11 Nov Best Acoustic Guitars Under $1500
Martin D-15M Review
This guitar is the acoustic guitar that embodies what Martin is all about and why they have set...
Takamine EF341SC Review
Takamine is making themselves known with strong acoustic guitars like this one.
Shopping Advice for Guitars under $1500
When your looking at the guitars under $1500 you are mostly looking at very high quality best acoustic guitars, but even in this market there are some guitars that don’t seem worth the price and there are other guitars that overdeliver and really give you an elevated guitar playing experience that are rated best guitars.
Overall though, you are getting your choice of some of the better guitars ever made including some classic guitars that make even the well made Baby Taylor and Taylor GS Mini seem like a beginners guitar. We created the buying guide to help you navigate the best guitars for the price.
In this price range, narrowing down the buyers guide was an enjoyable process as we got to take close looks at some of our favorite guitars. If your budget’s a little more limited, you can also choose the best acoustic guitar under $300.
Beautiful dreadnought guitars like the Taylor 224ce-K and the Martin D15M are not only the best sounding guitars, but they are also stunning guitars that are just amazing to see.
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
With $1500 to spend on an acoustic guitar, you are gonna want to make sure you a choosing from the guitars with the best quality sound. Fortunately, you wont have to worry about the cheap acoustics with our buying guide.
Our assessment of the sound quality considers they type of wood and body shape of a guitar and consider the how those factors contribute to the best tonal quality the instrument can offer.
Whether its solid mahogany, solid cedar, solid spruce, an exotic wood or a mix of woods, there are different tonal qualities that come with each possibility. And if it doesn’t have to be a solid type of material, for a guitar can be made of a few materials like the one in our Gretsch G9220 review. We are ultimately rating the guitars on the quality of sound the guitar produces.
The Guitar Brand
At this price range, you are going to get some of the best quality guitars. And while there are a lot of guitar makers out there, when it comes to acoustic guitars and acoustic electric guitars, the best brands certainly stand out.
Whether it’s a Taylor acoustic guitar or a choice Martin acoustic, the brands that made their names making beautiful sounding and amazingly crafted acoustic guitars get to show off just how they built their reputation in this price range.
Of course with any guitar comes a guitar player that can definitely affect the sound of the guitar…lol. Remember, even the best guitarists in the world likely still take guitar lessons in one form or another.
The Build & Hardware
Any guitar at any price should be able to offer a decent build with decent hardware in a variety of body styles including dreadnought body guitars like in our Fender CD60S review, solid top acoustic guitars, grand auditorium guitars and others. What seperates cheap acoustic guitars from the nice ones you can get under $1500, is not just whether it’s built with solid cedar or has a mahogany top, it’s also about how well the guitar was crafted.
For acoustic electric guitars, the electronics, beit builtin tuners, pickups, eq, etc., the way the tone transfers is very dependant on the hardware. Though a more affordable price may be tempting, quality acoustics will deliver better tone control and playing experience.
In this price range you also have options for acoustic guitars that dont just use the high quality sitka spruce and solid mahogany types of solid wood; you also have options that use solid woods like the more exotic Koa wood that’s typically found on some of the high end 3-4 thousand dollar guitars. The wood has such a big affect on the sound the guitar produces. Some guitars are also versatile in the ways they sound like the one we feature in this Taylor GS Mini review.
A well built guitar comes with good solid wood choices, great design and solid electronics that sound good in any scenario, live, in a studio, on a beach…anywhere.
The Feel of the Guitar
Guitarists shopping in this price range are not on the hunt for an acoustic guitar for beginners, like a 3/4 size guitar. Most likely you’ve taken a guitar lesson or two before you purchase a $1500 guitar or even the best acoustic guitars under 1000, but both beginners and experts want the same thing. A guitar that is easy to play and give the player the ability to express themselves without being limited by the guitar itself.
While there are budget acoustics that are fairly easy to play and well built, like the travel guitars, the GS Mini, the Little Martin, the Taylor Swift signature guitar and the S6 Original, the build quality of the acoustic guitars in this price range are just on another level.
While in some circle these are considered mid level guitars in comparison to the to the true high end and collectors guitars, the build quality on the guitars we’ve laid out in our buying guide are top of the line as far as we are concerned.
Grab your guitar straps and let’s look at the top choices that give you the most bang for your buck!
#1 Martin D-15M
Amazon.com - Affordable for the amount of value this brilliant guitar holds
- There are no cons for this Martin Guitar
#2 Takamine EF341SC
- It's the kind of guitar that can make the player sound better, even if the player is already great
- This guitar comes in limited finishes, but thats really it.
#3 Taylor 224ce-K Deluxe
- The sound is beautiful whether it's used as a pure acoustic or plugged in for performances
- Its rare, but its incredible
#4 Yamaha A5R
- The sound is clean and crisp and can stand toe to toe with famed brands like Taylor and Martin
No Comments