Any recommendations for an electro acoustic

[Ant]

As the title says, any recommendations for an electro acoustic guitar for my daughter?

Her other guitars are all normal sized, ive been looking at ibanez ones but to be honest I wouldnt know good from awful

I'm pretty crap, never played a decent guitar so i could do with abit of input from people who can actually play

Cheers ant

[ed]

how much money are you going to spend?

having said that....how about taking her for the day out to gear4music in York and sh can walk round the acoustic room trying stuff within your budget.....although I'm of the opinion warehouse type places like gear4music have wiped out the high street music shop they are still quite nice people in there.

I bought my youngest but one an Epiphone jumbo from there a couple of years ago. At the time it was head and shoulders the best budget guitar out there.

[Nick]

Do you mean something like a Ovation, an acoustic with built in pick-up, or a semi acoustic type?

Chris will know what the world of pick ups is like now, but I would have thought you can just fit a pick-up if she has an existing acoustic she likes.

[ed]

ime anything but an Ovation....

heres a list:
https://www.gear4music.com/Electro_Acou ... itars.html

the one I bought my son was an EJ200 which is not on that list for some reason....but theres a good spread of prices..

the Takemine G series are probably worth looking at although from experience you really need to pay attention to the build quality...they are not anything like the real Takemines.

don't buy on spec......she really needs to play them for a while to choose the one that ticks all the boxes.

edit: I put up the wrong list...I've changed it now

[Ant]

well this is what she has at the moment

Guitars by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

she plays the classic in the corner most of the time as she says it feels the best. the ovation clone sounds lovely but the strings are set abit high for her at the body end. tried adjusting it so they sat abit lower but it cocked up the string feel at the top of the neck. i did consider fitting a pickup to both but the clone would be a pain in the arse to do it to and im loathe to mess with the classic (its mine...... well it was....)

the other classic sounds like a bag of arseholes, really twangy and loose sounding. its horrible. i should have set it on fire on the 5th.. nobody in the house likes it.

the blue electric is a gear for music and isn't bad, the black one is nigh on identical and sounds nicer but is abit too heavy for her.
the bass...... is a bass, i can get a tune out of it and isnt bad for an el cheapo. there are a couple of amps somewhere too.

she had to borrow an electro acoustic today to play at the local club, and said it played nicely (ibanez).

im thinking about spending about 150 to 200 quid, its more the fact that she picked the ibanez up and was immediately comfortable with it that has set me thinking about getting a 'proper' electro acoustic rather than fitting a pickup to an acoustic, but im not averse to going down the pickup route with some guidance

cheers ant

[Irene Idler]

My advice on guitars will always begin with defining a budget and then playing everything you can get your hands on till you find the one that sings to you.

That said, assuming Taylor is out of reach, Ibanez, Washburn, Takamine, and Yamaha all do some pretty nice acoustic/electrics that aren't too spendy. My Washburn EA-45 is nearing 30 years old and I love it just as much as I did the day I bought it, but if I were buying new today I'd go with a higher-end Takamine or Taylor most likely, though to be fair I would have a much bigger budget than you do.

Consider buying used. You'll get a better deal and guitars really DO improve with age.

[The Stratmangler]

the ovation clone sounds lovely but the strings are set abit high for her at the body end. tried adjusting it so they sat abit lower but it cocked up the string feel at the top of the neck

It sounds like you've had the allen keys out, and "adjusted" the truss rod.

[chris661]

FWIW, instead of getting guitars that specifically have pickups, I'd suggest getting a decent mic and going from there. That way, the options are open for future choices of guitar.

For live use, a Beyerdynamic M201TG would be worth a look. I can make plenty of other recommendations if it's something of interest.
It takes a little getting used to, but being able to alter the volume (and tonality) by moving 6" can introduce a new dynamic to playing live.

I'd be happy to lend out a few mics and a mic stand to play around with for a few weeks.

Chris

[RushPCB]

Top 10 Best Rated Electric Acoustic Guitars

Jameson Blue Thinline.
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought.
Epiphone HUMMINGBIRD PRO Solid Top.
Fender T-Bucket 300CE Cutaway.
Jameson Left Handed.
Dean EX RES Exhibition with Aphex.
Epiphone PR5-E Thin-Body.
Fender T-Bucket 300.

[The Stratmangler]

the ovation clone sounds lovely but the strings are set abit high for her at the body end. tried adjusting it so they sat abit lower but it cocked up the string feel at the top of the neck

It sounds like you've had the allen keys out, and "adjusted" the truss rod.

Did you get this sorted out, Ant?

[Ant]

Yes eventually, had to shim it to alter the neck angle enough and take the string guide out at the top of the neck then add a little sliver of wood to pack it up a little higher

[The Stratmangler]

Yes eventually, had to shim it to alter the neck angle enough and take the string guide out at the top of the neck then add a little sliver of wood to pack it up a little higher

String guide?
Do you mean the nut?
They're normally not cut deep enough to make playing comfortable at that end of the neck.

What's the neck relief like?