What's your cheapest in price acoustic guitar?

[otis66]

The Loar LO16SB.
I belive I paid $350

[Rudy4]

Free? I garbage-pile picked a early 40's Epiphone archtop and case.

My next cheapest would be my starter Kay that set my mom back 2 books of S&H green stamps. I'm not sure what that equaled dollar-wise.

[Tim E]

Several years back, I saw musicians friend was selling their cheapest steel string, the Rogue Starter Acoustic, for $39 on Black Friday. Bought one in the sort of red burst finish. And I think its one of my favorites. Make no mistake, it's a cheap guitar, with aesthetics that shout cheap from start to finish. It has a flat painted fingerboard, screwed-on string through pinless bridge, also painted. It appears they're made of maple under the black paint. The body is all plywood, lauan/meranti/whatever-they-call-that-sort-of-mahogany-door-skin-looking-stuff. It actually has scalloped x bracing. Bottom line is these guitars sound good, play well, and hold their own. I actually bought another last year in a different color. That one's fingerboard paint is rougher, looks almost like one of those old crinkle paint jobs you see on old office equipment. Haven't seen them at $39 again, but they're still pretty cheap. Sounds and plays the same as the older one. The second one has had some experiments done to it, currently am deciding how to add some drone strings. It's kind of funny that this guitar model is offered in a variety of colors, presumably to mask what it is, and/or appeal to new non players. I kind of wish they offered a "naked" model, unpainted and un-stained, just clear finish coat. I think it would be a kind of nice aesthetic in its natural, unassuming, colors. They're sold as a 7/8 size or something, but they're full 25.5" scale. I presume they mean that they're not dreadnought sized bodies. Which suits me even better.

After playing more than 35 years, and been in musical instrument manufacturing, I'm pretty comfortable with my equipment, and have become absolutely unimpressed with cost. Quality of guitars has flattened out so much, I'm finding chasing the magical instrument quickly becomes a fools errand. At this point, a good setup beats an esteemed name or sparkly inlays or extremely rare woods.

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by LeDave

What's your cheapest in price acoustic guitar?

I had this Epiphone Performer trans black I picked up used for $220 (with case!). It had remarkable tone for an all lam guitar. Alas, I've moved on....

[ascotia]

I personally like this thread. It has us talking about the guitars that we'd otherwise never talk about. I own 5 acoustics, all under $400 except for the Taylor in my sig.

I have a solid wood Ventura Bruno V12 _AND_ a Ventura V-1585 classical that are from the 60s and/or 70s, but I couldn't say how much they're worth.

I first learned guitar on a cheap-o Rogue that my uncle bought for me from Musician's Friend 17ish years ago. Not a bad guitar for $60 SHIPPED . It now serves as an ornament on my wall despite being totally playable.

My travel guitar is a Mitchell brand (Guitar Center) acoustic/electric cutaway. A great guitar for $350. Served me well until I found my current steed.

LeDave, since you mentioned that you may eventually want a guitar in the $1200-1400 range, I strongly recommend trying out the Taylor 214ce-DLX. I've had mine for almost 2 years and I still get a warm and fuzzy feeling each time I take her out of the case. To my ear, this guitar blows the Martins and Gibsons out of the water in that price range.

[Sequimite]

Most expensive on the right, $700. Least expensive on the right, $200.

I looked for a very long time for one of these Nick Lucas inspired parlors. The sound is charming, but my favorite thing about it is that the serial number is 0001. Tacoma brought this whole solid wood line to the 2001 winter NAMM. The parlor was $650 and was the equal of the $1200 Tacoma PM-20. the line vanished in the blink of an eye. Still like new, it makes me very happy.

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by Tim E

After playing more than 35 years, and been in musical instrument manufacturing, I'm pretty comfortable with my equipment, and have become absolutely unimpressed with cost. Quality of guitars has flattened out so much, I'm finding chasing the magical instrument quickly becomes a fools errand. At this point, a good setup beats an esteemed name or sparkly inlays or extremely rare woods.

+1 for me. When I got back into guitar playing a couple of years ago, and having owned a guitar business in the past, I went searching for a dread to play bluegrass. I used to play dobro in a bluegrass band. My friends had Martin D-28s and 000-18s and Gibson J45s and Collins. I ended up buying a Seagull S6 Spruce from a music store in Glasgow because it was loud and articulate and had a perfect neck angle and fretwork. It sounds great as a string band guitar. Mm

Recently, when I was looking for a small bodied guitar for solo singing I tried many options, including Martins but have ended up with a £99 guitar that I took a punt on as a stop gap. It turned out to have a great tone for me to sing over and with a new nut, a fret level and bridge adjustment (all within my capabilities) I have stopped looking for a "better" option.

Both my guitars have character and will more than do the performance jobs I require of them. From my experience I would have to say that tone and playability are not always directly linked to the price of a guitar.

I see that Eric Bibb has recently bought a $175 Jim Dandy for playing at gigs because he loved to sing over its raw boxy tone. The guitar spoke to him.

[Malcolm Kindnes]

Originally Posted by LeDave

Yikes. I thought spending more time here outside of the Open Mic section would help. Looks like I need to be even more extra careful on which questions I ask now. Sorry for that.

I was just wondering if my only guitar, $429 would be in the same level as your guys' cheaper ones. Because everyone here talks about guitars in the thousands range and I feel kind of left out.

Hi there, please don't feel left out, I have a couple of guitars that cost $4,000+ but I also have a Recording King that cost only $250 which I bring out to the pub to play. People listening couldn't tell the difference anyway and I often wonder why I have the expensive ones. 😀

[CarolD]

I love this thread! I’m a beginner, too, and posted a beginner question a few weeks ago and got sooooo much helpful advice! I violated every rule about guitar buying and pulled the trigger on one. It should be here on Thursday, but after reading this site non-stop for a few weeks, I’d almost be embarrassed to post pictures on my NGD. This thread has really helped my guitar inferiority complex...hahaaaaa.

[whvick]

Originally Posted by Sequimite

Most expensive on the right, $700. Least expensive on the right, $200.

I looked for a very long time for one of these Nick Lucas inspired parlors. The sound is charming, but my favorite thing about it is that the serial number is 0001. Tacoma brought this whole solid wood line to the 2001 winter NAMM. The parlor was $650 and was the equal of the $1200 Tacoma PM-20. the line vanished in the blink of an eye. Still like new, it makes me very happy.

Do two rights make a left?[emoji6]

While in the Tacoma talk....I have a Tacoma Orpheum OM-26. Solid spruce/Rosewood made in Indonesia. MSPR $600. Purchased for $250 on going out of business sale.
After a good set up last year, I like it better than my Taylor 414 and Martin D-15M

[The Bard Rocks]

That would be my National Duolian, which came off eBay. Then I spent some in an attempt to make it better. Plays great? Not so much. But it has mojo oozing from every pore.

When I was a beginner, eons ago, like everyone else, I had little money and the thought of paying big money for anything was an impossibility. So I was satisfied with very cheap instruments. The same money today gets you FAR more. When I bought my first Martin, the first guitar that could inspire any pride, it was $250 (OO18 - 1968 price). I thought that was cheap and snapped it up.

[JimC1702]

Cheapest new guitar - Jasmine S35 - $67.00

Cheapest used guitar - Yamaha FD01S - $50.00

Still have them both. The Jasmine lives on a stand in my bedroom.

[TBman]

I have a classical that set me back $99!

Here it is:

$99:

.
.
.
.
.
.

[zombywoof]

I will keep it to the last 20 or so years.

I have had a couple of trash bin finds including a pre-War Regal 12 string. Took some bucks though to make it playable.

This one though ran me a princely $35. Came with its original canvas case and songbook and is as good a player as the day it rolled out of the factory (which granted ain't saying much)..

[boneuphtoner]

Although not in my signature, not long after I started playing I bought a Jasmine dread (supposedly a Takamine stencil) with a coupon from guitar center for $75 shipped. I stuffed the soundhole full of old clothes, and this is my office guitar.

Last year I bought a nearly new black Rogue (I see these also for sale at GC for ~$60 new without a case) with a case off of Craigslist for $20 - the only fault I can find with it is it has a few sharp fret ends. This has become our guitar to take to the beach.

Although my kid's Yamaha FS830 has a much richer sound than both of these, these are amazingly respectable instruments for the price. Setup on both of them was quite nice out of the box.