What are your top 3 acoustic-electric guitar recommendations?

[worldsluckiestman]

I'm mainly a casual acoustic player that plays at home, but I also want to be able to record what I have played into the computer so I can review it, as well as try a little bit of electric playing.

Can someone who have had experience with or has an acoustic-electric guitar themselves give me some pointers on what are some good choices?

My main worry is that the acoustic aspect of the acoustic-electric guitar might be quite weak i.e. when played acoustically, the sound is too soft. How much truth is there to this?

Thanks!

 

[Phil]

Hi,

I think before I start recommending specific brands and models, I've got to understand exactly what you're looking for.

You mentioned that you worry about how loud/soft the 'acoustic-electric' will sound acoustically. That made me wonder if you're actually looking for an acoustic-electric or a semi-hollow. An acoustic-electric is basically a full-fledged acoustic guitar that has the pickups installed additionally. A semi-hollow is in essence an electric guitar that has a semi-hollowed body and electric pickups. Read THIS for more further information.


Acoustic-Electric

Semi-hollow

So if you're talking about an acoustic-electric, then there's no cause for worry about it being soft with regards to volume. It will function as a normal acoustic guitar(because it is one), with the added capability of being plugged in.
Of course, the installation of the pickups will affect the tone of your guitar. But it's minimal at the most, IMHO, and is a whole different topic altogether.

 

[worldsluckiestman]

thanks Phil!

I am looking at acoustic-electric guitars. I generally play acoustic, but want to record into my laptop sometimes so I want to get something that can be record using cables/interfaces into my laptop instead of through a mic which gives pretty bad quality records.

I am a little biased towards the Ovation models because they are quite pretty. But I have heard that ovation acoustic-electric guitars can be drowned out when unplugged because of it's bowl design? Or something like that.

So I'm split between getting a pretty ovation that may be soft acoustically and sound great plugged in VS. another acoustic-electric that looks like that picture above.

But I am not limiting my options to just that, but if someone owns an ovation or another brand of acoustic-electrics, I'd really appreciate their input.