When it comes to instruments, the guitar is perhaps the most popular out of them all. Many people have a passion for music and many want to take it to the next level by learning an instrument, which, in most cases is the guitar. It’s unanimously agreed that beginners should always learn on an Acoustic guitar first before they want to move on to a better version.
There’s also a common misconception that you need to splash out a lot of money to get a decent guitar. That’s not the case at all. In fact, guitars are one of the most affordable instruments available in the market. Given the immense popularity of guitars among both beginner and expert guitarists, there are a lot of quality guitars out there to choose from. Here are some of the best budget-friendly acoustic guitars you can buy right now:
Jasmine S35 Acoustic Guitar
Jasmine JO-36 Orchestra
Jasmine guitars will appear often on this list and for good reason: they’re good, and they’re cheap. The highly playable JO-36 Orchestra is worth looking at because even though it’s cheap, it still comes with decent hardware, making it a decent choice for any skill level.
This guitar is known as the Jasmine ‘Orchestra’ because of its orchestra body shape. It’s crafted with laminate select spruce on the top with laminate sapele back and sides. It features a nato neck alongside a rosewood fretboard with 20 frets. The guitar also includes a rosewood bridge and die-cast chrome tuning machines. The sound itself is decent as it’s well balanced and rich in tone, much better than anyone would expect from a sub-200 dollar guitar. Overall, it’s a good guitar that won’t set you back by much, you can buy it from Amazon here.
Gretsch G9500 Jim Dandy
Most of the guitars on this list have a pretty generic look. All of them will have similar shapes, sizes, and colors, which isn’t a bad thing given how cheap you’re getting them for. However, the Gretsch changes things up a bit by adding more color which makes the guitar much more attractive. It’s a gorgeous vintage acoustic, and it lives up to all expectations you would have from a sub-200 dollar guitar.
The guitar’s two-color body is a nice throwback to the 30’s. It comes with a semi-glossed steel-reinforced nato neck alongside a rosewood fretboard with 18 frets. With screened white binding, purfling and rosette, the guitar already sets itself apart from other options out there as it looks so much better than its competitors in similar price ranges.
Apart from just looking good, the guitar also sounds good too. It has a nice, warm tone that would suit fingerstyle and blues players, and an overall good feel to it. It’s certainly one of the best vintage guitars out there and on top of that, the Gretsch G9500 can be purchased for just $170. You can buy it from Amazon here.
Jasmine S34C
The Jasmine S34C is another guitar that may take on the same color scheme as the other Jasmine guitars, but it’s definitely more attractive than the rest. The highly affordable guitar features a beautiful satin-finished grand orchestra-style body alongside Jasmine’s Advanced X bracing. The neck of the guitar is also slim which makes it comfortable to play and the fretboard comes with 21 frets.
All the features of the guitar are easily accessible due to the convenient Venetian-style body cutaway. Apart from all the nitty gritty about the guitar’s structures and looks, the sound quality itself of the guitar is really good. The sound quality is not just good for a budget guitar, but its good enough that even an experienced guitarist would appreciate the quality.
Overall, the guitar is decent and is excellent value for money. The Jasmine S34C is worth much more than its current price as it looks and feels like a much more expensive guitar. Therefore, its decent looks combined with its excellent performance makes it a great candidate for beginners and experienced guitarists alike. If you’re a beginner, you can even purchase the guitar with digital lessons and it’d still cost you $140. You can check out all the deals on Amazon.
Fender FA-100
Not many budget guitars out there can compare to the classic Fender guitars when it comes to steel-string acoustic guitars. With that said, the Fender FA-100 offers both good looks and good sound for beginners and experienced guitarists alike.
The guitar comes with a traditional dreadnought body shape that’s made from basswood on the back and sides alongside X-bracing. It also comes with a rosewood fretboard with 20 frets and overall, it’s a versatile guitar. Although experienced guitarists might pick up a few limitations with the sound, the guitar still offers decent sound quality and it’s still a perfect choice for beginners.
The sound of the guitar is clear and crisp, despite its limitations. Another added bonus for the guitar is the fact that it also comes under Fender’s limited lifetime warranty. Usually, there isn’t any warranty for cheaper products, however, the Fender FA-100 has it. Therefore, even though you’re hardly spending any money on the guitar, you’re also ensuring that the money you do spend doesn’t go to waste with this guitar. Overall, it’s decent, risk-free and worth it. You can purchase it from Amazon here.