acoustic electric guitar

[jimbecky48001]

I am looking for likes and dislikes of acoustic electric guitars such as Ovation or other models that you all have actually played before.Which models are better than others and so on.

[Pickoid]

This is a pretty open-ended question. Are you looking for a guitar that will mostly be played acoustically (around the house, let's say) and plugged in occasionally, or a guitar that will see most of its used plugged in? Also, the available budget makes a huge difference.

I'll try to make some generalizations. Ovations became hugely popular in the 70's because they were the first manufacturer that came out with a decent-sounding plug-and-play acoustic electric. Also, they are fairly durable. However, I personally can't stand 'em, because they are too goofy to hold and don't sound like I think an acoustic guitar should sound. They are fine for plugging in, though. Just about every old Ovation I've seen with a solid wood top has one or more big cracks in the top, because the fiberglass bowl is rigid and doesn't accomodate the subtle shrink/swell cycle of the wood. Most of them these days probably have plywood or carbon fibre tops anyway.

In the late 80's-early 90's, the acoustic-electric guitar to have was Takamine. They are owned by the same parent company as Ovation. At the time, they had a very good pickup and preamp system that came a lot closer to sounding like a guitar than most everything else. I still think they are good for plugging in, but as acoustic guitars I have always felt they were way overpriced and had pretty crummy materials and build quality. There are exceptions as you move up in price, but the typical $600 Takamine at Guitar Center strikes me as a $200 guitar with a nice pickup.

There are infinite possibilities out there - I can't even scratch the surface in a post like this. The best thing to do is to try a lot of guitars within your budget and pick what YOU like best and what works the best for its intended use.

[jimbecky48001]

I went to the guiter center yesterday and tried the Ovations and a Takamine.It is much more difficult to pick a guitar now as opposed to 25 years ago as they are now made in the USA,China,Korea,Mexico.I intend to hang on to this for a long time and appreciate all the opinions I can get at this time.

[James Hart]

I really dig the stuff Seagull puts out
http://www.seagullguitars.com/intro.htm

Nice acoustics with quality electronics.

[Pickoid]

Well, I would suggest purchasing a guitar with a solid wood (not plywood) top. I think all the guitars Seagull makes would fall into this category. The Seagulls are made in Canada so at least they have "made in North America" going for them.

I have played a number of Epiphone "Masterbilt" guitars recently at various Guitar Centers. These are, in general, all solid wood guitars (top, back, and sides) and are made in China. I was absolutely floored at how good a couple of them sounded and how cleanly they were built. I mean, a couple were on sale for less than $500 and easily could have competed with $1000+ U.S. made guitars. None of the ones I played had an elaborate pickup/preamp system, but I bet some are available.

If your budget will stretch to the above $1000 level, it's hard to beat a Taylor with the ES pickup/preamp setup. Check out www.taylorguitars.com. Taylor has a reputation among guitar snobs as being the Bose of acoustic guitars, but they really do make great guitars with incredible playability. That's one in my avatar, my beloved 1992 model 510. However, it was made at their old factory, much more by hand than today's Taylors. Taylor had been around for 18 years when my guitar was made, and its serial number is a little over 15,000. Now they make more guitars than that in a year. But I digress...

There are several Martin models that fall into the $750-$1200 price range that are worth looking at. All Martins have solid tops except a few in the "X" series - in general, I would stay away from the "X" series unless you are certain you are getting a solid-top one. The back and sides (and the tops on some models) are made out of formica in the X series.

[Reel 2 Reel]

In the weeks before I got my new Ibanez for X-mas last year...I was at the local guitar center. While in there I spent some time in the Acoustic room...and in amoungnst(sp) the esoteric fiddles...there were two Fender acoustics sittin' on stands next to each other...cant remember the model number ...but...they were identical......picked up the first one...sounded terrible ...which suprised me because most of the less expensive Fenders I played with over the years were impressive ...for the most part....

Then I picked up the next one and it was just fine...good sound...good action....a good guitar for the price...even over the more expensive brands and models there...

So what I'm sayin' is........the best way to choose a new guitar ....is good ole Hands on experience.....no matter how much it costs...even the cheaper ones will suprise you....

[WhiskeyRebel]

If you already have an acoustic guitar that you like, you can electrify it with a $2 piezo wafer from Radio Slack. It works wonderfully. I did this on a Samick acoustic and its sound through a PA is closer to its natural acoustic sound than my Washburn 12-string which has a factory-installed transducer. Basically you remove the piezo from its plastic case and wire it up to a jack. You can use blue painter's tape to experiment with various locations on the top until you find a spot whose vibration sounds like the guitar's acoustic voice, then you take off the strings and glue the wafer on the inside of the top below that same location. I used 3M emblem and trim adhesive, which is sorta like a contact cement. Of course you have to wire the wafer to a jack, but you can get a jack that will replace the endpin and pass through the end block.

You also can get a contact pickup like the Dean Markley Artist Transducer which is basically the same thing, but it holds in place with handi-tack so you can remove it and pop it on any guitar you like.