# 25 Best Budget Acoustic Guitars In The World Today



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

I was surprised at some of the picks and had never given the Epiphones much thought but there are a few of them on the list. 

Any surprises for you? 

How good is the list in your view?

http://www.musicradar.com/news/acoustic/25-best-budget-acoustic-guitars-in-the-world-today-582331/25


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I have an old Epiphone that I bought second-hand in '90.
It was originally bought from the Sears catalog in the eighties, I think.
Nice guitar, but someone pulled the label, so I don't know the model. 

I hadn't heard of that Vintage line before.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

Way too many dreadnaughts. I love dreads, but they are way too big for most beginners (most people???), and I would assume that a list of budget guitars would be targeted at beginners.


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## Ship of fools (Nov 17, 2007)

What a load of crap guitars I wouldn't buy any of them and to see Fenders in there also, all bottom of the barrel stuff and I wouldn't ever recommend to anyone new players.ship


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

Ship of fools said:


> What a load of crap guitars I wouldn't buy any of them and to see Fenders in there also, all bottom of the barrel stuff and I wouldn't ever recommend to anyone new players.ship


I'm guessing you have never played a Seagull guitar. I'm pretty impressed with any that I've played and think their quite good for the money.


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## fredyfreeloader (Dec 11, 2010)

bw66 said:


> Way too many dreadnaughts. I love dreads, but they are way too big for most beginners (most people???), and I would assume that a list of budget guitars would be targeted at beginners.


Agreed, to many dreads, as for them being targeted at beginners there I may have to dis-agree. Any number of people (me included) look at these as a guitar that can be taken with them to the beach, camping or a saturday night get together, anywhere they want and not be afraid of some damage being done, if there is damage who cares they are bought as shall we say a beater or party guitar. Mind you I would not be happy if someone used it as a baseball bat the first night out.


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## fredyfreeloader (Dec 11, 2010)

Ship of fools said:


> What a load of crap guitars I wouldn't buy any of them and to see Fenders in there also, all bottom of the barrel stuff and I wouldn't ever recommend to anyone new players.ship


I'll have to dis-agree with you here. They are not all bottom of the barrel stuff, I've had Seagull and they are very well done small priced units, Epiphone has some nice low end units as well. Now Fender I would not recommend to anyone, they might be good for party night or other such occasions, as a serious player I doubt it.


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## doriangrey (Mar 29, 2011)

Guitar101 said:


> I'm guessing you have never played a Seagull guitar. I'm pretty impressed with any that I've played and think their quite good for the money.


I have a Seagull Entourage model and I think they are quite possibly the best value out there...great guitars and an incredible value...I paid about $550 inc tax for mine and it played and sounded nicer than all of the over $1000 guitars that I tried. I couldn't be happier with my Seagull


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

fredyfreeloader said:


> I'll have to dis-agree with you here. They are not all bottom of the barrel stuff, I've had Seagull and they are very well done small priced units, Epiphone has some nice low end units as well. Now Fender I would not recommend to anyone, they might be good for party night or other such occasions, as a serious player I doubt it.


Yes the Seagull products and a couple of the Yammies are decent guitars as well.

The thing to remember is this list was put together by people who voted on beginners guitars, so some of them may have not been very experienced, biased or hard of hearing.



> Mind you I would not be happy if someone used it as a baseball bat the first night out.


So, you would be okay after the first night?


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## Morkolo (Dec 9, 2010)

The Sigma S000-15 took me by surprise the first time I played it, very nice cheap guitar that seemed to work well for finger style guitar.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

"In the world"? Are they kidding? They live in a very small world. What a load of BS propagated by someone who hasn't much experience with budget guitars, or simply very very lazy reporting. Most budget guitars are bought for beginners, those of modest means, and/or secondary purposes. Folk and parlour sizes should be represented better.

Peace, Mooh.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Some of them are good ones--like the Seagull, and I also like the Recording King guitars I've tried--but there should have been some more Seagull, S&P or other Godin brands in there.

And even though I've been playing for some time (Longer than some of you here & shorter than others) I have no desire to buy a dreadnaught.
If I get an acoustic I'll probably get one of the models bigger than a parlour and smaller than a dread or a jumbo.


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## Beach Bob (Sep 12, 2009)

I have a Seagull that I still keep around due its quality. A buddy just bought a Taylor mini... I can't believe how full a sound it has. 

I keep thinking I want something smaller than a dread... but they all sound thin and tinny to me; I stick with dreads...but if I really wanted to get used to a shorter scale, I'd look pretty darn close at the Taylor minis...


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## Ship of fools (Nov 17, 2007)

So okay you got me I am not a Seagull lover, most I have tried never reached or moved me at best to me they were nothing more then okay. But you have to all remember that not everybody loves everything out there and if it works for you that's great. But you have to understand I am not everybody and not necessarily you are going to like everything I like and that's fine with me, so we can all agree to disagree.ship


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Ship of fools said:


> So okay you got me I am not a Seagull lover, most I have tried never reached or moved me at best to me they were nothing more then okay. But you have to all remember that not everybody loves everything out there and if it works for you that's great. But you have to understand I am not everybody and not necessarily you are going to like everything I like and that's fine with me, so we can all agree to disagree.ship


Yes, that's true, but in this case, Ship, you are just wrong. Why don't you just man up to it?:smile-new::stirpot::smile-new:

I'm just poking fun, of course. I must say I agree with you and it would be a boring world if we were all the same, wouldn't it? Why, there would be no sense in having this forum.


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## fredyfreeloader (Dec 11, 2010)

Steadfastly said:


> Yes the Seagull products and a couple of the Yammies are decent guitars as well.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


No getting to first base, let alone a home on the second night out. One must appear to have a sense decency and decorum in matters such as this. Even the third night would look a little rushed.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

The whole article reeks of just having been thrown together - I'd be surprised if they even played half of the guitars they listed. Probably just searched within a price point. Its barely worth arguing about.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

bagpipe said:


> Its barely worth arguing about.


But isn't that why we're here?


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

> Originally Posted by *bagpipe*
> _Its barely worth arguing about._





bw66 said:


> But isn't that why we're here?


If it's not, I'm leaving!

I don't like arguing but I do like to discuss things and hear everyone's point of view.


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## Greg Ellis (Oct 1, 2007)

I think it might have been more helpful to break down the price bands a bit.

"Under $750" doesn't sound like a budget guitar to me. Some indication of price would have been useful info. Or break it up by price band.

I played a bunch of these guitars when I was shopping for an extra acoustic last fall. I didn't like the Taylors in this price band, or the cheap Martins. The Fenders were truly awful, and I didn't like the Epis much either. I ended up with the Yamaha FG700MS for about $200.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Steadfastly said:


> If it's not, I'm leaving!
> 
> I don't like arguing but I do like to discuss things and hear everyone's point of view.


[video=youtube;JkzjBfTDH20]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkzjBfTDH20[/video]


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

zontar said:


> [video=youtube;JkzjBfTDH20]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkzjBfTDH20[/video]


One of my favourite funny videos!


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## cliffmac (Apr 13, 2014)

Had a sigma d3m dread that had a very nice mellow tone, have an epiphone dr-500mce and it really sings it is a masterbuilt epi and they hit it out of the park with this line of guitars. Now that Gibson and Fender are merging Fender might learn how to make some good stuff who knows


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

I was at L&M in Ottawa a few years ago when my son was looking to drop a good chunk of change he had come into, on a guitar. We were trying out a few guitars in the acoustic room and checking prices. He was looking at purchasing a Gibson acoustic when my years of experience saving money came into play. I grabbed a $3000 Gibson off the wall and a $300 used Epiphone (*3rd guitar on this list*) and handed each guitar to him to play. He went back and forth trying these 2 guitars before he settled on the Epi. I really did have trouble hearing the difference. When we got back to his place, his wife noticed he had bought a guitar and asked me how much he had spent. I said "three" and she said "thousand!!!!!!!" to which I gave no reply. He told her "$300" when he came back downstairs. I thought it was pretty funny but I'm not really sure if she did.

More importantly, *my Seagull is 2nd on this list*.


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## dradlin (Feb 27, 2010)

The only serviceable guitars on the list are the two Taylors, all others are disposable guitars. That makes it an easy list to pick from.


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

I have a theory about gibson acoustics at L&M, and it's that ten thousand people have played it before you get a chance to pick it up, and the strings must be dead by that point. I just finished a guitar hunt and every single gibson failed miserably to impress me. Why? they looked great, felt great, were priced like they should be amazing, but just didn't sound better than the guitars for less than half the price. I'm taking a leap of faith and blaming the strings.


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## Option1 (May 26, 2012)

bagpipe said:


> The whole article reeks of just having been thrown together - I'd be surprised if they even played half of the guitars they listed. Probably just searched within a price point. Its barely worth arguing about.


Musicradar loves to put up lists like that - pedals, drum machines, guitars, whatevers. I suspect that they're more based on who their advertisers are, but you could well be right as well. Either way, I've learnt not to pay too much heed to Musicradar's lists other than for possibly a quick sample of what's out there.

Neil


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

mike_oxbig said:


> I have a theory about gibson acoustics at L&M, and it's that ten thousand people have played it before you get a chance to pick it up, and the strings must be dead by that point. I just finished a guitar hunt and every single gibson failed miserably to impress me. Why? they looked great, felt great, were priced like they should be amazing, but just didn't sound better than the guitars for less than half the price. I'm taking a leap of faith and* blaming the strings.*


It likely doesn't take any kind of leap to come to that conclusion. It's a very reasonable assumption. I've never been in a music store and seen the staff going around changing strings on guitars. I guess they would in some cases if a customer asked.


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

mike_oxbig said:


> I have a theory about gibson acoustics at L&M, and it's that ten thousand people have played it before you get a chance to pick it up, and the strings must be dead by that point. I just finished a guitar hunt and every single gibson failed miserably to impress me. Why? they looked great, felt great, were priced like they should be amazing, but just didn't sound better than the guitars for less than half the price. I'm taking a leap of faith and blaming the strings.


Yes, very good point. That's one good thing about L&M. If there's a guitar your interested in on the wall in the "Acoustic Room", you can buy it, take it home and throw a new set of strings on it. If it then doesn't meet your expectations. You can return it. Of course, the cheaper guitars will also have crappy strings on them if your comparing guitars at the store.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Guitar101 said:


> Yes, very good point. That's one good thing about L&M. If there's a guitar your interested in on the wall in the "Acoustic Room", you can buy it, take it home and throw a new set of strings on it. If it then doesn't meet your expectations. You can return it. Of course, the cheaper guitars will also have crappy strings on them if your comparing guitars at the store.


This is also the reason that testing and comparing acoustics is almost always flawed. There are other factors but this is likely the main one.


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## idma (Nov 7, 2013)

Nice to see seagull has second place, but I'm surprised how its all littered with fenders and epiphone. And not a single takamine. I never see any epiphone of fenders out there, even for people who are starting to learn guitar. Just seaguls or takamine. Aw well. The cream rises to the top anyway

Sent from my C625a using Tapatalk


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## cliffmac (Apr 13, 2014)

idma said:


> Nice to see seagull has second place, but I'm surprised how its all littered with fenders and epiphone. And not a single takamine. I never see any epiphone of fenders out there, even for people who are starting to learn guitar. Just seaguls or takamine. Aw well. The cream rises to the top anyway
> 
> Sent from my C625a using Tapatalk[/QUO


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

they've got 130$ guitars mixed in with 600$ guitars. at 600$ we're not really in the budget guitar market, and if we are i can think of a lot of 600$ guitars that should be way ahead of most of the choices listed here


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

The music store I frequent separate the really expensive guitars from the rest. The expensive ones get played a fair bit, so the strings are pretty beat - mainly from nervous sweat of holding an expensive guitar and fear of playing like shit, I imagine.

Anyway, I find that they're all beat up enough (and almost equally) that you can still differentiate between the quality of the guitars. Perhaps I miss the nuances, but I'm a brutal acoustic player anyway.

The seagulls blew me away. I tried about 8 of them.

If anyone cares, there's one for sale in Milton for $325. He had it posted for $400 til I told him that's there new price, so he may go a bit lower. I'm not buying anything until after Elmira, so I'm letting that go.

That taylor baby I bought my son was fantastic - until they put weird strings on it to save his fingers from eminent butchering.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Ship of fools said:


> So okay you got me I am not a Seagull lover, most I have tried never reached or moved me at best to me they were nothing more then okay. But you have to all remember that not everybody loves everything out there and if it works for you that's great. But you have to understand I am not everybody and not necessarily you are going to like everything I like and that's fine with me, so we can all agree to disagree.ship


So instead of stating "They're all crap", like its fact, you can simply state that those guitars aren't good for you. There are many guitars I don't prefer (Cheap or expensive) it doesn't mean they are crap.

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mike_oxbig said:


> they've got 130$ guitars mixed in with 600$ guitars. at 600$ we're not really in the budget guitar market, and if we are i can think of a lot of 600$ guitars that should be way ahead of most of the choices listed here


$600 is in the budget market for me. For me, I'd like a Taylor 110 ($649) for a campfire guitar (certainly wouldn't bring my HD28V to the campfire). I'd consider a budget guitar between $500 and $1,000


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

guitarman2 said:


> $600 is in the budget market for me. For me, I'd like a Taylor 110 ($649) for a campfire guitar (certainly wouldn't bring my HD28V to the campfire). I'd consider a budget guitar between $500 and $1,000


I agree, if we're talking about intermediate level guitars at a budget price. but they should take the straight up entry level guitars out of the mix. if it's got all laminated everything it's not a budget guitar, it's just a cheap guitar. bit of a difference.


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## Ship of fools (Nov 17, 2007)

guitarman2 said:


> So instead of stating "They're all crap", like its fact, you can simply state that those guitars aren't good for you. There are many guitars I don't prefer (Cheap or expensive) it doesn't mean they are crap.
> 
> - - - Updated - - -
> 
> So I have to ask where is it that I said they were all crap, so I would ask that you NOT put words in my mouth that were never said. I believe my words exactly were they were not for me and that they were nothing but okay for me. So I would say that everyone who enjoys them that's great and I have no problem with that but DO NOT say something I never said, this boy he don't roll that way homey. ship


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

guitarman2 said:


> $600 is in the budget market for me. For me, I'd like a Taylor 110 ($649) for a campfire guitar (certainly wouldn't bring my HD28V to the campfire). I'd consider a budget guitar between $500 and $1,000


I'm sure you realize that is quite a bit above what most would consider a "budget" guitar. I would hazard a guess that upwards of 95% of people would consider $500.00 would be maximum and many even lower than that.


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## dradlin (Feb 27, 2010)

Steadfastly said:


> I'm sure you realize that is quite a bit above what most would consider a "budget" guitar. I would hazard a guess that upwards of 95% of people would consider $500.00 would be maximum and many even lower than that.


While that may true, $500 is still a "budget" guitar. What somebody can afford to pay is irrelevant to the quality level of the guitar. Because one can afford only a Ford Fiesta doesn't mean it can out race a Mustang.


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## Greg Ellis (Oct 1, 2007)

I don't think a Mustang is a budget guitar...

er.. hmmmm


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## cliffmac (Apr 13, 2014)

Ship of fools said:


> What a load of crap guitars I wouldn't buy any of them and to see Fenders in there also, all bottom of the barrel stuff and I wouldn't ever recommend to anyone new players.ship


I have an epi masterbuilt dr500 mce and its awesome as good as any guitar i've played including Gibson and Martins. Seagulls are truly as good as they come as well. As for the fender comment say what you want but they are merged with Gibson now and and it is where Guilds come from as well as a list of others. Top notch guitars made overseas who'd a thought.


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