TOPIC: What Brand Guitar Should A Beginner Buy?

It sounds pretty good when you play it TigerPaws

Tigerpaws wrote:
Congrats Sylvia! You can't go wrong with a nice Martin.

I think the Martins that are under $1K are some great guitars. The X Series might have laminates for the back and sides, but the tone of an acoustic guitar is all about the top anyway. (Remember the Taylor Pallet Guitar?) You should never buy a guitar without a solid top.

I don't care for the tone of Taylors.

The best acoustic guitar I know of on the market right now is the Martin D-28 Marquis. The vintage style v-shaped neck is the perfect profile.

My first 6 string was a "Sunlight" brand. Plywood top, baseball bat neck. My first real 6 string is a Seagull S6 Cedar. Solid top, thin, wide neck and great sound. Price 7 years ago - $300 including case. Current price - around $400 plus case. Not a bad price for a pretty good guitar.

There are a lot of nice, lower to mid end guitars these days. And, in this economy, noce prices are probably there, too. Until recently, I had a Seagull S6. Solid top, lam back and sides. The tone was great and I enjoyed playing it a lot. 350 to 400 bucks. The Masterbuilts have a good rep like was said above. For bluegrass, check out the Blueridge guitars, a lot of guitar for the money. Yamaha has a big fan club too, you just have to try them out to find the right one.
Good luck. Guitar shopping is one of my favorite things to do!

I'll tell you, like most purchases I am always for quality, quality used that is , to get the kinks out so to speak. More importantly a cheap guitar does not play well. Martin's are my choice. Martin has recenty come out with many laminate styles, affordable. But if your going to stay, spend a little more money and get a "real" one.