Look on Gumtree and buy something second hand.

Tanglewood, Cort, Ibanez and Takamine all have good mid range guitars.

But there is also nothing stopping you from buying top range stuff either, all depends on your budget.

The most important thing IMHO is to go for a Solid Wood acoustic, try and steer away from laminate.

The Salesman is a wombat, first in his knowledge and his Salesman skills are not too good either, he should be trying to sell you top of the range stuff ?

I'd say unless you are certain to stick with acoustic guitar, go for a mid range instrument. You can already play guitar, you just need to adapt your technique to suit the acoustic. A cheap instrument makes some sense if it's just an experiment, but will probably start frustrating you very quickly.

If you are sure that you will stick with it, buy whatever the hell speaks to you, even if it's a high end model that you feel might be "better than you deserve" - you're going to play it anyway and can probably appreciate the better tone. Also, the longer you play with it, the more your playing will improve and the more you will deserve it.

Squonk wrote: Look on Gumtree and buy something second hand.

Tanglewood, Cort, Ibanez and Takamine all have good mid range guitars.

But there is also nothing stopping you from buying top range stuff either, all depends on your budget.

The most important thing IMHO is to go for a Solid Wood acoustic, try and steer away from laminate.

The Salesman is a wombat, first in his knowledge and his Salesman skills are not too good either, he should be trying to sell you top of the range stuff ?

+1, esp the wombat comment. any salesman worth his salt should be trying to sell you the top three leaves and the bud.

budget is your first consideration when making any purchase. i'll always go in with a specific budget in mind, and be willing to go in for something a touch higher, as well as look a little lower. my reasoning is that that i might just find a stonker for an extra coupla, or the bargain of the century for a few less. you simply have to be willing to look around. and never, ever settle for something in the first LMIS you happen to stumble into.

in terms of solid wood, you're 99.9% of the time going to get the best out of a solid wood guitar, but you also pay for what you get. i owned a taylor big baby, with laminate back and sides and a solid top. it's definitely a compromise, but it also cost me less. there are always options. i now have a larrivee, it's all solid, my dad's martin was solid, and to be honest i wouldn't trade down again.

second-hand might be a way to go, if you're looking for quality at a decent price, but i've often found that top-flight acoustic guitars tend to hold value. but keep an eye out in the mid-range, you never know what you might come across. sometimes people don't know what they have...

good luck when you start looking
dh

speak to Mr T on here about this Crafter range of guitars - definitley value for money instruments.

ad they have some really stunning looking guitars too!!

Squonk wrote: The Salesman is a wombat, first in his knowledge and his Salesman skills are not too good either, he should be trying to sell you top of the range stuff ?

I disagree (and, yes, I saw the smiley). A good salesman tries to sell you what you need or at least what you want. That way you learn to trust that salesperson and their judgement and you keep coming back for more.

To answer the question: acoustic guitars are not all equal. This should be no surprise. We understand that, for example, Squier and Fender are not the same and the differences are to do with QC and the quality of the raw materials, and it's no different with acoustic guitars. Quality of materials and quality of construction varies. And, as with electrics, those are not the only determinants of the price you pay - the name on the headstock and intangible things like fashion contribute too.

A cheap or "beginner's" acoustic might have plastic, poorly machined saddle and nut (bad for tone) and be made from laminates. Machine heads may be cheap, and probably not much attention was paid to setup in the factory. Finish may not be great. The guitar will probably have been assembled and then sprayed with finish.

Now look at my Larrivee. All solid wood. Tusq (artificial bone) nut and bone saddle - much better for tone. All solid wood and woods are carefully selected. Gotoh machine heads. Necks hand fitted by a craftsman and setup and intonation checked before the guitar leaves the factory. The frets are polished and the fret ends trimmed etc. High quality finish, and the neck and body are finished separately before the neck is fitted to the body. Of course the price reflects the difference in materials, workmanship and care lavished in the factory.

And, of course, there's a spectrum. At one end you get utter drek like the in-house brands at Cash Crusaders. At the other end you get hand-built, very high-quality guitars from the likes of Linda Manzer. And there's a whole load of stuff in between.

Takamine, Cort, Tanglewood and others offer guitars that give a lot of bang per buck. As Squonk says, an important consideration is a good quality solid (IE not laminate) top. A decent quality saddle helps too (doesn't have to be bone, but should be Tusq or Micarta or one of those good quality artificial materials).

When I bought my Morgan I was buying to a budget. I'd had a windfall, so I was in a fortunate position, but there was still a budget and the Morgan, even with the trade-in I was going to get, was at the extreme of that. I had a short list of 3 or 4 guitars. The others were more reasonably priced (can't remember what they all were, but one of them was a pretty good Yamaha). So I asked the salesman to play each of them whilst I stood a few yards away. Bingo! No contest. The Morgan was now a clear winner because of the way that each note rang out and the way the guitar projected. Now I could HEAR the difference.

In the meantime maybe start trying some acoustics when go you to LMIS. Try to listen to how they ring (or don't), the different tones (woods and wood combinations and body shape all effect tone) etc etc.