Acoustic options £500 - £750

Kilgore

Fuengi said:

Will do the Portsmouth, Chichester, Fareham, Guildford tour trying before buying. 

Looking at Eastman's range they do some gorgeous looking guitars for what looks to be very competitive prices. Do they sound any good? 

Well tone is subjective, best to try them out. But all the ones I've played have fantastic build quality and great playability.

Fuengi

The eastern European range Andertons do is Dawina (pronounced Davina), anyone tried one? 

Teyeplayer

Must it be new? I picked up a fantastic Martin 000-15m for 700 a year or two ago and still occasionally see similiar secondhand deals come up. You should be able to get a nice Larrivee for a similiar figure secondhand. By holding out for a quality secondhand instrument you could have a far better guitar for your money.

Fuengi

Teyeplayer said:

Must it be new? I picked up a fantastic Martin 000-15m for 700 a year or two ago and still occasionally see similiar secondhand deals come up. You should be able to get a nice Larrivee for a similiar figure secondhand. By holding out for a quality secondhand instrument you could have a far better guitar for your money.

I take your point. My thinking is that I can get a really good acoustic in this price range and can select the size, shape, top wood and finger board I want, plus I can try a stack and chose the one that feels just right. 

Whenever I have bought used I've compromised. I've had some nice acoustics, but at the back of my mind I'm thinking: I wouldn't have chosen this from a selection.  

Teyeplayer

Fuengi said:

Teyeplayer said:

Must it be new? I picked up a fantastic Martin 000-15m for 700 a year or two ago and still occasionally see similiar secondhand deals come up. You should be able to get a nice Larrivee for a similiar figure secondhand. By holding out for a quality secondhand instrument you could have a far better guitar for your money.

I take your point. My thinking is that I can get a really good acoustic in this price range and can select the size, shape, top wood and finger board I want, plus I can try a stack and chose the one that feels just right. 

Whenever I have bought used I've compromised. I've had some nice acoustics, but at the back of my mind I'm thinking: I wouldn't have chosen this from a selection.  

Certainly understand your sense of compromise and fully endorse wanting to try a bunch of guitars and take away the one that speaks to you. If it was me however, I’d try the higher end models that met my needs or desired spec, the ones that would be unattainable knew and would aim to get a feel for what worked for me and what didn’t. Once I new what I wanted (for instance I still want a larrivee l-02 or 3 at some point) i’d sit and wait, almost play the long game until the right guitar came up. I appreciate this is flipping hard once gas kicks in though.

Fuengi

Yeah, that's probably good advice. I should compare up to £1200 and see if the difference is worth holding out for.

Phil_aka_Pip

@Teyeplayer ; OI! You're trying to put him off checking over the Epi masterbilt archtops for me

Teyeplayer

Phil_aka_Pip said:

@Teyeplayer ; OI! You're trying to put him off checking over the Epi masterbilt archtops for me

Sorry Phil, I’ll stand down.

crunchman

The purists don't like it because of the non-traditional materials but the Martin OOX1AE is a very good sounding guitar.

fields5069

I would recommend looking at Simon & Patrick. I have the all-mahogany "Woodland Pro Folk", and it's a lovely guitar particularly for finger picking. I picked mine up for under £500 in a sale, but £600 - £700 should get you one new.

jackorion

At that price point I'd look at the Faith guitars (all solid woods, great sound & playabilty, but quite a 'modern' tone) or the Yamaha L series (solid tops on the 6s, all solid on the 16s, great sound and playability, albeit with a bigger neck, and a more 'vintage' bass tone)

Fuengi

Guitarist Mag landed on the doorstep today, loaded with their Gear or The Year section. In the acoustics they've gone for:

Taylor Academy series 12E at £599
Martin D-16E at £2,299
Fender Mahogany PM-1 at £509
Yamaha A5R ARE at £1,240

The one thing I don't like about the Faith series is the lack of fretboard markers. I really struggle with it. 

Chris_J

Maybe something from the Godin family of guitars. I used to play a Norman which punched well above is weight and a mate plays a Simon and Patrick that is equally as nice.