Need recommendations on guitar with good wooden strumming sound for recording.

[Lurker99]

Hi all pro guitarists,

I'm new here. I'm thinking of getting a simple accoustic guitar, has no pickups, has good sound for a mic-up for recording chord strummings only. I'm using this guitar for simple open chord rhythm accompaniments for my songs. Would anyone be kind enough to recommend me a particular brand and guitar type within the range of 100-400 bucks for me? I won't be using it to play solos at all. It will only be used for chord strumming.

THanks guys!

 

[zaidi534]

Swing SM-100 at SV Guitars. :j

 

[relinquish69]

can walk around peninsular basement area to have a look. plenty of solid top guitars available within that range.

 

[loldude333]

You could get a Custom Acoustic for that price at Citymusic. Those are the best guitars for your budget IMHO. Can try Celtone at Luthermusic too, though i'm not sure if those are quite within your price range.

 

[Lurker99]

Hay guys. Thanks for the replies. I'm kinda like a newbie at this so could anybody be so kind to like describe the difference between different wood types, guitar body types and stuff that will affect the guitar sound? I'm going for something with a very high "twang" sound to it so that if it's recorded, I can get the very strummy kind of feel as an accompaniment.

 

[loldude333]

It'd take quite awhile to go through all that. I'd suggest Googling it. For your case, since you're a pure strummer and want a brighter sound, i'd suggest a dreadnought with sitka spruce top and rosewood back and sides.

 

[relinquish69]

my vote goes to Celtone guitars. Every single piece I've tried just sounds great. Check em out at G77.

 

[Brenkoh]

Hi there, I would recommend the Maestro ED1, you can check them out at Maestro(peninsular basement). Though, not all pieces made are consistent (to be honest). Basically the best answer to this question is to take a trip down to peninsular basement or Citymusic(selegie) and try the guitars (of different brands) out yourself.

There are a few pointers to take note in terms of sound:

1) Wood Material
Top: Spruce (very tough/highest-strength wood usually used for aircraft parts)
Fretboard: Rosewood (darker sounding)
Neck/Bridge/back/siders/headstock: Ebony (hard, dense and low damping characteristics)

* Can be other wood materials too.

2) Wood grain

Notice the wood grain space used for the top.
Wide-grain: More bass sounding (darker)
Even grain: Balanced
Fine grain: More treble sounding. (brighter)

You can also derive whether the guitar was made with one piece of wood or joined with another by observing the wood grain pattern consistency.

Something to read: http://www.jemsite.com/jem/wood.htm

 

[loldude333]

@Brenkoh: Spruce used for aircraft parts? That's something new! As for ebony, that's more of a high end wood, mostly used as fretboard material. Highly likely you won't find it on a sub $1k guitar.

 

[Lurker99]

Hey guys thanks for all the recommendations. I went to peninsular to tryout guitars and I bought a full spruce solid body dreadnought celtone from G77. That was the sound i was looking for at $295. The salesman was really friendly and he gave me free strings and a pick. Heh! They were kinda like partying in the shop though heh! Cool peeps.