When you are buying an acoustic guitar for $1000, you expect to be shopping for high quality best acoustic guitars. While technically speaking, a guitar around $1000 is still considered a midrange acoustic guitar, some of our favorite best guitars and acoustic electric guitars fall in this range.
For your quest to buy an acoustic that is perfect for you, we curated our guitar buyers guide to focus on the top acoustics in this price range.
While there are great nylon string classical guitars you can get with this budget, we look at nylon strings in a separate review and focus on steel string guitars for this list, like the one in our Yamaha SLG200S review which didn’t make the list but still has a unique and aesthetically-pleasing design.
If you are looking for the ultimate acoustic guitar that could be a good fit for all skill levels, this price range can serve that purpose. While it might be a little expensive for a beginners guitar, the value of these guitars will last a long time as they are the top picks of guitar buyers looking for quality guitars. And if you’re willing to increase your budget a bit more, the best acoustic guitar under 1500 is another quality pick too.
The tone of this guitar really lives up to the Taylor guitar brand in that it is just superb
The price is reasonable enough that even a beginner guitarist can slide into the Taylor line of guitars without breaking the bank
Reasons not to buy
The need for a 9 volt battery seems to be a drawback for some, however, there was a time when a 9 volt battery was standard and still isn’t surprising
Our Verdict
Taylor makes amazing acoustic guitars and this one is no exception. The Grand Auditorium body is made of Walnut and Sitka Spruce which captures the signature Taylor sound beautifully.
It’s a beautifully crafted guitar creating a great value well under $1000
The smaller size makes this an option for kids and beginner guitarist that will have an easier time working their way around the guitar without being a “tiny” guitar
Reasons not to buy
The amount of finish Fender uses on this guitar affects the resonance in a way that cheats the guitar of its full potential
Our Verdict
While the Fender electric guitar dominates the brands reputation in the best of ways, the Fender acoustic guitar line is becoming every more impressive, especially with the Paramount PM-3 Standard.
The electronics are very impressive give the player a wide range of tonal options
Reasons not to buy
Be sure to check the return policy if you are not buying from an authorized dealer.
Our Verdict
Yamaha A Series guitars are very well made in general and with the A3M, Yamaha has really aimed to impress. For being a guitar under $1000, it certainly competes with higher end models in sound, build, look and feel.
A good balance of deep low tones and rich high end that creates and enjoyable sound for the player and listeners
The rosewood fingerboard and rosewood bridge are very well made.
Reasons not to buy
I would suggest buying this guitar new based on some experiences I’ve heard from folks that bought used, but that’s a risk with any instrument
Our Verdict
Epiphone did a great job with the electronics as well, with solid pickups and a stereo preamp with a built in tuner. This could easily be far more expensive than it is for the quality of this acoustic electric Epiphone guitar.
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How do we pick our top choices for Acoustic Guitars?
The four main factors we look at when determining which guitars give you the most bang for your buck, include: THE SOUND QUALITY THE FEEL OF THE GUITAR THE GUITAR BRAND THE BUILD & HARDWARE
The Sound Quality
For most guitar buyers that are about to spend $1000 on a guitar we feel like we are buying an expensive guitar, regardless if it’s technically considered a midrange acoustic guitar.
Fortunately at this level there’s great use of solid sitka spruce and solid mahogany, as well as exotic woods that just sounds so great. Beginners looking to invest in a decent guitar may want to consider the best acoustic guitar under 500 instead so you get some experience first and really learn about what you want to invest in down the road. The quality of $1000 guitars that we narrowed down for you are definitely the top choices with great pickup systems on the electric acoustic options that deliver the sound you would expect out of top acoustic option at higher prices. Good sound quality is one thing while a unique sound is another, which you can find in certain models like the one in our Jim Dandy Gretsch review.
The Guitar Brand
With $1000 to spend on quality guitars, most of the guitar brands have some worthy guitars for any guitar player. However, as we worked through our favorite guitars of guitars for our buying guide , a few guitars really stood out including the Taylor 114ce, the Fender Paramount and the Epiphone dr500mce. If these models still sit a bit outside your budget, the model in Music Minds’ Fender FA100 review might be a better option.
No surprise Taylor Guitars a continuing to create historic series guitars making their way into more top charts at almost all price points. Yamaha makes some decent guitars with warm and bright tones like the guitar in our Yamaha FG800 review.
The Build & Hardware
The variety of solid woods used in this price range creates some really awesome options. These acoustic guitars often incorporate solid sitka spruce, solid mahogany and Indian rosewood, and we find that our top choices have designs that bring more value than reflected in the cost. The material can impact the tone in a positive way, like how the mahogany body in our Gretsch G9220 review helps produce vintage tones.
The mix of a solid mahogany body with sitka spruce tops and a mahogany neck is a combination that we see used a lot in the price range and it produces an incredible sound. The Epiphone Masterbilt DR-500MCE incorporated these solid woods masterfully.
Guitars like The Taylor 114ce acoustic electric guitar made use of a combination of a Sitka Spruce Tops with a Walnut body that is exceptional. What’s great in this situation is that the guitars come with more options when you can spend 1k on an acoustic guitar. You can get more options for the type of material the body of the guitar is, like brass if you opt for the guitar in our Gretsch Honey Dipper review.
A lot of these guitars also use the grand auditorium style guitar body which has a great sound and feel. The auditorium body is one of the most popular body shapes and is a guitar body that works well with builtin tuners and other electronics.
The Feel of the Guitar
The guitars we choose for our buyers guide had to have the feel of the highest quality guitars because we knew there were acoustic guitars on the market that have value much higher than their price.
When it comes to how a guitar feels to play, the fingerboards and truss rods really make an impact on how the strings feel in your fingers. Some models have non-adjustable truss rods while others have adjustable ones, like the guitar we discuss in this Yamaha FG830 review. When we are looking at budget guitars we consider guitars that just need a little work to feel great and make the value higher than the price.
With up to 1 thousand dollars to spend, we are looking for guitars that feel great from day one and exceed their price in value immediately. You will get you a guitar that looks and sounds amazing, feels incredible to play, which will inspire a beginner to practice and pro to write songs after you learn how to write a song on guitar.
Chris Ryan
Chris Ryan is a musician and educator from Philadelphia, PA, an avid archivist of folk and country music, a disciple of Aphex Twin and a fervent supporter of Atlanta trap music. Chris can usually be found tracking keyboards, vocals and lap steel for the upcoming debut of his band The Cobwebs, or in FL Studio working on the next generation of trap sounds. He is conversant with, and writes about, hundreds of genres of music from all over the world.
