what brand of acoustic guitar do i get for my first guitar.

[Bryan_limjinhui]

Hi all i am interested in learning the acoustic guitar and i was wondering what brand to get for a beginner like me.i have heard many crappy guitars and they sound like crap,i really need a good sounding guitar.my budget is around 300-400(max).so guys what guitar should i get?

 

[ob]

I was helping my friend choose his first guitar a while back, we were trying out guitars around peninsular/excelsior, and I was really impressed by the tanglewood guitar at TYMC. I can't remember which model exactly, but i think its a solid cedar top, dreadnought guitar without pickups and cutaway, satin finish, and its somewhere around 300 or less with a gigbag. Its hard to beat for its price, it looks great, feels great, sounds great, and good workmanship. Its well setup and TYMC offers a free setup within the next 6 months after purchase, bang for buck!

300-400 will get you pretty decent guitars. You would like to try guitars at luthermusic also, the people are nice and they actually pay attention to what you are looking for, they have a nice collection and their guitars are well setup.

You can also try Yamaha, they are really well made for its price.

The above are just my humble opinion though, have fun trying out.

 

[and23_julius]

I need to agree, for 300, tanglewood is a good choice(It's UK made AFAIK)

Regarding Yamaha IMO the weight of the name is too much on the guitar price, e.g.For 1000 SGD on a sale period, you get a guitar which is actually worth only 700 or so.....qualitywise


But one other posting once mentioned "Go out there and try one by one....get lots of trying, then choose the one that makes you happy"

 

[Slaughter]

Hey there, popular choices for that budget are Tanglewood from TYMC, the standard-series from Maestro Guitars, as well as the Takamine from Davis.

As mentioned, go try them all out and see which one feels and sounds best to you. Would be good if you could go along with an experienced friend.

 

[Jumpin'Jellybean]

Custom Acoustic.

 

[imkeith]

yea custom is quite worth it's value anw for your budget i would advise you to head down to citymusic they have alot of acoustics there that fit your bill

 

[EugeneSmasher]

I'm not going to recommend brands because that'll only end up adding more and more brands to give you a difficult time choosing. Instead, I'll recommend good guitar shops that have a good range of nice guitars in your budget:
- City Music (2nd floor, Peace Centre, along Selegie road)
- Davis Guitar (Peninsula Plaza basement)
- Ranking Sports and Music (Bras Basah Complex, 3rd storey, directly opposite from Swee Lee)

 

[ob]

I need to agree, for 300, tanglewood is a good choice(It's UK made AFAIK)

Regarding Yamaha IMO the weight of the name is too much on the guitar price, e.g.For 1000 SGD on a sale period, you get a guitar which is actually worth only 700 or so.....qualitywise

Oh oops, I should have been more specific, what I really meant was the Yamaha budget models. I can't really say for the 1k category cos I never tried those before. I bought a Yamaha FG-310, their cheapest dreadnought acoustic back in 2004 for about $200 with a gigbag, for that price, the quality (workmanship/sound/setup) exceeded what I could find at peninsular/excelsior at that time. The one I had got a thinner neck and sensible action which I think is important for somebody just starting out.

yea, just my 2 cents.

 

[ob]

I need to agree, for 300, tanglewood is a good choice(It's UK made AFAIK)

Regarding Yamaha IMO the weight of the name is too much on the guitar price, e.g.For 1000 SGD on a sale period, you get a guitar which is actually worth only 700 or so.....qualitywise

Oh oops, I should have been more specific, what I really meant was the Yamaha budget models. I can't really say for the 1k category cos I never tried those before. I bought a Yamaha FG-310, their cheapest dreadnought acoustic back in 2004 for about $200 with a gigbag, for that price, the quality (workmanship/sound/setup) exceeded what I could find at peninsular/excelsior at that time. The one I had got a thinner neck and sensible action which I think is important for somebody just starting out.

yea, just my 2 cents.

 

[Kinokunya]

For that budget of 300-400 maybe you might wanna walk over to Swee lee (while u're at Brash Basah) and try the iBanez acoustic guitars? I got mine around that price range also, but it was a electric-acoustic model, AW15ECE-LG. Thinking that I will plug to some amp next time.

Should have bought pure acoustic, the electric components add on to the overall weight..
But still, I like the tone.

 

[relinquish69]

for your budget don't expect the guitar to sound anything close to a full sized Taylor or a Martin & Co. I would recommend Custom Acoustics that are available at City Music. They should fit your price range nicely. Check out their solid top guitars.

Guitars that sound good doesn't mean it plays good. Although sound is an important aspect, feel is not too far off. A good set up has to be done on the guitar. if the action is good, neck is comfortable & sounds good, you have found the right guitar.

Don't be too brand conscious as guitars below the $400 range are all usually made from the same place (China) with similar build quality.

 

[3tsunburst]

hmmm,i think a yamaha acoustic would be good.
it not expensive and the quality is not bad.

 

[EugeneSmasher]

Yamaha laminated woods (laminate woods are common in low-end guitars) sound really good, doesn't have that rather flat, dead sound laminated woods normally have. So if you're looking at a laminated wood guitar, which is generally more resistant to humidity, Yamaha's a good option.

 

[VENGEANCE]

Custom Acoustic.

yeap, custom acoustic is actually damn good for a starter guitar. I got mine from Guitar Connection at peninsula, but apparently they setted it up first so maybe when you get it from city music (where custom acoustic gtrs are sold), send it for a good set up cause most china made guitar come without being set up. But all in all, custom acoustic sounds good for a gtr of that price range.

 

[chaoswizard1]

You can try ranking sports and music. They have considerable amounts of acoustics for you to choose for your budget.