How to choose and buy an acoustic guitar-Budget (Part II)
July 7th, 2009 | 
Central to any big ticket item that you want to buy is the budget. And before you even decide to get a guitar, work out how much you are willing to fork out to buy one.
As of 2009, you are getting far more value for each dollar spent than at any time in history when it comes to buying an acoustic guitar. Fork out a few hundred dollars and you’ll have a guitar that sounds good and plays well and is very durable(I still play my first guitar today, a Yamaha FG-130 folk type, which my dad bought over 30 years ago). But if you can really afford, there are custom made hand crafted guitars made by luthiers, made from the best tonewoods and acoustics.
If your are looking in getting a main guitar, you really should invest in a good one. Martin, Taylor, Gibson, and Takamine acoustic guitars are world reknowned choices that can potentially last a lifetime, though their prices can be a little higher than others ($700>). Other good quality acoustic guitars that you could also consider are Crafter, Ibanez, Cort, and most of their guitars tend to be in the middle price range ($400-$1000)
However, if you are really on a limited budget, do consider cheaper guitars like Maestro and Yamaha ($150 can get you a reasonable one). However my personal take on anyone planning to get a guitar is: Look for guitars that cost about $300 and up. To me, it’s worth it to consider that the slight extra dollars you pay are worth a lifelong investment for a quality guitar (usually minus the bag, accessories and tuner) as compared to a low end one which may offer all those freebies, but have a higher chance of the wood warping faster.
