Need advice - acoustic guitar for beginner

[Jamoe]

Morning All,

I know we have a few musicians amongst us so your help would be very much appreciated.

I'm after some advice on an acoustic guitar suitable for a beginner. Primarily for myself but I also want to feel comfortable letting my kids (3 and 5) bash it . I've no idea what buys you a reasonable instrument (£50-£150).

Any recommendations would get great.

Cheers

[JonnyAppleSeed]

Have a look here excellent shop and great service

Have a think of the type of stuff you want to play. Give them a call they have always been very helpful and dont sell rubbish

http://www.eaglemusicshop.com/acoustic-guitars

[Jamoe]

Thanks Jas, I will take a look.

p.s. Miss your banjo playing

[Sparko]

i use guitarguitar , they have excellent reviews and they are very helpful http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/

[albert]

My advice is whatever guitar you buy, get the shop to throw in an initial setup with the purchase or pay a nominal fee for a setup. It'll get the guitar action, the height the strings are from the frets to a level best suited for that guitar and your need to learn from scratch with it.

I recall my first acoustic having an action so high you could fly a plane between the fretboard and strings. And to get the strings to stay put on the fret wire to get a sound out of it required popeye arms.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2093667 This topic has some nice advice and particularly this fella:

Vintage V300 - http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/acoustic_guitars/vintage/v300/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vintage-V300-Guitar-Natural-Acoustic/dp/B002JJ5BDG

It has a solid soundboard (top) on it and normally for that price range you get laminate all round.

I recommend you buy this and ask for a medium to low setup for the action and it should be about perfect for learning on.

It's also a concert style guitar, not too big (like a dreadnought style) so you get it under control easier.

[Jamoe]

Thanks for the link Sparko

Albert, great advice, this is all new to me. Learning even before I get sore fingers

[Jamoe]

The V300 is £10 cheaper on their own website and they are "fairly" local to me which is nice to know.

 http://www.simmondsmusic.com/product-detail/942/240/vintage-v300-natural-folk-acoustic-guitar/#.UrAVapBdWlh

Thanks for your help, now to see if the wife wants to buy me it for Christmas

[albert]

The V300 is £10 cheaper on their own website and they are "fairly" local to me which is nice to know.

 http://www.simmondsmusic.com/product-detail/942/240/vintage-v300-natural-folk-acoustic-guitar/#.UrAVapBdWlh

Thanks for your help, now to see if the wife wants to buy me it for Christmas

JHS are a superb British company, if you can try the guitar out before you buy it then it makes a big difference, they may also factory set it up for you if they have a depot you can visit.

JHS do a lovely Peter Green style Les Paul guitar with the reverse would humbuckers Green used, sweet for blues and very well used by the pro community.