Help choosing an electro acoustic

I recently acquired an Ibanez EW20WNE which I'm very pleased with. Using the shop strings, it had a very dark almost jazzy tone to it, which I loved, even unplugged. I'm gonna try some flatwounds on it, to try and further that tonal characteristic. It retails around £250ish.

Ibanez have done a whole series of EW electro-acoustics, where EW stands for 'exotic wood' and they all (I think) range in price from around £200-400. they might have some interesting and unique tones for you to try. I tried a bunch, but can't recall which specific ones. obviously, the different woods will affect the tone - one I tried sounded almost like a resonator, it was very percussive, and another had a very ringing, harp-like tone to it. the best thing would be to hit a shop like Curly's Music which has a bunch in stock and try some out. anyways, hope this helps some. Oh, and the onboard preamp and pickup are really great quality for the price too, and they're beautiful to play, really nice necks, IMO.

Great thanks for that pal

I will go try some out and look up online the ones you said!

If you are hankerin' for a new guitar, that's one thing. But if you like the sound of your Washburn, the money might be better spent putting a quality pup in that. There are many choices, plus you can also add an outboard acoustic processor/shaper to build a really lush or unique sound. Fishman, Yamaha, Zoom and others make these, some specifically optimized for the type of pup in the guitar -- magnetic, piezo, mic.

I happen to be partial to soundhole magnet pups. On the less exotic side, recommend you have a look at the Fishman line, especially the Rare-Earth family. Magnetic sound hole pups don't suffer from the characteristic zinging, clipped attack of piezos and are fairly easy to install. I've also heard some hybrid magnetic-piezo pups with blend controls that do a pretty decent job.

price range?
you can get a lot of quality under $500 now compared to years past.
My A/Es are both Takamines EG523SCs 6 and 12 string. i think they are fantastic guitars for the money and the electronics are very good. if you have $ to spend there are several higher end acoustic amps i would recommend.
if you want to save money get a soundhole pickup, or if you have a PA just mic your guitar.

I love the tone of my acoustic, but I wanted to amplify it without having to perform major surgery - so I bought one of these....

Made by Seymour Duncan, called a Woody. Clips into the soundhole very easily, and it's adjustable height-wise. (You could have the p/u nearer the treble strings than the bass strings, for instance.) I can't recall the price offhand - I'd just bought my Telecaster the same day, so I was on a different planet! - but it was worth every penny.

:D :D :D

Vic

cheers guys thanks a lot for that info - very helpful!

I just had the itch to get a new guitar, and electro acoustic i thought would be ideal.

Ill check out the pickups for my existing acoustic and see if I can get a new / nice sound from it.

Ill look into the Takamines - My price range is about £300 / £350

If you want a really distinctive sounding guitar, you could try a resonator. The only problem is I've not seen a single UK music shop sell anything above a £140 'beginners' one. With no pickup. But if you find a decent electrified one, try it out.

I just had the itch to get a new guitar, and electro acoustic i thought would be ideal.

kinda thought that might be the case.
If you want a really distinctive sounding guitar, you could try a resonator. The only problem is I've not seen a single UK music shop sell anything above a £140 'beginners' one. With no pickup. But if you find a decent electrified one, try it out.

Interesting suggestion. Everyone and mom makes E-As these days. Going for something different can be fun and challenging. But you'd really want to try a mid- or upscale resonator (Hounddog, some Kellys (mid), Dobro, National) and compare to whichever lower cost/budget version you'd consider in order to get an understanding of the playability, construction and trimbral differences. You may be okay with those differences -- or not. The good news it that budget Asian reso brands that were crap only a few years ago have come a long way up the construction and quality curves.

I'm GAS'ing hard over the Ibanez Montage guitar, electric and acoustic!

here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaeL3d9TuEw

"Ill look into the Takamines - My price range is about £300 / £350"

There's a lot of varying 'ear quality' in that price range. By that I mean that you'll find stuff you like and stuff you hate. My advice - go to every shop you can and try every guitar you can, you might find a real gem. I bought a guitar for £150 odd that I preferred over everything in the shop up to £600 and it happens to be an electro acoustic. A friend of mine recently bought a Yamaha EA for that sort of money (APX5 I think). Unplugged it sounds good, plugged into an amp it sounds fantastic.

Enjoy your search.

OK well I went into one shop in London and the guy recommended the Yamaha APX700. Had a really nice "twang" sound to it withouth it being amped which is what I wanted. Amped it and it was great too. Had a play with the EQ thing as well as never really used them and all was good. Was £300. Dunno if it was me but it seemed slightly small or am I just too used to an acoustic jumbo. Didnt really bother me as its something different anyway.

I was reading online and there is the APX900 / and the CPX900 which looks really nice:

http://www.yamaha-europe.com/yamaha_europe/uk/10_musical_instruments/30_guitars_basses_amps/30_cpx_electric_guitars/10_cpx_guitars/10_no_series/05_CPX900/index.html

Dont suppose anyone has any views on these? I liked the APX700 and was wondering if these models up would be even better, although they could be completely different...

Just spoke to Matt, its the APX700 he has. Like I said, its pretty small bodied so lacks a little volume unplugged, but plug it in and its mint.

I think the APX900 has a diferent mic/pickup arrangement. I don't think you'd go far wrong with either.

Just spoke to Matt, its the APX700 he has. Like I said, its pretty small bodied so lacks a little volume unplugged, but plug it in and its mint.

I think the APX900 has a diferent mic/pickup arrangement. I don't think you'd go far wrong with either.

Cool, thats a touch its the same guitar i played!

I would agree with whats been said about the Yamaha APX700 / 900.

I have a Takamine el/acoustic and its one of the ones made before they shipped over to being made in China. The new ones are nowhere near the quality they were, unless you can afford a Japanese one.

I also have a CPX900 the latest from Yamaha and it has a totaly different sound to my Takamine. A sound I prefer to that of my Takamine. Not to say that the Tak isn't as good its just that they are different.

Go to a music shop and try as many out as you can. Its the only way :wink:

As a foot note, for me its not just about how a guitar sounds its also how it looks and feels. I mean you might find the perfect sounding guitar but would you want it if it was in bright lurex pink? :?