Acoustic/Electric Advice Needed

Str8Axe · #1 January 17th, 2006

Well, it's a couple of months off, but camping season in Canada is approaching. Sitting around a fire with a bunch of my close friends playing music has to be one of my favorite things to do. I need a new guitar for the spring/summer!

I want to buy a new acoustic/electric guitar for this year as my current acoustic sucks in my opinion. Now, I had orriginally planned on buying 2 guitars. One acoustic and one acoustic/electric, but I'm finally realizing that I'm not made of money...unfortunately... So, that being said, I will kill two birds with one stone and get an acoustic/electric. I would not want to exceed the $500 mark (Canadian funds). I'm pretty picky on sound quality on an acoustic, and am finding it really hard to find something of the quality that I need, and within my price range. I want to buy new. The reason I'm looking at the acoustic electric is for playing at home through my amp as well as at the lake without an amp.

Does anyone have any suggestions?? I've looked at a couple Takamine models and they sound awesome, but they're just a little more than I am willing to invest. I love the tone and full sound of a Washburn also. I've contemplated buying a straight acoustic Washburn and adding a Dean Markley pickup. Has anyone had any good/bad experiences with this pickup?

http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--DNMPROMAGPLUS

Just trying to initiate some conversation to help in my decision.

Peace

Yeah1Right · #2 January 17th, 2006

Hi, I think that it's admirable of you to spend so much money to entertain campers! Me, I'd buy one Yamaha for camping and one of your choice for you and your best friends.

Peace back at yah, Gary

allthumbs · #3 January 17th, 2006

P.M. ultimate garage band. He is a dealer. I know he could steer you in the right direction. The trick is getting a guitar that sounds good unplugged.Glen tells me my washburn festival is a killer acoustic unplugged too,it's being shipped today,but it is a bit out of your price range, He just bought a more expensive EA18 to gig with,but finds it doesn't sound as good unplugged as mine. Since he bought his for amplified gigs that's not a problem and amplified his just shines.

Str8Axe · #4 January 17th, 2006

My main concern would be the sound quality unplugged as well. I'll PM ultimate and see what he suggests.

bluesguy · #5 January 17th, 2006

Personally I would keep your old guitar for going camping with and save your $s for a really nice acoustic/electric. I use to have a Yamaha APX-4a. An ok guitar but a thin body so not very loud. I decided I wanted a better guitar - one that was more of a 'dreadnought thickness' so it would be louder and fuller sounding.

I ended up playing a lot of guitars between $500 & $1200 (US) before settling on a Takamine EAN-15. It is a great guitar. I took it once on a camping trip. I won't do that again - nothing bad happened to it - but I decided I would rather have a beater guitar on camping trips than my nice guitar. Wish I had kept the Yamaha for just that purpose.

don creamore · #6 January 17th, 2006

Don C. I would go and check out the Seagull or Simon & Patrick folk models. Incredible sound for the money. Great guitar for fingerpicking. You can get the S&P with a B-Band 3.2 pre-amp for under 500.00. Canadian made as well.

allthumbs · #7 January 18th, 2006

This is what I bought. There is one on ebay for 419+ shipping so it mighr just fall into your price range. Even though it is a thin body,Glen says it plays surprisingly loud unplugged and even better plugged in.
I got the tobacco burst.f32sce
http://www.washburn.com/products/acoustics/folk/#
I forgot to mention this is primarily a finger picking guitar.

Str8Axe · #8 January 18th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluesguy

Personally I would keep your old guitar for going camping with and save your $s for a really nice acoustic/electric. ~~~~~ I took it once on a camping trip. I won't do that again - nothing bad happened to it - but I decided I would rather have a beater guitar on camping trips than my nice guitar. Wish I had kept the Yamaha for just that purpose.

Good point. That's certainly a concern of mine too. It is good to have a beater guitar for the lake. I remember having a few too many wobbly pops around the fire one night and taking a "hike" with a friend and my guitar. Well, as opposed to a hike, it ended up to be a sideways shuffle in the dark... Mind you, when we finally made it to the rockface overlooking the lake, I was most certainly inspired. Nothing beats a guitar/harmonica combo under the moon!

Str8Axe · #9 January 18th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by don creamore

Don C. I would go and check out the Seagull or Simon & Patrick folk models. Incredible sound for the money. Great guitar for fingerpicking. You can get the S&P with a B-Band 3.2 pre-amp for under 500.00. Canadian made as well.

I actually had a serious look at the Simon & Patrick's the other night. They really have a sweet sound. And, the price range is attainable. Now, I'm fairly new to playing (13 months) and have not really tried fingerpicking at all.

Yeah1Right · #10 January 18th, 2006

Nice choice allthumbs!

Str8Axe · #11 January 26th, 2006

So last night I had the crazy idea of restringing my acoustic. Well, I was so bent on buying a new one for summer because the sound was not as nice as I'd like it to be on the present one. With the new strings, it sounds better by leaps and bounds. All this time I thought my intenation was off, but it turned out to be old, low grade strings...

Now I can take the time to save up for a nice Tak for home and recording. Sweet.

allthumbs · #12 January 26th, 2006

Good set of strings can make all the difference. Cool.

Lcjones · #13 January 27th, 2006

hey str8axe,

imho, you don't get any acoustic sound quality from an acoustic/electric guitar. (read that as zero, zip, nada, nothing)

i would avoid the fake wanna-be-electric scene all together. get one or the other. if you want to "electrify" your acoustic, get an acoustic pickup like a Dean Markley. But don't try to make an electric guitar out of an acoustic. It just doesn't work. They sound like (#(*&$.

Yep, totally understand saving a buck. But to compromise quality is out of the question. You can pickup a seriously nice acoustic on the cheap, pop a sound hole pickup in it and it will blow your mind.

les

allthumbs · #14 January 27th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by lcjones

hey str8axe,

imho, you don't get any acoustic sound quality from an acoustic/electric guitar. (read that as zero, zip, nada, nothing)

i would avoid the fake wanna-be-electric scene all together. get one or the other. if you want to "electrify" your acoustic, get an acoustic pickup like a Dean Markley. But don't try to make an electric guitar out of an acoustic. It just doesn't work. They sound like (#(*&$.

Yep, totally understand saving a buck. But to compromise quality is out of the question. You can pickup a seriously nice acoustic on the cheap, pop a sound hole pickup in it and it will blow your mind.

les

Ultimate Garage Band and I have both just bought acoustic-electrics. His ,he says, plays brilliantly plugged in. In fact, at his last gig,the club owner who has heard hundreds of guitars said that it is the best he has ever heard. Mind you it sucks unplugged,but then it was designed as a pro guitar to be played with an amp. Mine is a step down from his and plays great both plugged and unplugged,he says. It is still in shipping so I am taking hs word for it. I think you really need to know your guitars to get a good acoustic-electric,but it can be done.

Ultimate Garage Band · #15 January 27th, 2006

I equate guitars to tools and in the world of tools there are a variety of them, like saws. A sabre saw makes a different cut than a circular saw. Both are saws and do what they do well, but to get the desired cut, one might need a variety of saws to best do the job.

I have a lot of guitars, well, more than others and not as many as some others, but I think I have around 10 right now. Of these 10, only 2 are pretty much the same version of each other, that is, kind of like having 2 circular saws. The reason for that is, I gig A LOT and I need a reliable #1 guitar and IF it goes down I need a reliable #2 guitar that's just plug and go and not a bunch of fooling around to get the sound the same. Thus I play a Washburn EA17 and an EA18. These guitars are specifically made to play acoustic guitar in a loud, amplified, environment with little or no feedback. I need that. I have gigs on my schedule that put me in a position where I'm running my 100 watt amp on about 5 and I'm only 2 or 3 feet away from it. If I had a full size guitar with a solid top and a pickup system installed in it, I'd never stop hearing it howl in feedback.

I have some guitars that have no pickup system in them. I have used one of them live and used a mic on it but I MUCH prefer the EA18 or EA17 for that type of application. The right tool for the job man, that's what it's all about.

Marty, yours has been in the trusty hands of the USPS for over a week now. I hope you see it soon.