There’s nothing that compares to the tone of the good old acoustic guitar. Even with so many technological advancements and different effects for electric guitars, people still love to hear the natural and organic tone of a wooden resonance box. However, things aren’t always that simple.
It seems as if the only really good guitars on the market cost a fortune. While you might find a decent guitar for a lower price, it seems that nothing quite manages to get things going and deliver that great tone and performance that you want.
However, by looking more into stuff that’s available today, we can see that there are some mid-priced guitars worth checking out. So we decided to help you out by doing some research of our own and delivering a list of the best mid-range acoustic guitars. Any of these instruments will sound great and feel great, all while keeping the price within reasonable limits.
Guild OM-140CE
While it’s not as popular as a brand compared to some others out there, Guild Guitars manage to keep things at high standards. This is pretty obvious with an instrument like their OM-140CE acoustic guitar.
With a large body featuring spruce top and mahogany back and sides, you’ll get a very resonant tone that’s more or less balanced over the spectrum.
Additionally, this guitar has a single-cutaway design and a fairly comfortable mahogany neck that makes things running smoothly for both lead and rhythm players. It also comes with an amazing preamp and a piezo pickup.
Washburn HD100SWK Heritage 100
At the very mention of Washburn, the first thing that comes to mind is those very innovative electric guitars. However, the company has made a lot of great acoustic guitars as well.
A great example is their HD100SWK model that brings not only a great tone but is also very reliable and specially designed to fuse ergonomic qualities and aesthetics into one full package. Made fully of solid wood materials, we have a Sitka spruce top and mahogany back and sides, resulting in a very resonant and balanced tone.
This is all followed by top-level scalloped “X” bracing that adds to the guitar’s tone and overall reliability. We also have an amazing mahogany neck with a satin finish that makes it feel great and you can even feel it resonating under your fretting hand while playing.
Blueridge BR-42
Blueridge comes as one of the widely underrated brands, and they’re usually known among true lovers of acoustic tones. For this list, we’re bringing in their awesome BR-42 model. What’s rather interesting is that this guitar comes with the so-called “OOO” (or “triple-O”) body shape that’s noticeably bigger compared to most of the guitar models.
Along with its solid spruce top and mahogany sides and back, this results in a very unique tone that’s rich both in high- and bottom-ends. It also comes with a fairly slim mahogany neck that makes your playing experience enjoyable.
Fender CD-320
No matter the price level, your skills, or your preferred musical styles, you can’t ever go wrong with Fender guitars. That goes both for their electric and acoustic guitars. And here, we’d like to take a closer look at an amazing yet reasonably-priced CD-320 model.
This is a standard dreadnaught acoustic guitar with a total of 20 frets, a gorgeous mahogany neck, and a body with a solid Sitka spruce top. With the addition of mahogany back and sides, you’ll get a full tonal range in there, useful for any musical style that you might be into. This is all accompanied by quality tuning machines that keep things in perfect order.
Yamaha FG850
With massive experience in instrument building over the decades, Yamaha is still one of the most favored brands for almost any group of musical instruments that come to mind. If you need an acoustic guitar, you won’t ever regret getting one of their models, no matter the price level.
If we’re talking about some mid-range territories, then Yamaha’s FG850 comes as the best example of a guitar that’s a great deal for the price. But what’s interesting about it is that it has an all-mahogany body, along with a nato neck.
This particular build gives a nice accent to the mids and the bottom-end of the spectrum, making it sound a little smoother and darker compared to other guitars on this list. If this sounds like your kind of tone, then the FG850 is the right choice.
Ovation Applause AE44II-VV
It’s hard to avoid mentioning Ovation on a list of great guitars. After all, you won’t ever find guitars like them, and they’re especially useful for lead players. The one that we want to get into here comes from the company’s Applause Elite Series and brings vintage and modern elements in one unique guitar model.
Labeled as AE44II-VV, this one is one of Ovation’s finest examples of how they can create a pro-level instrument without putting an insane price tag on it. Aside from the composite Lyrachord material for the backside of the instrument, we have a layered spruce top.
Together, such a combination creates a tone that’s heavier on the higher-ends and mids. What’s more, it features a shallower body and it will feel almost as if you’re playing an electric guitar. Of course, AE44II-VV also features the CE304T preamp and Ovation’s Slimline piezo pickup that offers a lot of tone-shaping possibilities.
