Best Bang 4 Buck Acoustic

Schnozz · May 2020

Howdy Y'All,

I wanted to ask everybody's thoughts on the best bang 4 buck acoustic for under £1000 and then again for under £500, as I would prefer to pay the latter.

I think the USA Guild stuff is lovely, but I'm looking at Tanglewood, Recording King, Sigma, Peerless, Seagull and Gretsch...That type of thing.

I'm not too fussed about body size, but tend to prefer OM and bigger.

What's your thoughts/experiences?

CMW335 · May 2020

Are you looking to buy new or is second hand an option? Should be able to pick up a Gibson J35, J15 (few other Gibson acoustics) or Martin D15 model for under £1k

A Gibson J45 for a grand is possible too

Andy79 · May 2020

Best sub £500 for me is a 70s Yamaha FG. No question. Enough left in the budget to have an obligatory neck set

A more sensible answer is Sigma. The Historic J45 is incredible for what it costs. £450 new, £300 used. Also had a couple of Martin clones from them which have also been well well worth the money

Sub £1000 would be a used Gibson J15

McToot · May 2020

If you can find a used Larivee, they are absolutely wonderful.

pintspiller · May 2020

My stock answer for student instruments and acoustics is generally "the most expensive Yamaha within your budget".

Given your £1000 it'll be a different case, particularly if you are happy to buy used. But if it was me I wouldn't part with money on anything untested. I'd be choosy about sounds on an acoustic moreso than electric, to be honest, and I always like to try a neck regardless as that's 50% of what sells a guitar for me.

brojangles · May 2020

Eastman - you get really a lot of bang for not that many bucks. Their E series OMs, dreads and slope dreads are all great. Also pretty rare on the second hand market, but a second hand E6 OM (like a Martin 000-18) or E8-OM (000-28), or an E6D (like a D18) or E8D (like an HD-28), should come in well under a grand, and they'll give considerably more expensive guitars a run for their money. Or you could get an E1D, an all solid dread, for 500 quid new.

earwighoney · May 2020

pintspiller said:

My stock answer for student instruments and acoustics is generally "the most expensive Yamaha within your budget".

Given your £1000 it'll be a different case, particularly if you are happy to buy used. But if it was me I wouldn't part with money on anything untested. I'd be choosy about sounds on an acoustic moreso than electric, to be honest, and I always like to try a neck regardless as that's 50% of what sells a guitar for me.

+1

I've spent a ridiculous amount on acoustic instruments over the last 10 years or so and had a huge number of gripes, issues with humidity, warping necks and so on.

At the start of this journey I had a Yamaha FS720S (Om Shape of sorts) which I played the life out of for a few years, never put the guitar in case, never had to lower the string height at the bridge, or even adjust the truss rod.

For not that much the FG series are hard to beat, and for a little more their modified Dread shape LL guitars are superb. I played a friend's FG840 (maple back) which I couldn't quite believe how good it was.

Heartfeltdawn · May 2020

brojangles said:

Eastman - you get really a lot of bang for not that many bucks. Their E series OMs, dreads and slope dreads are all great. Also pretty rare on the second hand market, but a second hand E6 OM (like a Martin 000-18) or E8-OM (000-28), or an E6D (like a D18) or E8D (like an HD-28), should come in well under a grand, and they'll give considerably more expensive guitars a run for their money. Or you could get an E1D, an all solid dread, for 500 quid new.

Even the cheaper Eastmans are excellent. I bought one of these at the start of lockdown and can't say enough good things about it.

https://www.peachguitars.com/guitars/acoustic-guitars/6-string/eastman-pch1-om-classic.htm

stimpsonslostson · May 2020

Faith for me. Every one I’ve played has been great.

My Faith Naked Mercury is brilliant & I wouldn’t swap it for anything else... (almost) regardless of budget.

malcolmkindness · May 2020

Eastman or recording King.

sticker · May 2020

https://www.peachguitars.com/brands/yamaha-mega-deal/

There’s some great choices/prices here ...

LPManic · May 2020

Big fan of Yamaha CSF3M https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/27460-yamaha-csf3m-review. Review in Guitarist magazine excellent also.

Andy79 · May 2020

That’s some serious Yamaha goodness there.

On the back of this I dug out my old L6 tonight, glad I did

pjf · May 2020

Not what you asked. But best for under £100 must be the Recording King Bakersfield at Thomann.

richman6100 · May 2020

I have a Faith Venus (well, my son has it now) which is very good for the money and can probably be found at a good price second hand. Had a couple of other models too that I eventually moved on. I currently have a couple of Audens which, if you can find one on the used market, would be my suggestion. They're a definite step up from the Faiths I've owned and I prefer them to anything else in the price range that I tried including Eastman, which were very nice to be honest. I've yet to play a bad Yamaha, but I much preferred the higher end models. I have a wonderful Furch, but probably hard to find in the price point that you're looking at. Sigma might also be worth a look at the cheaper end of the market. I've tried quite a few and although some were a bit meh, I did come across a couple of absolute crackers. My Auden parlour and dreadnought get played the most of my acoustics these days. I occasionally try Martin dreads to see what I'm missing, but as yet I've not found one noticeably better than my Auden Colton.

Jez6345789 · May 2020

There seems to be a wealth of amazing acoustics at the value end of the market these days. I found this a few years ago with a solid Adirondack top for less than 300 quid Cort 300v think they tip in about 400 now but if you want budget and Adirondack rather than Sitka then this is a classic copy of an old-style Martin OOO

https://pegheadnation.com/instruments-gear/instrument-demos/cort-l300v/

It took a good year of playing pretty much every day to start getting broken in but it now has that defined nice dry woody tone you think of from an older Martin 4 years on its still the best bargain I have bought and continues to gently age.

As acoustics go, I can't praise it enough I was happy to drop whatever for a Martin version but never been a label snob and this is more than good regardless of price.

Its not an exact copy but the forward shifted X brace is not a bad thing on a smaller body OOO

For all of my love for this poor mans, OOO just get out and play some of the ones recommended here there is an absolute feast of great acoustics from 100 quid Tanglewood Crossroads Series which are amazing value at sub £100 quid and if you shop around for 500-1k skies the limit.

McSwaggerty · May 2020

Eastman.!!!

WindmillGuitars · May 2020

Eastman - and if you fancy one please drop me a line

Nibulniblin · May 2020

One to seriously consider: Auden. I have a Chester Neo 45mm nut model - modified 000 size. Designed and fettled by Gordon Smith folks. Faultless small workshop build, game changing electronics. Plays and sounds superb. Around £800 with highest quality case/bag. I'd have paid pretty much twice the price for this class of instrument. Completely happy with it.

In my time I've had Huss & Dalton, Guild USA, Furch, Eastman, Atkin, Lakewood and others - all moved on. The Auden is going nowhere, ever.

LooseMoose · May 2020

I bought this recently. I never thought I’d say it as I’ve always been a little sniffy about Tanglewood but it is frankly astonishingly good value,I kinda feel everyone should buy one!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362991873052

earwighoney · May 2020

Jez6345789 said:

There seems to be a wealth of amazing acoustics at the value end of the market these days. I found this a few years ago with a solid Adirondack top for less than 300 quid Cort 300v think they tip in about 400 now but if you want budget and Adirondack rather than Sitka then this is a classic copy of an old-style Martin OOO

https://pegheadnation.com/instruments-gear/instrument-demos/cort-l300v/

It took a good year of playing pretty much every day to start getting broken in but it now has that defined nice dry woody tone you think of from an older Martin 4 years on its still the best bargain I have bought and continues to gently age.

As acoustics go, I can't praise it enough I was happy to drop whatever for a Martin version but never been a label snob and this is more than good regardless of price.

Its not an exact copy but the forward shifted X brace is not a bad thing on a smaller body OOO

For all of my love for this poor mans, OOO just get out and play some of the ones recommended here there is an absolute feast of great acoustics from 100 quid Tanglewood Crossroads Series which are amazing value at sub £100 quid and if you shop around for 500-1k skies the limit.

Thanks for posting the lightbox pictures, is the 000-18 bracing 'in the middle' or rear shifted? Yes, you are right that a OM being forward shifted makes a lot of sense. I'm really impressed with the Cort tbh, it looks incredibly well made and a Red Spruce soundboard OM for less than £400 is an exceptional deal.

zepp76 · May 2020

LooseMoose said:

I bought this recently. I never thought I’d say it as I’ve always been a little sniffy about Tanglewood but it is frankly astonishingly good value,I kinda feel everyone should buy one!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362991873052

If you want your mind truly changed about Tanglewood try an X15 NS they’re not the cheapest at £650 but not the most expensive either and are just amazingly good guitars.

Jez6345789 · May 2020

Hi
hard to say as image is not to scale and I did not resize mine as well as I could as it was a rush job.

front shifted I believe is around 1 “ from sound hole 11/2” standard 13/4 rear shifted.

I presume the 1950 to be standard but reading up they moved to rear shifted late 30’s so I presume it stayed that way for a while. Again I presume for greater acoustic projection/ volume.

i am sure some of the acoustic experts here could clarify it better.

for me an unexpected totally random find and one I am glad I got.

if you listen to the latter part of the review video where he plays in DADGaD gives a better idea of how it develops. Does have a lot of bang for the buck.

i am sure true aficionado of these thing will go on about the line count being low or cork sniffing stuff but it easily gets you in a different ball park than the standard Asian Sitka budget guitar.

TimmyO · May 2020

Last time I was in a decent acoustic shop looking for something more expensive I took the opportunity to also try a bunch of Eastmans as I'd not payed any before - I was blown away by how good they *all* were. the more expensive ones were better than the cheaper ones, but all were great guitars at the respective prices - I'd definitely put them on any future shortlist

GTC · May 2020

I recently bought a left-handed Eastman travel guitar just to see if they were as good as I'd read on this forum.

In summary - WOW!

Teyeplayer · May 2020

I have an Eastman OM that isn’t getting enough use, feel free to drop me a pm.

10thumbs · May 2020

Whatever you decide on , real bang for your buck comes from buying second hand , errr I mean. ..pre-loved.

Creed_Clicks · May 2020

A range of Tanglewoods maybe. I have a Seagull s6. Seems to be a good enough workhorse.

Schnozz · May 2020

Creed_Clicks said:

A range of Tanglewoods maybe. I have a Seagull s6. Seems to be a good enough workhorse.

Yeah that's the one I'm intrigued by

Lots of good suggestions - Auden may be slightly out of my price range. I can manage £700 tops.

Teyeplayer · May 2020

Auden guitars generally play very well and sometimes crop up secondhand in your budget. The lower level offerings from Maton are also worth a look, I’ve an s60 that’s very nice. As has been said so many times here, you’ll struggle to find anything as good as the guitars from Eastman in this range.

Here’s my OM as reference for what £500 can get you (it really is astonishing):
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/155097/ngd-eastman-e1-om-ltd#latest

WindmillGuitars · May 2020

I've just posted an offer on some ex-factory demo Eastman's in the classifieds for anyone looking

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