Purchasing an accoustic guitar

[Lohrtar]

Now my electric guitar isn't all that amazing, but good enough for me for now. My accoustic on the other hand is rubbish, and I would like to have a new one, for practising now and then. What's a good accoustic guitar in a 100-150$ price range? (That's enough to get a decent one, right?)

[Grambo]

Aria perhaps or anything American (New)
Curious to Know what sort of electric you have ??

[elklandercc]

I double-back the Aria/Ariana, great guitars for the price.

[FretboardFire]

what kind of acoustic are you lookin for? electric/acoustic? straight acoustic? The acoustic guitars that sam goody's sell may be/look cheap, but they hold their own pretty well, and you can even get em as an electric/acoustic for around $150-175 price range

[isekerx]

may be you can buy a SX
chinese cheap but good one

[R. Shackleferd]

Seagull makes some good ones for pretty cheap. My dad got one.

[aicnomore]

i have a kona acousti/electric. it is a good quality guitar. it is only a little above your price range........$165 and they come with daddario strings and a spare set so its a really good value

[Lohrtar]

Probably a standard accoustic for practicing purposes... :)

[Mike51]

At the price level you are looking at you need to forget the brand name.

( I know everyone is grumbling right now.. just give me second )

At the upper reaches of the price limit, Taylors and Martins and such, guitars that you are NOT looking for right now, you can safely say that 90-97% of them will sound great and last forever. This is what you are paying for.

As you get down to the price range that you are looking at, $100-$150 (would be good if you could squeeze another 50 in there and make in an even duece) you will have to play a lot of different models to find one that sounds sweet and feels good. The spectrum of quality broadens dramatically as the price drops. Do you see what I'm saying? Don't just run out and buy a Whatchamacallit because some people on a forum said they had good experience with it. They/we are all well meaning, but you need to play it and hear it for yourself.

Case in point. I am in the same boat you are. Looking for a rather inexpensive acoustic to knock around with. I went to Sam Ashe, and Guitar Center this past weekend and played everything they had under $300. I also played two $600 Taylors as a reference point. Within the same brands I played some I liked and some that sounded like bricks hitting wet sand. No tone at all. And I'm talking the likes of Ibanez, Yamaha, Fender, Washburn, Epiphone, Ovation, Takamine. Yes, I played a lot of guitars. I don't know where you live but Sam Ashe also has a "house brand" called Carlo Robelli, I didn't play any of those because they were under my price target. In retrospect I probably should have, because you never know what instrument will strike magic in your hands.

Anyway, start the hunt. That is the most fun of all. Go to the national retailers and the local small music shops where you will find the cheaper off brands. The smaller shops might even have some used models. A great guitar that isn't brand spanking new should still sound like a great guitar. You just won't pay the new price. Just don't let anyone talk you into taking something you don't want.

Also remember that a new guitar will probably need a set up, adjust the truss rod and adjust action. Also you will probably want a new set of strings, if you find a good sounding guitar new strings will make it even sound better.

Happy hunting, let us know how it turns out.

Michael