Buying new Guitar

I'm looking to buy a new guitar, I was hoping to get a little information from you guys. :confused:

I'm more than confused on what brand I want, everything mostly. I want an acoustic with the ability to plug in to an amp, I've got a 500 dollar limit or so, so if you've got something in mind you think I might really like, please feel more than free to post here!

If I'm missing some info that could help make the selection easier, please post it and I'll try to reply with great haste.

I haven't bought a new guitar recently but I've played Takemine and liked it. I'm partial to Guild guitars, the big ones have a full, rich sound. Fender took over the company in '95 and I like what Guild was doing before, Fender makes good guitars but I feel like Guild's were a little less mass-produced before Fender.
Hopefully this post will trigger some more input. You should be able to find a nice guitar in that price range.

I'm still considered a beginner to a novice, but my GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) hit me hard in the first year of playing. I looked around and purchased a lot of lower end guitars (some say too many) from advice friends gave me (couldn't try them out at a guitar store in Iraq). For acoustics I was impressed by the Takamine Jasmine (bout $100-$150 US Dollars) and my wife got me one as a surprise for when I returned. I also purchased an Ovation Celebrity CC24 Acoustic/Electric (as it had a built in tuner - about $350 USD) and play that one the most when I'm working on strengthening my fingers and cleaning up my tones. Those are the extent of my personal experience with Acoustics, but friends in Iraq also bragged about their Dean starter packs (usually $250 USD or less) that they got through www.musiciansfriends.com Of course best advice I can give is one I've seen over the past few years on here from time to time: If you can swing by your local Guitar Store, try them out. All the different sizes, shapes, name brands still confuse me so I'll probably take their advice myself for the next one. As I stated before I'm still just starting out, working through Fundamentals 2 slowly now to get it to sink in, but I hope this helps a little.

Brian

Hey Everybody,
The reason I would look around online first is because, on most of these sites you can find out what owners think of the instruments, craftsmanship, electronics, and other things you may not know. They usually have reviews on these topics somewhere on the page. If it's a brand new model, there won't be as much info, but you should be able to find out something.

You don't have to buy online, but looking around will give you an idea of price, and other things you want to know. Since you said you prefer an electric/acoustic, one of the most important things is the electronics, and how they hold up with use.

You mentioned running it through an amp, but you also may want to run it through a sound board sometime. You don't want to HAVE to buy another guitar, if you start performing in public. Most of the electronics in name brand guitars will also have an xlr output, so you can plug it into a mic input on a board too.

Looking around online will take alot of the guess work out of finding what you want. Then go out and play some guitars at the music stores, and you'll already have most of the questions answered. Then it's just a matter of finding the one that you like best. Let us know how it goes, and if we can do anything else to help you.