Acoustic guitars!

stu

Ive been wanting to get myself an acoustic guitar for some time now. So what would you guys say I should look for? I dont know very much about them....

Anyway, this looks pretty nice and is in my price rage. I like the idea of an acoustic electric. Although I dont need it now, I might someday.
http://musicmadness.co.za/live-sound/pa/guitars/ibanez-v72ece-black

Bob-Dubery

Well what would you look for in an electric? You'd want reasonable intonation, a decent fret job, properly cut nut etc etc. Same with an acoustic.

You might try different body shapes. They do offer different tones.

Solid wood. All acoustic guitars are solid wood right? Well in this context "solid wood" means "not laminated". Down at the bottom end you'll get guitars with laminated tops and sides. These can still produce a reasonable sound and they take less maintenance because laminates are less sensitive to dry highveld winters. A bit up from there you will start getting guitars with solid tops but still laminated back and sides. Higher up the pecking order you will get all solid wood guitars.

Find out what the saddle and nut are made of. If they're plastic then you can make a worthwhile difference by replacing them with something like Tusq which is an artificial bone substitute. This gets used in some high-ish end guitars now, and is available locally.

Try and get a handle on the body styles, and if you can then play the same body style with different wood combinations to understand how that may effect the tone. All else being equal a guitar with mahogany back and sides will be bright and clear, rosewood will give a richer, darker tone with a lot more overtones.

My usual tip. Consider well looked after 2nd hand guitars. That can be a way to get more guitaring bang per buck.

You're used to playing electric, so get a proper setup done on your new acoustic. Even then it's feel a bit heavy to you, even with 11s on which are considered lights on acoustics. Because of this you may want to consider getting a guitar from Music Connection or Andy McGibbons where they have well equipped workshops with good technicians.

DaFiz

I'm also due for a new acoustic/electric, and I like those Ibanez guitars.
There will come a time when you wanna plug into a PA...
for that checkout the connections.

In addition to the 1/4" output jack, the AEG8E has a balanced XLR jack for direct connection to PA.

http://musicmadness.co.za/acoustic-guitars/guitars/acoustic-guitars/ibanez-aeg8e-bk ?

stu

thanks Bob. That has given me a better idea about acoustic guitars. There is one of these V72s at the music shop near me so Im going to check it out.