein on the Norman...which had cost her $900 new). So don't be so quick to believe everyone that says "never mind the name". A Martin, Taylor, Gibson etc will hold its value very well, even if its an unspectacular instrument.

Guild dreadnoughts from the 80's and 90's can be very good buys.

Gretsch is making some very cool flattops for only about $600 Cdn...orange top, half-moon soundhole, a serious candidate for an inexpensive working guitar with panache.

Eastman, which is shaking up the mandolin world with its pricing on very high-quality instruments made in China (I just bought one), is also making guitars in that very price range--I'd check it out, considering they claim to have ADIRONDACK spruce tops and Indian rosewood bodies.   

And Blueridges are definitely popular among working musicians.

Have fun looking.

W-O

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: The Sandman
Date: 20 Dec 09 - 05:05 PM

I rate Seagulls,I have had two,and people pestered me to sell them,I wish I had kept them.

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: Gurney
Date: 20 Dec 09 - 05:54 PM

I just bought a Jack & Danny Brothers dreadnaught, used, online, NZ$83. It is lovely, and perfectly set up. Beautifully made in Taiwan.
Bought it from a Scotsman who brought it over, but never played it because he couldn't. They start at UKL 100, I think. Look at them.

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: GUEST,Greycap
Date: 20 Dec 09 - 07:50 PM

BlueRidge are great. I'm speaking as an owner of three Martins & and good Takamine.
If I was to buy another guitar, it would be a BlueRidge.

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 12:22 AM

I just bought a Martin DMX at a pawnshop for $340. To be honest, I can't make up my mind whether or not it was a good move. The tone is absolutely gorgeous and it resonates nicely, but it has no power. My old Epiphone used to absolutely wail. I've played shows with it, and drowned people out at jam sessions. The Martin does sound prettier and has much better action, but it's a cricket in comparison. I assumed at the time that all Martins were good solid wood guitars. Imagine my surprise when I investigated the thing and found it had a laminate top. Tsk, tsk, tsk, Martin. Lots of good reviews but mostly from Christian/gospel players and they never get upset about anything.

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: bubblyrat
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 08:37 AM

If you want virtually ANY guitar to sound better & louder, pull the plastic bridge-pins out,and replace with solid brass ones , or you can get spun aluminium ones (Martin use them ). Over the past several years,a number of people who have heard my Martin / Avalon /Guild / and ,yes,Yamaha, guitars have switched to solid metal pins,and been "converted" ! Go on, try it !!
      Getting back to thread title---I recently bought a second-hand Guild GAD 40 , cased,for about £ 375-00 GBP . OK, so made in China, but so what ?? Solid Sitka spruce top? Solid mahogany back AND sides ? Martin-style fretboard inlays ? MOP dot-markers ?? Fishman Matrix pick-up ? Very "easy" action ? Lovely tone ? Simple looks ? Really nice ,well-made case ??      Go, seek one out !!!

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: ollaimh
Date: 14 Nov 10 - 11:33 PM

i'm a big fan of yamaha red label guitars made in japan uo to 1973 , including the nipon gakki labelled ones. they can be really cheap but are well made and designed so they are worth repairing a bit.

the k.yairi's are also great as said. there were also s. yairi's that are excelent. i'm suggesting second hand guitars.

all the canadian guitars from seagull and the other quebec luthiers have their worth. i like the norman best--especially old used ones and they are often very cheap. the same family and thier friends made all these lines. simon patrick, art and luthiere lysthe real quebecois guitar), and seagull.even kamouraska and norman. if you are travelling to canada they are cheaper here.i found a black painted norman dreadnought for $60, to give to a friends kid. a great guitar . looked like hell but he was a teen and liked the hell look.(that's an unusaully cheap find)and i had a totally laminate art and luthierre from a yard sale for $50, that was the best cheapo i've ever had--gave it to a friend after his house burnt down--with guitars.

second hand stores and junk shops and even the local buy and sell are all worth trolling . i got a gibson j45 from 1956 out of my buy and sell for $800. its beat up like a canadian socialist at a tea party convention , but sounds like its got an amp with reverb.i will have to put some cash into repair but its worth it.

and the japanese lowdens occasionally still turn up and they were great. i have noticed that the odd ball lowden models aren't too expensive on e bay. the mahagony ones mostly but lowden made some of the best mahogony guitars ever made , i prefer them and bought one.

i think people get focused on the look of some woods and forget the sound.

so seagull, and the rest of their family, yairi's , old yamahas and for a bit more odd ball lowden models.one guy also mentioned goyas and levins. they are very rare in canada but well worth it as well. and check out hagstroms new models of aucoustic guitars. they have a model for about $400 that blew my ears off.

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: Mark Ross
Date: 15 Nov 10 - 02:31 AM

Check out the guitars made in China sold under the brand name Recording King. I played a couple of them this afternoon at the the local music store. Their copy of a Gibson Nick Lucas was impressive, as was the dreadnaught I tried. But the one that really knocked my socks off was a 12 fret slot head parlor model. It had great presence, and was under $600.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: GUEST,Desi C
Date: 15 Nov 10 - 07:57 AM

O agree with Backwood's Man
I found my Crafter by trying out various makes in a guitar shop, at around £400 it sounded much better than models three times the price. Crafter I rate as the better enbd of the not too expensive range. But as Backwood's man says, don't go too much on brand names, I just picked my Crafter up and knew instantly it was right for me

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: KatyBob
Date: 19 Mar 11 - 07:08 PM

Two years ago I bought a Recording King triple O solid rosewood back and sides. I can't remember more than it is a something 27. It cost 450-ish cdn (on sale for 375) and it is punchy, balanced, very responsive, has developed a nice bass tone and plays like an OM. Looks real pretty too. It's a little heavier than a Martin, and the pre-war wide triangular section neck might not be to everyone's taste, but I find it a finger-pickers delight. It can also be bloody loud when I flat pick. At the moment it's getting the neck straightened, which is just s**t that happens sometimes.
It is a great smaller body instrument, especially for a woman.
So, that's my two cents.
Katy.

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: C-flat
Date: 20 Mar 11 - 07:38 AM

Echoes my sentiments here


Recording King are terrific value for money!

C-flat

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: bigchuck
Date: 20 Mar 11 - 08:43 AM

Lots of good ideas here. I own 3 of the Guild GAD guitars and like them a lot, perhaps the best chinese made guitar I have heard is the Eastman E10D (adirondack top, mahogany back and sides) which is generally available for just shy of a grand with case.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 20 Mar 11 - 10:08 AM

I think it always depends on who is playing it.

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: GUEST,essem58
Date: 22 Jun 12 - 06:34 AM

guitars are personal you have to try as many as pos but I'll be surprised if you can beat a Gibson L130. Made from Bubinga and mahogany it's the best thing they make at Bozeman Montana and a future classic for sure. If you want vintage have a look at 60's Framus guitars you could'nt get that wood these days and the Germans are really good at making stuff - Taylors on the other hand are computer built crap

Subject: RE: Best acoustic guitar under $1000?
From: Musket
Date: 22 Jun 12 - 06:41 AM

When I was buying last, I ended up raising my budget but when I was looking at e few hundred as the budget, I really liked playing a selection of Breedlove guitars. They all had slightly different qualities but all were easy to play, good volume, (the trademark side hole allows you personally to hear the guitar which helps immensely with pitching your singing,) and looked wonderful.