Guitar Advice: Low-end Acoustic?

TxdoHawk

So at one point, I bought an electric guitar off a friend of mine. Started practicing, and had a good time doing so...until summer came around, and I started working 50 hour weeks.

Now the summer is winding down, and I expect to have a little more free time to practice, but not a ton of it. This is why I want to buy an acoustic to keep in the back seat of my car, so I can practice while I'm "stuck" on my college's campus between classes and work shifts.

So, I have a couple of questions:

- I hear these $50 Rogues are decent as long as you take them to a shop to get adjusted and toss the included strings. What's the verdict? I'd be pretty happy only investing this much, in case something happens to it (see third point).

- Failing that, what should I look at if I want to spend around $170 at most ($200 with $30 budgeted out for initial adjustment at my local shop, which I've been told pretty much every low-end acoustic will need)?

- I see there are acoustic guitar humidifiers. How well do these things work? Ideally I'd like to be able to leave my guitar in a hard case, in my car with the windows cracked, even on hot days. I commute, and therefore have no easy way to store the guitar in a cool place while on campus. Is that just way too much heat for these things to handle?

Thanks in advance for the responses guys.

romanqwerty

For starters you'd want something low quality to keep in your car, because it will get trashed pretty quickly by the heat/humidity. Id go with something cheap and expendable ie ~$75. A hard case will help a bit, but not alot.

My advice is to buy a low end acoustic guitar, (for that cheap im not sure brand and type matters). Then ask a guitar expert what things would help improve the feel but not necessarily the sound.

deadman jolt

No guitar anyone will want to play will hold up well in a hot car.

Low end Sub $300: alvarez, fender, and seagull make good guitars. Youll want to get a solid top guitar, even if the back and sides are laminate.

TxdoHawk

Okay, so after some consideration I've decided to go with plan B, which is spend around $200-250 after shop adjustments, and just deal with the fact that there will be many days that I'll have to leave the guitar at home.

Currently, my choice is this Ibanez acoustic-electric. i'm going to go see if I can find it in a store to check it out myself, but I am definitely not at the point where I could make a sound judgment beyond pure feel in the hands. I know Ibanez is fairly well-regarded for their electrics, what's the opinion on their acoustic models?

Also, I've been told Musician's Friend's scratch and dent guitars are usually in very good shape, can anyone verify this? (I'm not hugely worried about this since they have a good return policy, but I was just curious, since I've had several people recommend me this site on here.)

deadman jolt

Avoid anything with a "select yada yada top". That means it's laminate. Spending the same money on a solid top guitar will give you a guitar that will STILL sound good as you get better. Musicians friend has
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Dean-Daytona-dreanought-Acoustic-Guitar?sku=516018
which is a dean with a solid top. If you are dead set on acoustic electric to start off with, I would still suggest spending the extra on a solid top model.

My personal and unsubstantiated opinion: avoid ovation with the plastic bowl under the top..

TxdoHawk

deadman jolt wrote: »

Avoid anything with a "select yada yada top". That means it's laminate. Spending the same money on a solid top guitar will give you a guitar that will STILL sound good as you get better.

Thanks for the tip. I didn't exactly know how to determine that, but now it's clear.

Musicians friend has
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Dean-Daytona-dreanought-Acoustic-Guitar?sku=516018
which is a dean with a solid top. If you are dead set on acoustic electric to start off with, I would still suggest spending the extra on a solid top model.

Nah, I definitely can deal with a straight-up acoustic.

Edit: So, I was looking at suggestions for highly-rated solid-top acoustic guitars, and the Washburn D10S came up. I'm specifically interested in this variation, because that's one nice looking guitar. Is the hype warranted, or is the Dean a much better instrument?

Filler Inc.

Go for an epiphone.

Its a good, solid brand.

But any guitar you leave in a hot car is going to get warped and bent.

wmelon

I've been very happy with my Takamine G-340. I got it for around $180 at a local shop. They're a little bit more on the internet. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Takamine-G-Series-G340-Acoustic-Guitar?sku=516421, but its a solid guitar that sounds good.

Six

Any of the LaSiDo guitars (Seagull, Simon and Patrick) will be excellent values. Yamaha makes great value acoustics as well.