When you can get a budget together where you can take a look at 400 and 500 dollar guitars, you really open up a lot of great options. From the Baby Taylor and the amazing Taylor GS Mini to the Martin LX1e Little Martin and the Epiphone Hummingbird
While you wont get the high end guitars of the pros at this price, you will be able to afford quality acoustic guitars and acoustic electric guitars. The guitars in this price range will be the kind of acoustic guitars that you will keep for a long time.
There are also options in this price range that would be appropriate for beginners and experts alike and all of them would be better than the cheap acoustics
HOW DO WE PICK OUR TOP CHOICES FOR ACOUSTIC GUITARS?
The four main factors we look at when determining which guitars in this price range give you the most bang for your buck, include:
THE SOUND QUALITY
THE GUITAR BRAND
THE BUILD & HARDWARE
THE FEEL OF THE GUITAR
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SOUND QUALITY
To get a great guitar you want to have the best quality sound that you possible can.
When we narrowed down our short list of the top guitars, if the guitar didn’t have quality sound, it didn’t make the list.
We also considered how various body styles will affect the type sound the guitar produces. Whether it is a dreadnought guitar or a mini acoustic guitar we take a deeper look into the build quality and the end result to determine if an acoustic guitar had a quality sound good enough to make our list.
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THE GUITAR BRAND
In this price range, there are a lot quality guitars. You can even grab up a Taylor acoustic guitar which is a great deal for one of the best acoustic guitar brands. The Taylor GS Mini is even in this price range which is a beautiful “baby acoustic guitar” (although not the same as the Baby Taylor) with a build quality that comes close to what a thousand dollar guitar produces.
Taylor is not the only brand that produces great guitars in this price range. Trusted companies like Fender and Epiphone offer great guitars under 500 that are very well built. Even Martin has guitars like the Little Martin in this price range, which is a choice guitar for any guitarist.
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THE BUILD & HARDWARE
The build quality of acoustic guitars and acoustic electric guitars will always affect how the guitar feels and sounds. For that we made sure all of the acoustic guitars in our buyers guide have a high build quality.
From there we looked at the various body styles and the type of woods used in the build. From solid mahogany to sitka spruce or solid cedar, each type of wood produces a different type of sound.
Many guitars, even some of the most classic guitars, mix woods as well where a guitar with a solid mahogany body can have a solid wood, cedar top or even spruce top.
For acoustic electric guitars we look at the type of electronics used for the pickups and amplification, builtin tuners, and more!
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THE FEEL OF THE GUITAR
The feel of the guitar is super important for both beginners and experts. If your fingers are comfortable on your guitar, it will be easy to play and you will be inspired to make the most out of your guitar purchase.
When we narrowed down the acoustic guitars for our buying guide, we considered how the various body shapes can affect the feel of a guitar. More so, the quality and type of wood of the neck and fingerboard as well as the action from the bridge and the truss rod will have huge impact on the feel.
There are some acoustic guitars here that could qualify as travel guitars and some of the acoustic guitars feature a slim neck. For the smaller acoustic guitars like the Baby Taylor, Little Martin and GS Mini, the feel of the guitar is going to change because of the smaller body and neck size.
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