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?
Comments
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!
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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.
Bandcamp
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?
Bandcamp
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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!