Acoustic/Electric Gift for under $250?

[bglaze]

My wife and I would like to get my brother-in-law an Acoustic guitar for Christmas. He is an intermediate guitarist who has been playing in his church for quite a long time. He had to sell his guitar a year ago for--I think--financial reasons. The one he had was a very basic Fender Acoustic/Electric. We can't afford to get him something really good, but we want to get him something that works for now.

I play primarily electrics, and I have been out of the Acoustic market for quite some time.

My primary consideration was to get him an Acoustic/Electric, because that would allow him to easily be amplified for church playing.

However, it seems that I could get him a plain Acoustic of higher quality for our budget than if we went Acoustic/Electric. And he could then mic it for amplification.

I would love any advice on what to look for in this price range. I don't have a brand preference at all. I have played Alvarez, Takamine, and Applause (by Ovation) in this price range and like them, but I definitely would love some direction if there are other good ones to look for. If anyone has any suggestions they would be much appreciated!

Thanks,
Brock

[twangcaster1]

Get him a takamine gs330s and get a pickup for the sound hole. You could do that for about $250.

[jspeter51]

I have a Takamine and absolutely love it. Best value for the money, imo. Heck, even the Jasmine guitars made by them are decent (around $100). I think he would be happy withe the Takamine though.

[jimd]

I would try to get him a guitar with a solid top. A solid top will make a big difference in the quality of the sound. A quick look on musiciansfriend tells me solid top acoustics start right at $250. There are several decent ones, Alvarez, Yamaha, Washburn. It doesn't look like you can get a solid top and a pickup for under $300. I personally would rather have the better sounding solid top guitar that I could add a pickup to later, than a poorer sounding guitar. You can't upgrade the top. Maybe you could get someone else in the family to buy him a soundhole pickup.

[twangcaster1]

Many a great guitar has been built with laminate top, though. And the Takamine GS330S is a solid cedar top with nato back and sides.

[KevinB]

At the $250 price point I would also give up the electronics in favour of a solid topped instrument.

The Alvarez RD20S, Fender CD-140S and the Yamaha FG720S are all worth a look. Notice that solid topped models usually - but not always - end with as "S".

A good guitar can always be miked, or a pickup can be added later.

[tbp0701]

See if you can find and try out an Art & Lutherie AMI (then he can add a pickup).


http://www.artandlutherieguitars.com/ami.htm

[aunchaki]

I'll chime in and repeat what most of the above posters have said:

I also would opt for the better-quality, solid-top acoustic and add electronics later.

I also recommend Takamine. I love mine. I found this for $249:



It's NOT a solid-top, but does have electronics.

Good hunting, let us know what you get!

[bglaze]

Thank you all for your advice. My wife and I went to Guitar Center last night because we had a $15 promotional gift card to spend that we had gotten in the mail, and I found what I believe to be a phenomenal deal!

All the Ovation acoustics on the wall had discount tags on them, and one of the sales they were running on Ovation guitars was $50 off any Ovation acoustic guitar priced $299 or less. After looking at them all, I was pretty impressed, but then I found a used Ovation on the wall and took it down and played it, and I instantly fell in love with it!

It is an Ovation CC44, and I noticed that GC's brand new price for these was $399, but this one was marked $279, and it had a $50 off tag since it was under $299! And it was MINT, with no scratches or rub marks of any kind.

So, with the discount it was essentially marked $229.99 for a $400 guitar. I snagged it and bought a hard case for it, and I hope he likes it.

Oh, and since I had a $15 promotional gift card it made a $400 guitar $214.99! I couldn't believe it!

Here is a picture of it:

[aunchaki]

Great score!! I like that style of Ovations (with the little holes), I think they look neat! A wonderful gift and sensible use of your resources!

[KevinB]

Nice Celebrity! I'm sure he's going to love it.

[RickG501]

I'm sure he'll love it. You're a good brother in law.

[jvanhorn]

Originally Posted by twangcaster1

Get him a takamine gs330s and get a pickup for the sound hole. You could do that for about $250.

Put a Dean Makley Pro Mag pickup in the above guitar and thats about as good as you can get for the price!

[jvanhorn]

Originally Posted by jvanhorn

Put a Dean Makley Pro Mag pickup in the above guitar and thats about as good as you can get for the price!

LOL, or even better buy a Dean Markley!

[HOBBSTER01]

Those Celebrities are pretty decent especially at that price.
Great score.