How much should a beginner spend on an acoustic?

[Eric]

One of the guys at church asked me to help him shop for a guitar. I found out that he wants an acoustic, doesn't need to be acoustic-electric, and he'd like to keep it under $100. I said I'd see what I could find and recommended getting a used one, but I figured I should evaluate whether $100 will get him something of sufficient quality.

What would you say is a minimum you should be able to spend on your first (acoustic) guitar? This guy is primarily a piano/keyboard player, but he wants to get into guitar. It would be his first guitar, so I realize we're not shooting for the moon, but I'd like a reasonable number to have him target that would allow him to get something that will serve him well.

Any guitar suggestions you'd like to offer up would be appreciated too, but I'm mainly looking for how much $$ he should be able to spend right now. Thanks all!

[omegadot]

When I was shopping for my last beauty I played a 99 dollar Takamine that was quite pleasant to play.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Jasmine-by-Takamine-S35-Acoustic-Guitar-101114072-i1148991.gc

I think it was that.

[Heywood Jablomie]

Very playable acoustics can easily be had used for a hundred bucks or so. I had a Tak G-Series (I think it was a G340) that I got for about $125, and it was very nice, especially the action.

[Zip]

+5 to the above suggestions. I care about fretboard material, scarf joints, bracing, things like that. He won't. Easy action, stay in tune....that's about all that's really important at this point. Tone & such will become important as he advances, musician or novice it's all the same.

[Eric]

Fair enough. I think my dad actually has one of those Jasmine guitars. I found it on ebay for $1 with $55 shipping. :) There are worse guitars in the world.

Thanks for the input. I think the idea to go for action and tuning is a good one.

[deeaa]

Just bought a very very nice Ibanez for a friend for $100 slightly used, including soft case and spare strings...VERY playable and quite a nice sounding guitar too. In fact I paid $350 for my super-basic-stripped-down Artcore Ibanez and this 100-buck one is in no way inferior a guitar...so yeah, seems $100 should buy a pretty good acoustic guitar these days!

[hubberjub]

I'd say, get him up to $200 and find a used Simon & Patrick/Seagull/Art & Lutherie/Norman. IMO, the best acoustic value in existence.

[FusedGrooves]

Spend as much as possible.

[Retro Hound]

I paid $75 for my Squier acoustic at a garage sale. Came with hard shell case, stand, tuner, and beginners book! If he can look around, bargains can be had. And I think mine has a very nice tone to it. Better than a lot of cheap guitars I've played.

[Tig]

Good advice so far. I see Tak Jasmines on CL for much cheaper than $100 all the time.
New strings are a must on the used guitars, naturally.

For new and under $150, Dean, Fender, Jasmine, and Epiphone would be worth demo'ing.

[Duffy]

I had cheap or free acoustics for many many years and they didn't sound anything like a decent acoustic.

For a hundred, used, he might, with your help, be able to find something half way decent.

New I would expect to pay about 190 for something even real decent, like the Samick Jumbo I bought new for 189. Later I hardwired a tailpin rigged Dean Markley Pro Mag Grande soundhole pickup into it, the piano black one, and it sounds incredibly great plugged in. It sounds real good acoustically as well.

My personal experience is to go to music stores and tune and strum gently the acoustic guitars in my price range and listen carefully for the really quality sounding ones, the ones that chime like bells and have a tone that you are looking for. You know, the elusive tone quest. Usually the more expensive ones sound a lot smoother and mellower with chime as well. But checking around and putting some work into it, I think you could find a real good sounding inexpensive acoustic by strumming and listening.

However, the guy is going to have to want to do the footwork and if he only wants to spend a hundred he may not be committed to doing the necessary footwork to locate a real decent sounding inexpensive guitar.

It would be advantageous to start out on a real good sounding acoustic, regardless of price. They can be found in all price ranges. Every guitar, as you know, sounds different. This quest might just be a little more difficult considering the limited price range.

A new Oscar Schmidt is close to two hundred and the Samick's way outclass those. I would say try to find somewhere that sells Samicks. Samick makes guitars for a lot of big names and they just put their name on them. Samick decided to make their own line and sell it very inexpensively but provide a really decent guitar to people at a very very reasonable price. They have a twelve string I want to get.

Hope this line of thought helps.

[Kazz]

I would say see if you can get him to spend $200 and get either a Seagull S6+ or a Washburn D10

[Duffy]

I agree on the Seagull S6+ but I don't think you can get one for 200 or I would probably jump on that.

I have a real nice Seagull and they are definitely great guitars.

It is, even if possible at this price, twice what this guy wants to spend.

For a hundred he can probably find someone that is willing to sell a half way decent acoustic with case, but he won't be able to be picky and will have to settle for the first really decent one he sees.

Otherwise he is going to have to do the footwork and go all around that Philadelphia area to music stores, CL, etc., to track down something really nice. People need money. Doing a lot of footwork could get you something probably fairly decent for a hundred in a big metropolitan area like that. But then you have to figure in gas.

How about you Eric? Are you willing to do some of the footwork for him? I got a really great deal on an acoustic Ibanez with case for a friend of mine not long ago.

I can remember the day, long ago, that a really decent hundred dollar used guitar would have been really appreciated.

[Kazz]

He didn't say it had to be a "new" guitar. Not sure about the Phily area but in my part of the country, I see used Seagul S6+'s in the $200 - $225 range frequently. The Washburn D10 can be picked up for around $100 pretty frequently on Craigslist and Abay too.

[gregsguitars]

No, Cheap guitars are just that, they usually have bad action, sound terrible and will actually discourage someone from playing, bump it up a notch to around $500.00 and get a decent guitar.

[deeaa]

For a hundred or a tad over you can score a very good player used, 3-400 gets a new basic one that's also soundwise good enough for most anything, past 400 it's basically just fine nuances in sound or elaborate woodwork to add.

Add 100-200 to each stage if you want useable mic system in it.

[Eric]

I'd say that, while $500 will bump you up into the "nice" category, most beginners are still in the do-I-really-want-to-play-guitar phase, where a relatively big investment like $500 is a lot to spend on something you're unsure about.

I think this carries through to a lot of stuff. Sure, it's worth it to get top-end gear if you're sure that's what you want and that you will be using it for a long time. However, most beginners are just getting their feet wet and are unwilling to dive in and buy the most expensive gear if they're unsure that what they really want.

It's how my mind works too -- e.g. why would I get a high-end compressor pedal that's probably very specialized, only to later realize that I hate compression and/or don't want to play the guitar after all?

[deeaa]

Here's a good example of a nice cheap acoustic:

http://muusikoiden.net/tori/nayta.php?id=443489

Only 85 euros, real mahogany and spruce top - with bag and the seller at least claims it plays superbly, which is easy to check when buying. Nice strings and I'd venture it doesn't sound much inferior to way more expensive guitars. I have a friend who has gigged with a cheap Ibanez like that for a decade already. In fact, hm, maybe I should buy this...naah, too far to go and check it meself. But anyhow, this kind of deals aren't very rare and IMO perfect for beginner guitars.