With its C-shaped mahogany neck and radiused fretboard, the Stage handles more like a semi-hollow electric than a traditional classical or flamenco guitar.
If I had to pick two words to describe the Furch Blue MM, they would be “Play me!” Right out of the box, this mahogany acoustic-electric dreadnought felt ready to make music.
The Martin GPC-13E acoustic-electric guitar is an easy choice for players needing a reliable, handsome instrument that sounds good acoustically and plugged in.
Fender’s American Acoustasonic Jazzmaster is a sleek, comfortable, stylish, and versatile instrument. This guitar has the iconic offset body style of its solidbody electric ancestors but is really a different animal altogether...
Cole Clark did not set out to build a guitar to compete with a traditional acoustic. Instead they designed the Angel to be the best-sounding amplified acoustic you’ve ever heard.
The PRS Tonare Parlor SE P20E guitar evokes the spirit, sound & form factor of a classic parlor while bearing the imprint of PRS’ signature aesthetics and playability.
The guitar has a soft, warm tone that works great for fingerpicked chord patterns and breezy strumming. When strumming chords with a pick, I found it definitely sounds best to approach the FGX3 with a more delicate touch—a thinner pick and a soft strum can go a long way—while heavy-handed strumming and picking tend to get harsh. Approached with a light to medium touch, chords sound rich while maintaining a clarity that allows individual notes to shine.
The new 50s LG-2 is no exception. As soon as I picked it up, this guitar felt instantly familiar, and it was easy to imagine that I was holding a new old stock guitar, straight from the 1950s. After years of trying out heavily played vintage models, I feel like I know well just how this guitar will age after years of playing.
What sets Breedlove's Organic Collection guitars apart apart from other entry-level models is their lightly built, solid-wood construction with thin UV finishes.
Based on Gretsch's Rex guitars from the 1930–1950s, the Gretsch Gin Rickey is a low-cost parlor guitar that would serve as a cool entry-level instrument.
The second offering in the new line, the American Acoustasonic Stratocaster is a double-cutaway variation that, like its predecessor, is equipped with Fender/Fishman-designed electronics and is capable of delivering a range of convincing acoustic and electric tones in a single package.
The American Dream is alive, well, and living near San Diego, at least if you’ve been dreaming of an affordable American-made, all-solid-wood Taylor guitar. Launched in the midst of the pandemic, Taylor says its new American Dream series was “born from adversity”—an effort to make an affordable guitar available in…
Martin's affordable new SC-13E acoustic guitar boasts a fresh, out-of-the-box redesign—even flying in the face of Martin’s usual traditional glued dovetail joint!
When I played the Sage acoustically and dug in hard with a pick, the guitar’s sound compressed nicely, accentuating the guitar’s thick midrange projection, without leaving behind the high-end sparkle and low-end definition.
The Epiphone Masterbilt Excellente guitar is like a time machine—take a good look at it and you might think you’ve been transported back about 50 or so years.
The Recording King Dirty 30s Deluxe Single 0 guitar shares the same woods and electronics as its Dirty 30s Series 11 counterparts, but with a few key differences.
The AC622CE is a beautifully made guitar with a big and bold sound. It manages to be both strong and clear at the same time, great for strumming and inviting of picking and fingerpicking, the latter especially offering firmly spoken tones.
While carbon fiber guitars are unlikely to supplant wooden guitars anytime soon, the Lava Me 2 seems less eccentric than it would have even a few years ago.
Parlor-sized with an L.R. Baggs pickup system, Lowden's WL-35 Jazz nylon-string guitar is an excellent fit for steel-string guitarists looking to expand their palette.
For the new Builder’s Edition collection, Taylor master guitar designer Andy Powers has selected various models—from the 300 series up to the 900 series—and outfitted them with a variety of pragmatic and experimental upgrades.
The Gold Tone PBS-D—or Paul Beard PB Signature-Series Squareneck Resonator Deluxe Guitar—is an elegant instrument with a homespun sound. In terms of looks, materials, and tone, it covers all the bases for slide players looking for high performance in a traditional package.
Carrying on the work of company founder and namesake Preston K. Thompson, who died April 11, 2019, the small cadre of builders at Preston Thompson Guitars, in Sisters, Oregon, is one of those teams that’s capable of delivering extraordinarily crafted steel-strings time and again, and this Thompson 000-14SBA is one of those fine instruments.
How do you choose which guitars to review? Our writers are guitar fanatics, just like you. They’re always on the lookout for new or updated offerings to recommend. We’re sometimes asked why we don’t publish negative or one-star reviews – there are so many great guitars being produced today that we’d rather share our balanced opinions on the instruments we do think you should consider.
Do companies pay for you to review their instruments? No. We are proud of the firm separation between advertising sales and editorial coverage that we’ve held strong since our founding in 1990. We only accept endemic advertising – meaning, you won’t see ads for products or services unrelated to making music with an acoustic guitar; inevitably that means we’ll review products made by companies who advertise with us, but you’ll see just as many reviews by companies who do not. We have never (and will never) take money or gifts in exchange for a favorable review.
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