When you are just a newbie or beginner, playing at home is already a feat.
You have your bedroom as a studio, while your living room transforms into your own stadium. However, as you become better and better, performing for a crowd is becoming a must.
You realize that your home is too small for a performing star like you—you need a larger venue and a larger crowd to play and share your music, passion, and soul to.
An acoustic guitar will not suffice, you need something that you could plug into those ginormous amplifiers and just blast your symphony through—an acoustic-electric guitar is proper.
Below are some of the best acoustic-electric guitars from various different brands available in the market that would probably suit your taste and needs.
Contents
Here are the 10 best acoustic-electric guitars (2024 Reviews)
- Yamaha APX600 Acoustic-Electric Guitar
- Fender CD-60SCE Acoustic-Electric Guitar
- Ibanez AW54CEOPN Dreadnought Acoustic-Electric Guitar
- Martin LX1E Little Martin
- Yamaha FGX800C Solid Top Acoustic-Electric Guitar
- Orangewood Brooklyn Live Acoustic-Electric Guitar
- Fender FA-235E Acoustic-Electric Guitar
- Fender Redondo Player Acoustic-Electric Guitar
- Takamine GN93CE Acoustic Electric
- Fender T-Bucket 300CE Acoustic-Electric Guitar
Runner Up | Editor's Choice | Also Great |
Yamaha APX600 Acoustic-Electric Guitar
The Yamaha APX60 has a thin-line body that gives the player incredible comfort, top-fret access, and a perfect sound for on-stage use.
The newly designed bracing maximizes the full potential of the body resonance for that whole, clear, and natural tone, without compromising much on the guitar’s durability.
Meanwhile, the under-saddle piezo pickup with 3-band equalizer, adjustable mid-range frequency control, topped with a state-of-the-art precision makes this guitar an all-star in its class.
Pros
- Affordable for the feature it has
- Stays in tune for a long period
- Has a great and balanced sound
Cons
- Action is high, need to be setup
- The sound is not good when unplugged
- The scale is relatively small
Fender CD-60SCE Acoustic-Electric Guitar
Fender has always been making great guitars in every price range. Fender CD-60SCE is no exception.
This acoustic-electric guitar offers a solid foundation to anyone looking for a good beginner guitar.
It is no secret that this particular model is among the most popular and best-performing beginner acoustic guitars on the market.
It features the standard dreadnought body with a cutaway. It has laminated mahogany all-around.
Fender CD-60SCE comes with scalloped X-bracing, which is a big plus. The body is well made, well fit together.
Neck is also a mahogany piece that features a nice rosewood fretboard and compensated saddle.
It is equipped with fishman Isys III. Going out of the tune will surely not be a problem for CD-60SCE.
This system comes with a decent on board active pre-amp as well as a tuner. In terms of tone shaping, you get a three-band EQ to work with.
CD60SCE brings a fairly surprising performance. Steady throughout the frequency range, this Fender delivers very good and enjoyable sound which will satisfy most guitar players.
Pros
- A very durable guitar
- Great pick up system
- Aesthetically pleasing with its beautiful mahogany top
Cons
- The strap pegs are only glued
- The built-in tuner is not that good
- The entire guitar looks cheap, IMO
Ibanez AW54CEOPN Dreadnought Acoustic-Electric Guitar
This guitar combined the aesthetics of classic beauty with the technology that is needed for today’s players to make their music better than it already is.
This visual masterpiece features a solid mahogany top as well back, sides and neck, and a natural finish that really highlights the mahogany’s beautiful wood grain that contributes largely to its renowned beauty.
Accessorizing the already magnificent charm is a black and white multi-rosette, a cutaway that helps the entire rosewood fingerboard be accessible, a rosewood AW bridge with bone saddle, a tortoise pickguard and chrome die-cast Grover tuners to complete this assemble on Ibanez AW54CEOPN.
The choice of mahogany wood as material for construction is responsible for the abundant warmth naturally making it a good unplugged guitar. However, once this thing is plugged in, the Fishman Sonicore pickup and Ibanez’s AEQ210TF preamp take this guitar to a whole new level.
The said mechanism boasts a simple 2-band control, making the sound adjustment easy. And to make things easier, has a phase switch for reducing feedback and a user-friendly onboard tuner.
Pros
- Great guitar for its price
- The mahogany build makes it durable
- Great deep warm sound, compared to traditional spruce top guitars
Cons
- Not so great stock strings, needs replacement
- Limited options in the electronics
Martin LX1E Little Martin
In need of a travel guitar with big voice and great sound quality? Look no further. You’ve already found them in a Martin LX1E Little Martin. With the capacity to be played acoustically or when connected to an amp, LX1E gives you more versatility anywhere you feel like playing.
If you’re a fan of Ed Sheeran, you’ll know right away that he happens to play an LX1E. If this humble guitar made Ed very popular, it’ll work magic on you, too. It has a solid Sitka Spruce top, with high-pressure laminate (HPL) mahogany back and sides and a warm satin finish.
With the top-notch construction coupled with the Fishman electronics, you can see how big this travel guitar becomes, in terms of sound. It sounds brighter and crispier. For smaller players, this is a perfect gear for you.
- The pickup sounds simply blow your mind
- Small, yet it has a lot of voice power to offer, especially when plugged in
- The high-pressure laminate seems sexy and makes the guitar more durable
- Sounds even better than full-sized guitars
- When playing low notes, there’s seems to be buzzing, but not that annoying
- Needs frequent tuning, maybe Ed Sheeran has better tuners
Yamaha FGX800C Solid Top Acoustic-Electric Guitar
This is another masterpiece from Yamaha. In this model, Yamaha did not disappoint inconsistently and successfully incorporating good aesthetics, better sound, and great price range.
The Yamah FGCX800C also features a solid Sitka spruce top while having a nato back and sides to deliver fine but full tone that is just good to the ears.
It also uses a lovely rosewood fingerboard and bridge, making it suitable for long hours of playing—rather good for both practice and performance.
It is also quite good to note that this guitar has an adjustable truss rod for an optimal playing experience. This model comes with an under-saddle piezo pickup with a 3 band equalizer, an adjustable mid-range frequency control, and a precision chromatic tuner making it a competitive guitar to those rather expensive ones.
Pros
- Clear, crisp, and full sound
- Light and easy to play
- Includes great electronics already
Cons
- Stock strings are not that good, needs replacement
- Choice of wood is not that great
- High action, needs setup
Orangewood Brooklyn Live Acoustic-Electric Guitar
I’m dumbfounded about how affordable and playable the Orangewood Brooklyn Live is, given its capacity to wow its players. Everything about it simply blows me away. The flawless contour of its Grand concert body shape highlights the solid Sitka Spruce top and the layered Pau Ferro back and sides.
With the scalloped X-bracing, it provides more stability to the top wood, and better resonance, as well. It has a Mahogany neck, Ovangkol fretboard and bridge, and gold hardware. The fretboard is great with unique inlays, but has some fret edges, which can easily be alleviated by sanding them down.
Orangewood Guitars aimed to make buying guitars fun and easy. And, indeed they’ve done great with Brooklyn Live. The guitar is a manifestation of a well-made craft, ready to play without putting so much weight on the price tag.
- Beautiful guitar with perfect set up out of the box
- Its tone rivals high-end guitars with a premium price
- Has quality build and great sound, too
- Comes with reliable tuners for easy and stable tuning
- Some fret edges are sharp and need to be polished
- Though the strings aren’t bad, it’s better to change to D’Addario extra light strings
- Finished assembly in Asia
Fender FA-235E Acoustic-Electric Guitar
Not all beautiful guitars are excellent guitars. But, for Fender FA-235E, it’s another story. This visually stunning guitar offers not just the legendary Fender looks, but also the sound of the name behind it.
This concert-style acoustic-electric comes with laminate construction of flame maple top and mahogany back and sides, responsible for its great tonality. It features a Nato C-shaped neck profile with a Rosewood fretboard for excellent playability and comfort.
To perfect the picture of a classic Fender, it comes with a stunning Viking bridge and the 3+3 headstock offering great tonal support. This provides stability to the strings and in turn, it keeps the strings stay in tune, even after rigorous strumming.
Lastly, I would like to discuss a bit about Fishman electronics. The one onboard in this guitar is reliable to produce an amplified sound perfect when you’re performing onstage.
- It has great value for the money
- A nice-looking instrument with great sounds
- Rosewood fretboard, plus the C-shaped neck profile offer great playability
- Fishman electronics help you achieve the amplified acoustic tone
- Requires professional to set up the guitar to its fullest potential
- Tuners need to be tightened before they can hold tuning well
Fender Redondo Player Acoustic-Electric Guitar
Be impressed with the powerful voice the moment you strum the Fender Redondo Player. It’s an eye-catching guitar with a matching 6-in-line headstock and a gold pickguard. Even if you don’t play it, you’ll know it’s a guitar worthy to be played.
The painted solid Sitka Spruce top together with the painted Mahogany back and sides exude beauty and excellent craftsmanship. Under the hood, it has Fender’s proprietary bracing that reduces the mass, while boosting the guitar’s resonance. It has a slope-shouldered body that’s responsible for the rich and big-bodied acoustics that fills any room and warms up your performance.
Now, wrap your hands around the slim C-shaped Mahogany neck and you’ll feel the comfort right away. Then, as you surf up and down the walnut fretboard, you’ll enjoy the smoothness — no sharp fret edges at all. You know that walnut fretboard is pleasingly good and provides the vibrant tone essential for acoustic instruments like guitar.
- A perfect guitar for those who frequently performs on stage
- Really cool guitar, especially with the tons of color options
- Inexpensive guitar that plays great and produces beautiful sounds
- Needs a little adjustment on the action, but it won’t take that long
Takamine GN93CE Acoustic-Electric
There’s a sexy and curvaceous guitar that has better sounds than some Martin or Fender models. It’s the Takamine GN93CE. It’s a well-balanced guitar that lets you have the best performance you ever had before.
From the Solid Spruce top, Rosewood sides, and the three-piece quilt maple back to the beautiful gloss finish, you are assured of a better-looking guitar. The slim mahogany neck and the rosewood fretboard with 12-inch radius have a nice feel and great playability.
It has a Takamine TK-40D preamp system that features a built-in tuner, three-band EQ, gain controls, and Q bypass switch, among others. Aside from its construction, you’ll also benefit from its versatility and the quality sound it produces. You don’t need an expensive guitar, all you need is the GN93CE-NAT.
- Great cutaway that helps you access the upper frets easily
- Built-in tuner and electronics are exceptional, which help the guitar achieve excellent sound quality
- Action and tuning are spot-on out of the box
- Very easy to play, even for complete beginners
- A couple of frets has sharp edges and need sanding
- Dots or the fret markers are there but aren’t that visible and distinctive
Fender T-Bucket 300CE Acoustic-Electric Guitar
This is a guitar that will surely get your attention with its amazing aesthetics that is sure to be a definite head-turner.
However, aside from great looks, this guitar also boasts a better sound.
Featuring a scalloped X, a Fishman Isys III System, a Rosewood bridge with compensated saddle and chrome die-cast tuning keys, a body with laminated Mahogany back and sides and laminated Maple top, a cutaway design with dreadnought body shape with a wide choice of color and design, and to top it all off, a Fender FTE-3TN Preamp with Tuner, the Fender T-Bucket 300CE surely has it all and it’s not even that expensive.
Pros
- Great Aesthetics
- Feels light
- Great pick up
Cons
- Wood material has a bad tone
- Expensive for an entry guitar
- Large size for a dreadnaught
The Best Acoustic-Electric Guitars Buying Guide in 2024
You love the sound of an acoustic guitar, yet you want to play it out loud. So, you need an acoustic-electric guitar. It isn’t any other type of guitar. Still, this is an acoustic guitar but has the amplification ability of an electric guitar.
You can play it acoustically in your room or during practice and plug it into your acoustic guitar amp if you want to play it loud. Acoustic-Electric guitars aren’t that expensive, so, this could be a perfect choice for everybody who wants to play out loud on a Saturday night or jam along with friends.
For you to simplify your search, we came up with a guideline on how to find the best acoustic-electric guitars. Like any other guitar searches, it starts with you — your budget, your preferences and the one you play comfortably.
Although it’s important to heed to expert’s recommendations, sometimes, their suggestions aren’t the best for you. So, we compiled some things you need to look into before spending your hard-earned money on an acoustic-electric guitar.
Guitar Body Quality and Body Style
Guitars with the larger body, usually produce a fuller tone, says eBay on its buying guide here. However, a smaller body guitar will have a pickup to amplify the sound through a speaker system or your PA. There are two common body types — archtop and flat-top.
The archtop has a curved top and hollow body for country music and jazz. While the flat-top is like a classical guitar, which is perfect for playing rock, folk or blues.
Acoustic-electric guitars also have different body styles — dreadnought, Auditorium OOO and Grand Auditorium, Concert and Grand Concert, Jumbo and Minis. Each of these styles produces a distinct sounds and provides a different level of comfort depending on who will be playing it. Dreadnought, as the most common guitar body style, delivers powerful sound, boomy and bass-rich.
Acoustic Material
If you want to achieve good sound quality, your guitar should have solid wood. However, there is a cheaper option, the laminated wood wherein thin layers of wood are used as guitar top.
Although solid wood produces outstanding sound quality, some players also welcome the cheaper alternative. Most people accept that it’s the top (front) of the guitar that needs to be solid. This also offers a nice tone quality of your guitar.
The good thing about most acoustic-electric guitars is that it has a solid top. And these are made of different wood types. Most good guitar tops are made from Spruce, while others of Mahogany.
Sitka spruce and Red spruce are the most common Spruce top wood. The former gives a clear and powerful tone, while the latter offers a rich and loud tone. Mahogany, on the other hand, has a solid and punchy tone with a good high-end response.
Neck
When it comes to playability, the neck is a very important part of the guitar. However, no one can really tell which is the best for you, unless you’ll feel it by playing the guitar.
If you’ve been playing electric guitars or like the fast-necked electric guitars, go for a neck with a fairly shallow profile. For kids or players with small hands, you can choose a guitar with a smaller neck.
Not just the neck profile, you also consider the fit and finish as it also affects the playability and the sound of the guitar. Poor finish and poorly finished frets result in buzzing. Then, you got to check the action of the guitar — the distance between the fretboard and the strings. If the action is too high, it’s difficult to play smoothly and quickly.
These are just among the few reasons why you need to go to the store and play it. Unless, if you are buying high-end acoustic-electric guitars, the quality is really very known.
Acoustic-Electric Preamps
You need to know this because this is an essential aspect of the acoustic-electric guitar when you want to produce loud sounds.
Preamp is literally a preamplifier. It’s responsible for picking up the vibrations from the strings and convert it into a signal that will be fed to the speakers. That’s the time you’ll hear an amplified sound you produce from the acoustic guitar.
There are a lot of reasons why you need to get to know the preamp much better. You can boost low signals, increased gain, adjust tone, balanced signals, and so on. You should be able to get to know these things to appreciate how wonderful it is to have an acoustic-electric guitar.
Also View: Our Review on the Best Acoustic Guitars
Good Electronics
This is what separates acoustic-electric guitars from traditional guitars. You need to have a good preamp and pickup (transducer or contact pickup types). The preamp usually comes with EQ adjustments to change the sound output and add some effects.
For most of the electrics, Fishman is one of the trusted brands. But, some big brands in this industry also developed their electrics and add them into their guitars. Gibson, for example, is using LR Baggs pickup systems.
You need a tuner too, and it’s a good choice to choose a good guitar with built-in tuner. At least if you have a tuner onboard, you don’t need to bring separate equipment or a separate tuning box.
This means less hassle, especially if you are gigging and performing. It makes the load easier and handier. You know that tuning your guitar is a critical factor that you need to master. So, it’s a great move to choose an acoustic-electric guitar built-in tuner.
In addition to the tips we shared, this YouTube video provides five key elements when buying an acoustic-electric guitar. Depending on your comfort and preferences, you may choose between a guitar with cutaway or non-cutaway, passive or active electronics, pickup types (transducer and contact), preamps and EQ and other features like feedback suppressor and preamp with tuner.
It’s an advantage for you if you’ll buy with some preferences in mind, than just jumping into the water without dipping your toes first.
What Is The Best Acoustic-Electric Guitar?
When choosing a guitar for a larger crowd, it is really important that you know what type of venue you will be playing because, although the guitars mentioned above are acoustic-electric guitars, they have different characteristics, for a different venue, and for different players.
It is material that you know your style, your preference and your budget in order to get the most out of the guitar that you will purchase.
Unless you get the guitar that is great for all types of venue, knowing your venue is highly recommended as you might be buying a guitar that has features not suitable or useless to your venue, not only will you be wasting great features for not using it, but you will also be paying for the said features which you will not be using anyway—not practical at all.
This is why I really recommend getting the Yamaha APX600 if you’re looking for the best acoustic-electric guitar. It addressed all the issues its previous model has, which is really a plus for me coming from a well-trusted brand.
Fast deterioration of good sound – you gave this a con for the Ibanez AW54CEOPN. The guitar looks great and I like the solid mahogany build and excellent price.
Can you please explain further about the comment regarding the sound deterioration?
Thank you