Acoustic Guitar Recommendations

Epihone EJ-200.

Its a nice looking guitar and sounds great. Steel strings will be fine and should be easily found under 500. Classic style

If you are buying a new one the Canadian made Seagulls offer good bang for the buck. I don't own one but have played a few. I have a lot of guitar playing friends through a long time internet forum similar to this and I have never heard anyone bad mouth them. They aren't the "best"- high end Martins, Collins, etc- or the "worst"- Chinese made Fenders and Gibsons. They are a decent all wood guitar at a mid range price.
Oh and if you are going with him to pick one out at a music store or Guitar Center. I would pick out a group of possibles and play them against each other. Even guitars of the same make and model sound different. Hopefully you can do that without a 17 year old "shredder" in the store making racket.

I agree with Alan. I've owned a seagull and it was a well made and good sounding guitar. You also might want to look at Alvarez, Not Alvarez-Yari (top line). That's what I have now and it is great. It's my 4th one. the regular Alvarez, that is.

Washburn makes a fine line of affordable, yet quality guitars. I have one and I like it better than my martin which sounds a little tinny to me.

washburn guitars, check out the rover model!

I like older guitars. Ones that have been around awhile. They have settled in. I like a nice low bridge, and steel strings. You can go the the new guitar store, and find 5 identical guitars, and they will all sound different from each other. They will all have a different feel.

So, bang around a bit at pawn shops, and used guitar stores, until you find an older one, that has settled in, and sounds and feels right.

I call it a mature guitar.

Nate

Get a big one, more sound coming out when he will be jamming around fire camps and stuff. And one with a microphone (without 9 volt battery, they are a pain) under the bridge if he ever wants to plug it in, he will have it. Shop for a cutaway model, I think that's what they call it. He can hit the high notes easier with that carved in model.

You should be able to get all this for a couple of hundred dollars.

Guitars are affordable, musicians are not a rich crowd.

I like Taylor acoustics. Big definitely brings bigger sound. Smaller is portable and more comfortable. I'd probably lean toward a Big Baby Taylor 15/16 size.

For the money, Alvarez makes a great guitar. I have 2 and they both play quite nice. I play a lot and I haven't had any trouble. The artist series was $300 and the Yari was &700. Each have their merits and I recommend the brand.

i have a blueridge that i absolutely love. made in china, but the real deal, has a great sound, and costs about half what you can pick up a comparable taylor or martin for. i just fart around, but have run into several acquaintences who are serious pros who either have the same guitar or else can't put mine down when they borrow it.

whatever you get, put a thumb thumping on the body of a few- you can get a really good feel for how much a guitar's sound will carry based upon this simple exercise. 8 identical guitars lined up next to each other, there's usually one or two that sound way better (or worse) than the rest.

I also have a friend in a working bluegrass band that has a Blueridge. He has several "boutique" guitars (i.e. expensive) but lugs his BR around to their gigs and jams. So if you run across one of those it is another with good bang for the buck.

Hi Jim, in addition to the above excellent suggestions I have a Fender CD100CE acoustic electric that I enjoy even though Fender is not the 1st choice in acoustics.
Mike Burkes
626-833-1521

I have a Takamine that I really like. Plays good & sounds good. This one also has a pickup for an amplifier. I bought it used, hadn't heard of them before that, but now I understand that some of the big country artists pick a Takamine. Pretty sure it isn't an American made guitar, though.
After looking it up: made in Japan. BTW, it's also purty, looks like some kinda cedar.

My lad Josh, who is a similar age, started out with a basic acoustic guitar - from memory a 3/4 size or similar.

Pretty soon he wanted an electric - and we found a really nice Dean, thanks to the recommendation of some of the players here.

Most recently he has been finding an acoustic electric to be the way to go - it can be plugged in, but doesnt have to be.

So I would go with the others suggesting one of them - it will get more playing I think.

Me, I play wind, so cant help with brands, but do suggest you let him try a few. The size and shape of the neck and fret board seem to be significant factors particularly for those with smaller hands

I recommend used, I don't think brand matters much except regarding any inherent structural proficiencies / deficiencies which a sales expert can help with.
Find a couple places in closest big city that have a good used inventory (at least a couple dozen each), go weekday morning before the metal amp crowd shows up & makes so much noise you can't hear anything.
Each guitar has its own feel / voice & your son will find what works.
Go together & it can be a great experience for both.

breedlove

.

I would have to agree with the Seagull suggestions here. I purchased a used Seagull S6+cedar from a great fellow on Ebay for 160.00 it was a great deal and a it is a great guitar.

I can't really agree with the suggestions for the high end guitars as a first instrument. Although you should always buy all that you can afford 🙂

Jeff

Taylor is highly recommended.

My wife bought a Seagull several years ago and has been reasonably satisfied. One local performer tried it and said it was one of the better Seagulls she had played, as there is some variability in them. As my wife has gotten better at playing, she noticed various minor issues and paid a luthier $100 to tweak it into better adjustment (action height, nut, scale length, etc.) She is happy with it again.

This one does not have a pickup in it, unfortunately, so she uses a soundhole insert magnetic pickup with good results for accompaniment. I wouldn't want to use that pickup for virtuoso performances because the tone is a little bit electric. If you expect to play amplified, a pickup is much more convenient than an external microphone, but a mic can be made to sound better when there is little competing sound from a band.

If you get a guitar with a piezo transducer type of pickup, you will either need a preamp (on-board or maybe a Baggs or Fishman preamp or DI box) or an amplifier with an extremely high impedance in order to get the proper low frequency tone.

Speaking of guitars, whatever happened to Sam Clemons?

> Taylor is highly recommended.
>
> My wife bought a Seagull several years ago and has been reasonably satisfied. One local performer tried it and said it was one of the better Seagulls she had played, as there is some variability in them. As my wife has gotten better at playing, she noticed various minor issues and paid a luthier $100 to tweak it into better adjustment (action height, nut, scale length, etc.) She is happy with it again.
>

I can adjust my guitar with a cup of coffee and a $1.98 truss rod wrench, every player should be able to make basic adjustments, as you described above.

Every guitar is an individual and no two will react the same to temperature, humidity, amount played.... etc. It's like learning to work with a new I-man, you just have to get used to it.

Sam

Sam is still around, he's just behind the scenes right now.
Like me, I think he misses the old days, i.e. P & R.
There's only so much surveying stuff to talk about and have to tip-toe around the things that have real meaning in life.
I miss Sam. I always enjoyed reading his threads.