any advice on buying an acoustic guitar with a £150 budget? (or thereabouts)

bonnit · 20 November 2009 at 6:53PM

im buying an acoustic guitar as a present for ym other half for xmas as a suprise, he loves playing and at the moment he has a really tatty one, i know there are alot of well known brands for guitars but dont know enough myself, does anyone have anyone have any idea of the best i can get for my money please?

anything appreciated

x

stef240377 · 20 November 2009 at 7:41PM

Hi i dont know where you are in the UK but locally we have a place called Flight Case Warehouse who have an abundance of guitars and accessories. They do advertise and sell via ebay but i do not know those details. Their prices are very competitive. The service is second to none. My 12yo son wanted to take up guitar and i refused to pay over the odds for something he would lose interest in so got a cheap £20 one from Home bargains and with in the first day or so the strings went, not having a clue about how to restring etc took it in and the bloke replaced the lot free of charge and gave him some plecs to keep him going, because of their generosity we went ahead and bought a stand which cost £3 - i had seen priced in a proper music shop in Birmingham for £20 and a case for a fiver again nowhere near the costs elsewhere. They are extremely helpfull and dont make you feel intimidated at your lack of knowledge.

Phone number if your interested is 01827 60009. If they are still operating the same business hours they will close at 12pm (ish! depending on volume of customers) tomorrow and reopen Monday. HTH.

Thistle-down · 23 November 2009 at 9:44PM

In that price range I would recommend a Yamaha or a Cort. They are both well known and respected brands with a lovely sound, plus their quality control is great right out of the box. You can get a solid-top FG700MS for £139, and a solid-top Cort Earth 70 for £129.76:

http://www.chamberlainmusic.com/productdetail.asp?ProductID=FG700MS-NT

http://www.bem-music.com/list.pl?id=110354

Both of these guitars are built to last. The solid top means that they will be slightly more resonant and continue to sound better as they age.

Another good inexpensive make is Takamine, but you won't get a solid-topped model for £150. However, I have played the all-laminate Takamine G320 and I really liked it. Takamines are generally very easy to play, with a consistently good sound and build, plus are sightly "cooler" than the Yamaha or Cort, if that makes a difference. It's a bit under budget at £109, so you could buy a case or gig bag as well:

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/77974

Hope this helps.

Thistle-down · 24 November 2009 at 11:13AM

Thought I should mention that if you are looking for something smaller than a dreadnought, the Vintage V300 is a really nice guitar with a solid top. It's won lots of awards for being the best guitar for the money. You can pick one up for £99 + shipping here:

http://www.imuso.co.uk/Acoustic-Guitars/5752-/Vintage-V300-N-Acoustic-Folk-Guitar-Natural?utm_source=googleproduct

They do make a dreadnought version (The V400) but for some reason it doesn't sound anywhere as nice.

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Kabeer_2 · 27 February 2010 at 10:22PM

Thistle-down wrote: »

Thought I should mention that if you are looking for something smaller than a dreadnought, the Vintage V300 is a really nice guitar with a solid top. It's won lots of awards for being the best guitar for the money. You can pick one up for £99 + shipping here:

http://www.imuso.co.uk/Acoustic-Guitars/5752-/Vintage-V300-N-Acoustic-Folk-Guitar-Natural?utm_source=googleproduct

They do make a dreadnought version (The V400) but for some reason it doesn't sound anywhere as nice.

Yup this won a prize for best acoustic under £1000 one year. And a v.nice guitar it is.

I reccomend buying this, and paying for a 'set-up' by a guitar technician and youll be very happy.

mcduff16 · 27 February 2010 at 10:30PM

My local music shop gets a "bumped and bashed" list from manufacturers- basically a list of guitars with minor cosmetic damage, the shop gets it at around 70% of the retail price.

Worth asking your local shop if they can help.

ailee · 22 March 2010 at 3:40PM

You could look at the Arts Council scheme - Take it Away. - artscouncil.org.uk/takeitaway/
That gives you the option of an interest free loan for 9 months of up to £2000 so might give you a few more options.

Martin_Keller · 22 March 2010 at 8:32PM

Acoustic Guitar is very doable with that amount, just look for a good local shop, unless your looking for top quality try the net, but you will have to ship.

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any advice on buying an acoustic guitar with a £150 budget? (or thereabouts)

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