In this article you’ll learn the best extremely cheap acoustic guitars out there.
Acoustic guitars today are not like they were in the 70s.
The problems you’d typically find in cheap acoustic guitars……..are all in the past.
Here are the best extremely cheap acoustic guitars you can currently buy.
Rogue RA-090 Dreadnought
This is my personal favorite cheap guitar, because of how durable they are. In fact I love them so much I’ve bought three over the years. One I’ve given to a friend, One I gave to my sister, and another one to keep until I get that one away probably too.
So why do I love these so much? These guitars are just absolutely insanely durable. That and they feel incredible to play, along with an absurdly good tone for the price.
I put these guitar stores through so much. I’ve dropped each one so many times, and they’ve been through pretty extreme weather conditions when traveling with me. They still hold up perfectly fine no matter what I’ve done to em. I once even left one in a hot car in Florida for almost a week, and you think the binding would come apart……… but it was still fine somehow. If you need a guitar that basically can’t die…… this one’s what you need.
Jasmine S-35
Everybody knows about Takamine guitars. They have that rich, sweet tone that’s unmistakable.
What people don’t know is that they made this line. The Jasmine is an inexpensive version of the Takamine……. that has an unreal value when it comes to tone. There are plenty of more expensive guitars out there that don’t sound nearly as good as this guitar. Listen for yourself.
Cort AD810
Honestly, this one is hard to ignore…… because of how ridiculously bright the tone is of this guitar. If you listen to it for all of 10 seconds…… you’ll instantly know what I mean, it’s a very happy and bright tone. What strange about that, is that usually you don’t hear this bright of tone from inexpensive Guitars. It’s lacking a little bit of sweetness to the tone, But a lot of people enjoy that.
So, For a guitar brand that isn’t all that well known… It’s more than a decent guitar. I’m going to guess that in the future, they’ll be asking for a lot more for these models.
Epiphone Pro-1
Epiphone is a very underrated guitar brand. This guitar in particular is super unique.
If you’re looking for an acoustic guitar that is absurdly easy on your hands……this is the one. It’s so so much easier on your hands. If you’re used to playing most normal acoustics, this guitar will literally feel effortless when you play.
The whole guitar is actually designed this way, to improve comfortability. From the neck shape to even the strings they chose, everything is focused on making it easy for you to play.
I got to try one early this year, and was very pleasantly surprised. Very cool instrument.
Ibanez PC12MH dreadnought
What you’ll notice first is this is a very elegant looking and sounding guitar. Absolutely beautiful. Seriously gorgeous guitar.
Great quality and value, but one think to note about these guitars is that the neck will feel very similar to an electric guitar neck. This makes it easier to play fast licks for most people. Most Ibanez acoustic models come like this. It’s an interesting feature.
Mitchell MD100
This is literally the most generic acoustic guitar out there. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, it’s just not very unique in any way. Everything about it is good, from the tone to the build quality. Just an overall good guitar without any special frills to it.
Overall, these are good inexpensive guitars. Listen to one being played below.
Epiphone DR-100
Great guitar. Basically everytime I talk about epiphone guitars I have to say it…….but these are underrated guitars. They sound absolutely fantastic (yes even the budget ones) against more expensive models that many people love. This guitar is no different, sounds absolutely fantastic.
Check out this video where the tone is compared from this guitar to a Martin 28 (few thousand dollar guitar). You’ll notice the tone on the Martin is better…..but Epiphone still does surprisingly well against it.
Yamaha F325D Dreadnought
What was interesting about this guitar, is that honestly there’s nothing interesting at all about it. It’s literally the most plain Jane guitar there is. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing at all, in fact that’s a very very good thing, because this guitar is insanely well-built for the price. What you’ll notice when handling these guitars is that they’ve used much higher quality parts then are normally used on “starter” models. This is the type of guitar you can really bring anywhere and not have to worry very much about it getting messed up. Which is probably the biggest bonus when it comes to and expensive guitars.
They sound really good as well. Check them out below.
Dean Flight Series Travel
Nowadays, short scale guitars are finally getting the recognition they deserve. They are simply the best option for someone with hand problems like arthritis…….. or someone with smaller hands who simply can’t reach as far. A lot of people aren’t happy with these when it comes to acoustic guitar models however, because you just don’t get as full of sound with a smaller body guitar. The difference between a dreadnought and this guitar when it comes to town is massive…….
However, I still think these are great guitars and sound very nice. They are ridiculously ridiculously easy to play…… and that’s probably their best feature.
Check out this video of them being played. They come in a variety of styles as well, so that’s nice of course.
Fender FA-125
This guitar sounds absolutely UNREAL. This is without a doubt, the best sounding acoustic guitar out there that’s inexpensive. No doubt at all. Honestly, it’s ridiculous how good this guitar sounds. I would 110% believe it if someone told me this was a thousand dollar guitar if I didn’t already know.
Other than the tone, this guitar is nice for a variety of other reasons. I find the most interesting is that the neck is flat, so it’s easier to move around on the neck……and if you wish it’s easier to shred because of this.
All around, a ridiculously good deal.
Seriously just listen to it being played. The tone is absolutely gorgeous. Bravo fender on this model.
Epiphone PR-150
Like I said before, Epiphone is really underrated. This guitar in particular sounds absolutely beautiful, and looks great as well with mahogany back and sides and a mahogany neck and a rosewood fingerboard. Absolutely love the roseburst finish.
Listen to one being played below, you’ll be surprised at the quality of the tone. Not something you could find in this price range even ten years ago. Really cool. In the review he also tells some other interesting features about the guitar.
Conclusion:
If you’re looking for a cheap acoustic guitar, nowadays you have so many options available.
Acoustic guitars have come a long way. You don’t really need to worry about buying a cheap acoustic guitar and it end up being garbage unless you buy an insanely insanely cheap guitar. It’s honestly hard to find cheap acoustic guitars that won’t play well nowadays.
Some quick tips for buying a very cheap acoustic guitar –
Do your research: Many of these guitars, like the Jasmine are made by very high quality guitar manufacturers. In fact, most of the guitars in this list are made almost exactly the same as other guitars that can be literally four times the price. In the same factories even. It’s not uncommon for many competing guitar brands to have their guitars made by the same factories. What’s nice however, is that the quality coming from guitar factories is leagues beyond what it used to be. I’ve had my oldest rogue (Ive owned three) which is considered to be one of the cheapest guitars out there for years. It still plays absolutely fantastic.
You don’t need to sacrifice your needs: You can get almost anything out of inexpensive guitars nowadays. For instance, my sister needs guitars that have low action so she can press down the frets easier and play easier. You can easily find this in say the Epiphone pro-1 or any of the wizard neck style Ibanezs. You really don’t have to sacrifice absolutely anything, so before you say to yourself…..well this doesn’t sound good but I guess I’ll still get it, or whatever it is you’re thinking…….go look out there for more options. There are SO many out there.
Buy used: The deals you can get on used guitars are absolutely unreal. I’ve found 100$+ guitars for absurdly cheap on Craigslist so many times it’s crazy. People don’t care all to much about what they get for their guitars. Sometimes they just want it gone. Some of the best deals btw, are on the guitars that have been posted for awhile. The ones that have been around for a couple months are more likely to go down on price a little bit. Or a lot.
hope you enjoyed this article!!! Thanks for reading!!