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Budget Electrics/Electro-acoustics

Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 9:04 pm
by Roger
Does anyone have any ideas/experiences/recommendations?

Thanks,

Roger

budget electrics/electro-acoustics

Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:03 am
by scottj1
Hi Roger
I think that Yamaha are a good overall brand.The APX electro acoustic is excellent value for money and the Pacifica electric guitar also.Yamaha guitars always come well set up and playable.I know Gordon has used various Yamaha's over the years too which is no bad endorsement!

Best Regards

Scott

Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:08 pm
by GORDON
Gentlemen.

Dare I say it....The new JHS GG Vintage guitar will be on the market within the next two months. Have a read of this months news letter re the retail price and all of this amazing guitars appointments. At under £500 this guitar will represent astonishing value for money.

I know what you are thinking..."well he's got to say that cos its got his name on it". I promise you that if the production model matches up to the prototype this guitar will blow your socks off....NUFF said methinks.

Of course at that price it may be outside your current budget but DO have a think about it and try one at your local Vintage guitar store. Sales pitch over!

Be Well chaps.

G.

Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 9:19 pm
by Russ Gannicott
If the GG signature is out of the budget, try any of the other Vintage acoustics, I think you'll be amazed. There's an all mahogany model for well less than £300 that would give a Martin a damn good run for it's money!
Failing that, have a look at Crafters - they make some great budget instruments.
Cheers,
Russ

Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 4:07 am
by GORDON
Hi Russ.

I couldn't agree more sir.

Vintage offer great value for money, but all that aside they offer a great range of instruments full stop. The all mahogany model acoustic with built in Fishman retails at £249. I bought one as a gift for a friend and it was a lovely instrument, and REMEMBER...on the Shining Morn album I use a Vintage Tri-cone resonator on Ring Of Kerry,purchased yonks before my current involvment with the company....... Need I say more?

These days you don't need to spend a fortune on a nice instrument. Obviously you are not going to get quite the same as say a high end Fylde, Martin or Rob Armstrong, but I do believe you will get a very substantial instrument that should give years of good service and playing pleasure. Check out the Vintage electrics also, they are a knockout. I currently use the AV3 Trev Wilkinson designed semi and I love it to bits, and in this months Gear mag I saw the Mick Abrahams signature model,mmmm quite fancy one of those as well :)

Thanks again Russ...See you in Salisbury.

Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 11:00 pm
by Trevor Raggatt
Have to agree with all the recommendations. All very fine guitars - as I posted elsewhere here, if you're in the £500 price range those Vintage GG's look mighty tasty!

Funny thing is, we spent the last weekend buying my 10 year old nephew his first proper acoustic guitar. We had a look around all the shops in Guildford and ended up with a Yamaha APX500 for around £250. Fantastic sounding guitar. Much , much better than the previous versions of the APX guitars - they've seriously up-specced them. Solid top, nice Fishman preamp with a built-in tuner.

We were looking in the £200-250 price range and there were no Vintages in any of the shops we looked at - so I can't comment on those. However, we also looked at the Freshman and Cort guitars which were in the price range and they were very very good too. If there are any stockists around where you live they are well worth putting them on your list to try

I think that, frankly, these days you're pretty spoiled looking for an acoustic guitar. The VFM that you get at every price point these days is pretty amazing. And the range of choice you get is amazing compared with when I was starting out.

Whatever brand you go for there are a few musts, though. Go for as good a quality guitar as you can afford - it's an investment and the better the guitar the less likely that you'll grow out of it soon. Go for a solid topped guitar - the extra few pounds you'll spend over a laminate topped guitar will pay dividends in spades. Listen to the electro through an acoustic guitar amp to make sure that it sounds good acoustically and sounds natural in electro mode too. You should also get a good quality preamp these days as part of the deal - its worth looking for brands like Fishman (which make very good ones) and probably with a tuner function built in (very handy!).

Have fun shopping and playing!

Russ, we're taking my nephew to see Gordon at Salisbury (front row seats - woo hoo!) so maybe we'll see you there too.

Trevor

Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:37 pm
by Russ Gannicott
Yep...reckon you will Trevor. We're taking a party of 14 young musicians from the Lighthouse Youth Centre in Christchurch.......Ash will be sat with them, but I guess Carole and I will be somewhere else ;)

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2010 10:53 am
by Roger
Thanks guys! Plenty to digest and think about! It's good to see that Vintage actually make some left handed models, which is always a big help :D At the moment I'm thinking that Vintage, Cort and Crafter probably are the best options for me. Now to try them out :lol:

Best to all,

Roger