Update Now NGD! Best Electric/Acoustic Hybrid?

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

I'm potentially in the market for an electric/acoustic hybrid guitar and am wondering what the good people of the Fretboard may have tried in the past that they could recommend.

I realise no option is going to be either a brilliant electric or a convincing acoustic and that any option will be a compromise, but I want it to be as good a compromise as I can find. I will be looking to go with something used, not new.

Options on the used market I've researched are:

Lower Budget - Crafter 'SA' series

Mid Budget - Godin A6 Ultra

Upper Budget - Taylor T5

Unattainable Budget - Fender Acoustasonic 

I'm more of an electric player in general, and have midget-sized chipolata fingers, so a smaller/thinner neck and fretboard would be better. Other than that, I'm not too fussy. 

So what are people's thoughts on the above options? Any other hybrid options i should be considering?

ICBM

This is something I’m very keen on.

The best I’ve ever owned or played is the 90s Fender HMT acoustic-electric Tele - the one with a wooden acoustic bridge and a Lace Sensor at the neck. It sounded amazing as an ‘acoustic’ and as a hybrid, including with overdrive.

But I *hated* the wide, flat neck with huge frets. If that’s something you do like, look for one... they’re not common, but not too expensive.

I’m currently using two different solutions - a PRS Hollowbody - a non-piezo one - which is rather too ‘electric’ really, through an acoustic preamp pedal; and a Vintage V300M mahogany 00-size acoustic with a soundhole pickup that I’m going to put electric strings on. Very different, and obviously hugely different price points!

grungebob

Ovation VXT. A really well made playable guitar that was massively underrated. 

I bought one secondhand for £350 and in a moment of madness sold it for no good reason. The few I’ve seen pop up now go for £800+. 

ArchtopDave

The Fender Acoustasonic is a very interesting guitar. I bought one just as lock down started, so I haven't had a chance to try it out with the band that I'm in. I've played it a lot at home - it's got a sufficiently loud, and decent acoustic, voice to be played unamplified. I know it's a matter of taste, but the neck finish is so thin that you can feel the wood grain a bit in places; I am happy with gloss necks, so mine has been getting regularly polished, and is now smoother feeling and more to my personal taste.

maltingsaudio

I have a  Carvin/strat Bolt model with FishMan piezo bridge which serves me well. Thing is the acoustic side of things for stage doesn’t have to be that authentic so with the output split and the acoustic bit routed through an acoustic amp does the strummy bits well. If I was finger picking streets of London then not so hot!! So it depends on what you really are looking for. 

No I am surprised Variax isn’t on your list because I think they are the ones who have it nailed.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

maltingsaudio said:

No I am surprised Variax isn’t on your list because I think they are the ones who have it nailed.

Well yes, that has also been on my list.  

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/182641/wtb-line-6-tyler-variax-jtv-59-69#latest

Probably could have added that to this list too, and if i do manage to track down a Tyler Variax at a decent price that may well be the answer. My only concern i guess is the potentially expensive headache if the electronics were to crap out on me. The options above are a lot simpler and presumably easier to fix if they go wrong. 

victorludorum

I love my Mexican Acoustasonic Telecaster (the one with the acoustic saddle bridge and Twisted Tele neck pickup). It feels like an electric guitar, but has a Fishman preamp with 4 acoustic sounds, which to me are all useable for gigs. You can run it in stereo, and that's when it sounds best. There's a good Pro Guitar Shop video on YT. They're quite hard to find now i think, as not many were sold.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

^^^Yeah that looks interesting and also the HMT Tele that @ICBM mentioned earlier. Probably would be ideal for me as a cut price version of the current Acoustasonic range which is sadly way out of my current budget.

Currently in a bit of a dialogue with someone on ebay about a used Crafter SA, so we'll see how that pans out. Anyone got an idea what a fair price for a used Crafter would be? New they're around £600-700 but i imagine the depreciation on them is pretty severe as they're not a premium brand? 

victorludorum

I think the new American made ones are aimed more at acoustic players, whereas the Mexican one is more electric, albeit in a limited way as there is no bridge pickup. For some Tele players, the fact that there is no bridge pickup is sacrilege, but for gigging players who want a useful and rugged gigging guitar that covers a few bases, then it's a good tool. It's hollowed out too, so that makes it nice and light.

ICBM

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

Currently in a bit of a dialogue with someone on ebay about a used Crafter SA, so we'll see how that pans out. Anyone got an idea what a fair price for a used Crafter would be? New they're around £600-700 but i imagine the depreciation on them is pretty severe as they're not a premium brand? 

£350 and £375 are the last two prices on Ebay, which sounds about right to me. I think the last one we had in the shop was either £349 or £379.

Caffeine_Vampire

I’m using an early 90’s Gibson Chet Atkins SST with a Rane AP-13. Prefer it to my old Taylor T5-Z.  

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Well, the search didn't last long! I normally deliberate over new guitar purchases for weeks on end, researching things to the nth degree. Went a bit more impulsive this time and, in a break from time honoured tradition, actually went with the most budget friendly option....

 
Used but in very good condition, virtually unmarked! Early days, but so far I've been Very impressed with the build quality for such a supposedly 'cheap' guitar. Feels really well put together, excellent, buzz free set up etc.

Quite quiet unplugged, was hoping it might have been a bit more resonant but so far feels quieter than my old Epi Casino for noodling on the couch. Plugged in the LR Baggs pickup sounds really nice and responsive. The Kent Armstrong P90 is quite a bit more raunchy than I was expecting. Dunno what the output of it is, but it gets pretty filthy when fully opened up.

Best sound I've head out it so far is with the pickups blended but the volume rolled right off the neck. Just gives a little bit of bass to fill out and round off the piezo sound. Just what I was looking for!