Acoustic Electric on a $250 Budget

[milepost13]

Hey All,

My band is traveling to France in a few weeks on a mission trip. I'm not taking my high end Taylor, for obvious reasons. My goal is to purchase a decent acoustic electric with my own money, take and use it on the trip, and leave it behind for somebody there to keep.

My budget is $250, and I need to either find something local or order something off the internet within the next several days. I'm looking for a new or gently used, right-handed, 6 string, cut away acoustic electric. The only thing I refuse to purchase is an Ibanez.

Do you have any suggestions, or have you seen something recently that I could take a look at? I'll be checking out a few guitar centers as well as some other local music shops in the next week or so.

I'd really appreciate your help! Thanks!

Nate

[wdkunkel]

I'd also be interested in this. Currently I'm using a Colt AD810 NS Along with a Seymor Duncan woody pickup. Works OK, but the acoustic quality gets lost if the volume get's turned too far up. I'd probably have better experience if I plugged that into some kind of Direct Box from LR Baggs, but the DI ends up costing more than the guitar.

I'd be interested in perspective of others. I've heard good things about Seagull.

[musicianinthestates]

at $250? you'll be hard pressed to get something decent brand new in that range.

Probably Fender malibu ce, or applause ae148 are going to be your best options.

If you had time you could watch ebay, I got a takamine eg340ce for $210, regular almost $400. shipping made it more, and i had to purchase a case separately which made it more, but the guitar itself was $210. Good guitar if you go through amp or system, as i and others have said before, it lacks projection.

What about student lines? they're lower priced but also lower quality, would you choose one of those over an ibanez, if you could get a $500+ ibanez guitar in your price range? not that i have one to offer, just wondering why you're dead set against them?

[SaintLewis]

the least expensive acoustic-electric i'd bother playing anywhere is a SeaGull... you can find some low-level Seagull guitars for a reasonable price with a pretty fantastic sound... I played a Seagull that cost around $400 once that sounded about the same as my $1200 Talkamine at the time.

[sycamoredave]

In that price range, with limited time, you have a challenge. First, you should give up trying to buy something new. Second, action rules. Those cheap guitars can just plain wear out your hand, and if you are going to be performing, look out.

The Ovations may be a good option. You should be able to find some Celebrity models that would work, and still be finger friendly. My backup is a Celeb. It sounds "ok", and the action is very workable. Plugged in it actually sounds pretty good in certain roles. A good pedal can cover a few faults, so you might also think about that.

With limited time, you are going to have to use networking, Craig's List, Ebay, or local papers to try and find something playable. Here is a Craig' List example from our area that is pretty close. http://columbus.craigslist.org/msg/1805771351.html[/URL]
Try to find players moving up, rather than newbies.

Best wishes and blessings...
Dave