Planning to get a new acoustic guitar but your budget caps at 500$? Finding a great price-quality ratio it’s rather challenging in today’s market as there are a ton of options out there.
But do not worry, we did the hard work for you. We searched all over the web and found the best acoustic guitars for you to choose from. Hopefully, this article will bring you some clarity and point you in the right direction.
Here are the best acoustic guitars under 500$
1. Seagull S6 Original Acoustic Guitar
Seagull is one of the top players when it comes to acoustic guitars. They are well known for the quality of their products. The Seagull S6 is an acoustic guitar with a dreadnought body style. It is a great fit for everyone, so you do not have to worry if it is the right size.
The guitar provides vibrant sound and warm full rich tone which will make you fall in love with it at a first strum. Boasting the traditional looks, as mentioned before, the S6 is of high-quality craftsmanship. The guitar body is made of solid Cedar that was pressure tested in order to achieve a depth of tone specific to instruments made from solid wood. Not only that but this also guarantees durability and playability that left many buyers overjoyed.
The neck of the guitar is made of stiff silver leaf Maple and has a white fretboard. Added to that was a tilted headstock that tightens the strings a little bit more in order to prevent fret buzz and achieve smoother transitions. Also, it makes tuning a lot easier. To bring this piece to excellence, on the S6 we have a double-action truss rod featured. This carries the pitch more accurately than other guitars.
2. Yamaha L Series LS6
The L’s are Yamaha’s luxurious series and the LS6 is part of it. This model is the smaller-bodied one, the scale is just 25.56”. The guitar is made from a mix of solid and laminate woods in order to keep the price under 500$ without compromising quality.
The body is crafted with solid Englemann spruce on the top and with rosewood laminate back and sides. The top is A.R.E – Acoustic Resonance Enhancement – treated, which is one of the brands’ signatures. It practically emulates the aging process of wood. The neck is made of a 5-ply rosewood/mahogany with a total of 20 frets, thus making it thin and stable. It all finishes with an ebony bridge and gold die-cast tuners.
A hidden gem of this guitar is the Yamaha SRT Zero Impact pickup. This is a passive type system designed to reduce almost to nothing the pickup’s impact on the tone of the instrument. It utilizes individual piezoelectric elements for each string, which helps eliminate quack.
Being treated with A.R.E the guitar delivers warmer, louder and richer tones just out of the box. If you are looking for solid hardware and great sound, the LS6 might be the best fit for you!
3. Taylor GS Mini Guitar
You know how it is said that strong essences are kept in the small bottles? Although definitely smaller than most of the other acoustic guitars, this ¾ guitar boasts the same output of a full-sized guitar. It will definitely let you pleasantly surprised.
The top is made of solid mahogany – one of the most sought after materials for acoustic guitars – thus a bright and full tone is guaranteed on the first strum. And the more you play it the better the deeper tones develop.
The back and sides are laminated and made with 3-layered Sapele. This won’t give you the same sound purity as a full-body made of real wood, but the compromise is small in order to achieve the affordable price. The neck is also made from Sapele and is equipped with an original West Africa ebony fretboard with 20 frets. A synthetic material that emulates bone – Nubone – was used for the nut and saddle and the tuners are made of chrome.
The guitar delivers a warms sound accompanied with a dry tone – usual for guitars with mahogany as a top wood. The Taylor GS Mini is a portable, solid, well-made, pretty-looking guitar that plays beautifully.
4. Epiphone Hummingbird PRO
Epiphone has accustomed their customers with delivering great quality guitars at an affordable price. The Hummingbird Pro is the living proof of what they can do in the market for under 500$.
The guitar has a big dreadnought body with square shoulders which stays true to the 1960’s guitars design. The top is made of solid spruce and the sides and back of laminated mahogany. The finish can be either Faded Cherry Burst or a stylish all-black, the latter being harder to find.
We will find pure mahogany on the neck with a rosewood fretboard and 20 frets with parallelogram inlays – a classic Hummingbird signature. This guitar has also some electronic features that allow you to plug and play. The Shadow ePerformer preamp and NanoFlex under-saddle pickup. This system is battery-powered and offers versatile controls like master volume and bass and treble controls.
The guitar is well built and the solid spruce top allows a great resonation. The tone is warm and rich and the sounds are big and bold.Great for beginners, the Hummingbird Pro can deliver on all your needs.
5. Breedlove Discovery Concerto
The Discovery Concerto-sized guitar was launched just this year in the Discovery series. With this guitar they launched a new body shape aimed to welcome a great sound and comfortable playing experience simultaneously. They are well known for having a unique collection of body shapes and sizes.
The guitar has a bigger body than a normal concert guitar while maintaining an elegant look. It is a combination of a concert, dreadnought and jumbo body. The top is made of solid Sitka spruce while the back and sides are made of okoume. A C-shaped, slim but sturdy neck made of nato wood featuring a 20-fret ovangkol fretboard, add to the minimalistic style of this guitar.
On the headstock, you will find a set of die-cast golden chrome tuners that market themselves as very precise. The nut and saddle are made of graphite and the bridge is pinless. The Discovery Concerto is surprisingly complex for its price range as it copes very well even with more aggressive strummers and delivers a deep, crisp sound.
Conclusion
So, these are the top 5 best acoustic guitars in the market in 2024. It might still be hard for you to choose, but we understand that.
Give it time and come back to this article as many times as you need to in order to make the right choice.
