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please recommend a good electric-acoustic guitar for rock under $500


andyhumb

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Recording Kings are pretty darn nice. Nice vintage copys. I have a R07 Orchestra size that I really like. No electronics on mine, Baggs soundhole.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/recording-king-classic-series-ooo-cutaway-acoustic-electric-guitar/h77056

 

You should be able to gets your hands on some of these Alvarezs. Test the set up and pickup(s). Thats whats gonna matter in a live rock band.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/alvarez-artist-series-ad60ce-dreadnought-acoustic-electric-guitar

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/alvarez-artist-series-aj80ce-jumbo-acoustic-electric-guitar

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/alvarez-artist-series-ag60ce-grand-auditorium-acoustic-electric-guitar

 

Another nice sounding brand, but Id test the pickups.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/blueridge-contemporary-series-br-40ce-cutaway-dreadnought-acoustic-electric-guitar

 

Probably your safest bet.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/breedlove-pursuit-dreadnought-acoustic-electric-guitar/j10916

 

These will do.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/epiphone-inspired-by-1964-texan-acoustic-electric-guitar/581880

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/epiphone-ej-200ce-acoustic-electric-guitar

 

So will these

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/fender-tim-armstrong-hellcat-acoustic-electric-guitar

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/fender-sonoran-sce-acoustic-electric-guitar/j05556

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/fender-kingman-sce-jumbo-acoustic-electric-guitar

 

Takamini has a reputation for solid guitars with good pickups. Your other safe bet.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/takamine-g-series-gd30ce-dreadnought-cutaway-acoustic-electric-guitar

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/takamine-g-series-dreadnought-cutaway-acoustic-electric-guitar/h99523

 

(not endorsing MF, just lazy

 

 

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Depends partly on how well you intend to take care of it. A solid wood guitar will be more sensitive to changes in humidity. If you want something to just bang around, an all laminated guitar like the the Ibanez koiwoi posted will work. Or an Ovation or a HPL (essentially Formica) Martin. Takamines sound good plugged in and you should be able to find one in your price range. Beyond that, personally I'd find a straight acoustic I liked and install an aftermarket pickup. A Yamaha is hard to beat in the $300-350 range (you'll need to allow enough for a pickup and possibly to have one installed).

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What really matters in an acoustic when you are in a loud rock band are

1.how it feels to you playing it(the stetup, overall size, looks).

2.And the quality of the electronics(pickup/preamp/eq system).

In acoustic electrics, usually the cheaper you go the crappier the electronics. So if you want a guitar with good electronics you gotta buy on pretty far up the line.

 

You can do much better, especially if you can set it up yourself to your liking, to get a $300 guitar and a $200 aftermarket pickup system.

 

My Recording King R07 was around $300. The Baggs M1Active pickup was $169.

It works with anything.Elec guitar amp, acoustic amp, or straight to the PA.

fetch?id=31337138

I just got a $149 Gretsch G9500. I'm dropping in a $30 lipstick pickup and vol knob harness. I'm pretty sure its gonna be able to rock and roll.

fetch?id=31337140

 

 

 

 

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Yamahas are always popular and Takamine seems to be the working musicians acoustic/electric. The latest issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine (R y G on the cover) has a very good summary of guitars in the under $600 price range.

 

For rock you will probably want a cutaway (not many pure acoustic players need them) and of course you'll want on board electronics. You should probably try the guitar in front of a loud amplifier - acoustics tend to feed back and you may need to either tweak the e.q. or use a feedback buster in the soundhole. Again, the previous months AG had a pretty good article on plugging in your acoustic (and no, I have no connection to AG mag,

 

Last thought, if you have an acoustic already you can add a pickup pretty easily - I've put K&K Pure Minis in several guitars for under a hundred bucks, or a sound hole mag pup.

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Those Budget Martin Acoustic Electrics are great. My buddy let me play one of his and it sounded great through regular guitar amps. The one he had was a smaller body acoustic but the neck was fantastic and the tone had no odd frequency bumps that caused issues. He got his very cheap because it was a second but I believe you can find them for under $500. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LX1E

 

This looks interesting too, but with a live band, I like having the preamp volume and tuning accessible. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DXK2AE

 

Also Buying one with stock electronics is the way to go too. Trying to mod an acoustic with a sound hole or piezo pickups is usually a fain for tone. The Martins come with Fishman electronics which are probably the best. If you have issues with feedback simply get a sound hole plug.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FBR2?adpos=1o1&creative=55397627521&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CO-ztbCrvsICFc1_MgoddSYAKw

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I just got a $149 Gretsch G9500. I'm dropping in a $30 lipstick pickup and vol knob harness. I'm pretty sure its gonna be able to rock and roll.

fetch?id=31337140

 

Looks very similar to my gretsch americana minus the cheesy graphics. Love that little guitar. How are you liking that one so far?

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. . . In acoustic electrics, usually the cheaper you go the crappier the electronics. So if you want a guitar with good electronics you gotta buy on pretty far up the line. . . .

Which is why I also recommended an aftermarket pickup.

 

. . . Also Buying one with stock electronics is the way to go too. Trying to mod an acoustic with a sound hole or piezo pickups is usually a fain for tone. . . .

It doesn't sound like you've done very many acoustic pickup installations because this is simply not true. A properly installed pickup system will have zero impact on tone.

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Looks very similar to my gretsch americana minus the cheesy graphics. Love that little guitar. How are you liking that one so far?

 

People say its the exact same guitar minus the Americana Series graphics. It also comes in a really ugly (IMO) green or red burst. G 950x.

I never got the chance to play the Americanas so IDK.

I like it. Its a cheesy little guitar, but comes well set up. Finish is super budget, binding is painted on. Its suprisingly loud w more bass than you would expect for its size. The tone is classic Montgomery Ward/Sears mail order. In other words, one dimensional. Not many overtones, more in your face direct kind of sound. For a serious acoustic player would not recc as only acoustic. Fine for the beginning youngster or as a special purpose blues/old timey kind of little box. I'm loving it but for serious acoustic tone look elsewhere. Set up pretty good, action could be lower but about right for slide. Decent action at the nut. Intonation darn near perfect up to 12th, which is about as high as you can go anyway. Im gonna string with a set of nickel wound steel DiAddarios 12-52, w a wound 3rd. Aprox same ga it ships with, DiAddario reg light bronze 12s. Installing a lipstick pickup in the soundhole and adding a vol knob. Plug it into a little Dano HoneyTone amp on my hip and wail. Work on my slide, RJ licks etc.

 

 

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