Are you looking for an acoustic guitar that’s affordable and still sounds excellent? These four guitars are among the best cheap acoustic guitars you’ll find.
This article will explain essential things to look for when buying an acoustic guitar.
We also highlight each of the four guitar models’ specific features, making it easy for you to pick the one that’s right for you.
Top 4 Best Cheap Acoustic Guitars Under $200 – Comparison Table
| Image | Model | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Yamaha FG800 (Editor's Choice) | Check Price |
 | Jasmine S34C | Check Price |
 | Epiphone DR-100 | Check Price |
 | Fender FA-100 | Check Price |
Yamaha FG800 Solid Top Acoustic Guitar (Editor’s Choice)
It is a beautiful dreadnought guitar in a natural finish from one of the world’s most respected guitar manufacturers. The 800 Series features a new scalloped bracing pattern that maximizes the solid spruce top’s acoustic properties.
The FG800 is made from high-quality wood you would expect in a high-quality instrument: solid Sitka spruce top, nato back & sides, rosewood fretboard, and bridge.
Spruce is used for the top because its fine grain and lightness make it the superior wood for resonating musical vibrations. Rosewood is used for the fretboard and bridge because of its hardness and durability.
With its high-quality wood selection, it has a great, warm tone for the price. It sounds great plugged in or unplugged. It has adjustable relief as well as a die-cast tuning mechanism for smooth and sensitive tuning.
Pros
- This guitar has a great, well-balanced sound and good volume. The lower notes are strong and robust without sacrificing the higher notes.
- This is a fun, easy guitar to play. A guitar that is easy to play will get played more, and the more you play, the easier it gets!
- It is beautiful in its natural wood colors and quality, making it a good guitar for performers and anyone who enjoys aesthetically pleasing instruments.
Cons
- While there isn’t a strap pin near the heel of the neck, one can be added by a guitar shop for a nominal fee (usually around $5), or you can use the type of strap that ties where the head joins the neck.
Conclusion
It is one of the best-sounding guitars in its price range and an instrument worthy of experienced guitarists and beginners.
It comes from one of the best names in musical instruments and represents their latest innovations for a quality guitar at an affordable price.
Jasmine S34C NEX Acoustic Guitar
It is a beautiful guitar with a natural wood finish in the Jumbo shape but a slightly smaller body than an authentic Jumbo. It is quite a beauty with a stylish cutaway for greater access to the guitar’s highest notes!
The S34C NEX features a laminate spruce top for greater affordability, coupled to Sapele back and sides and a rosewood fretboard and bridge. It has a full 25 ½” scale length and a slim neck profile, making it easy to play.
It uses scalloped bracing for maximum resonance, with the bracing closer to the soundhole for greater note clarity and a livelier, more open sound.
Pros
- This guitar offers a lot of value and a good sound for the price.
Cons
- It may need a little more setup work than a more expensive guitar. Things like filing down frets that are too high or adjusting the relief (the height of the strings above the fretboard) can be done at home with the aid of instructional videos or at a guitar shop.
- It may be lacking in volume, especially if you are doing fingerpicking style.
Conclusion
The Jasmine S34C NEX is a great value guitar for its price. It has a classy body style, and the materials are good enough to make a nice-sounding guitar at a great price.
Epiphone DR-100 Acoustic Guitar
It is a dreadnought-shaped guitar from one of the best names in guitar manufacturing, available in three colors: sunburst, ebony, or natural. It is symmetrical, meaning either right-handed or left-handed people can play it.
It features a select spruce laminated top, mahogany body, and a rosewood fretboard and bridge. Epiphone’s iconic Sloped Dovewing headstock completes the look with die-cast premium tuners.
It also has a SlimTaper neck shape for comfortable playing.
Pros
- This is a great-sounding guitar for its price. It may be hard to believe that it is not a solid top guitar. The tone is so right. The laminate spruce top actually will vibrate easier and sound better the more years it is played.
Cons
- The bridge pins may be more challenging than average to remove when changing strings, and other adjustments such as filing the frets smooth may be needed.
- It does not come with strap buttons.
Conclusion
It is Epiphone’s most popular and affordable acoustic guitar for a reason. It has the quality and sound you would expect from a respected old brand, but with an amazingly affordable price.
Fender FA-100 Acoustic Guitar
It is a classic dreadnought acoustic guitar from a great old brand, and it comes with everything you need to get started and at a great price. The bundle includes a gig bag, tuner, strings, strap, picks, instructional DVD, and a polishing cloth.
It features a laminated spruce top, rosewood fretboard and bridge, and a full-size dreadnought body with a vibrant tone suited for all music styles.
Pros
- The price of this guitar and its accessories make it an excellent value for a beginner.
- The tone and sound quality are reasonably good, considering the low price.
Cons
- These guitars sometimes have quality issues with the fret placement that cause buzzing or bad string noise. However, it comes with a one-year warranty from Fender that should cover returning a defective instrument.
Conclusion
It’s hard to beat the value and convenience that Fender is offering with this acoustic guitar bundle. It’s an excellent guitar for camping and outdoor use where you would hesitate to use a more expensive guitar.
How to Choose the Best Cheap Acoustic Guitar
What Are Acoustic Guitars?
How they are made: Acoustic guitars have hollow bodies made of wood.
The carefully shaped, thin pieces of wood are engineered to naturally resonate with the music, giving them a beautiful tone.
You can play acoustic guitars with or without electrical amplification.
How Do I Find a Good Acoustic Guitar that Fits My Budget?
Several manufacturers make guitars that combine affordability with quality. It would help if you looked for the features you would expect to find in higher-priced guitars, including high-quality materials and good quality.
The following will give you the crucial differences between cheaper guitars and expensive guitars, as well as the critical things to look for when buying a guitar on a budget.
What Are Some of the Differences Between Cheap and Expensive Guitars?
Material selection
Cheap guitars have bodies made of plywood and generally have cheaper hardware, bridges, lacquers, and finishes. More expensive guitars use solid woods such as rosewood and spruce, which give superior tone and looks.
Craft
The craft’s quality and precision vary from one guitar manufacturer to another, and is another difference between cheaper guitars and more expensive ones.
The quality affects how easy the guitar is to play, how comfortable the frets are for the hand, and how the guitar sounds and looks.
Looking closely at the gluing and paint job on a guitar can reveal if the quality is sloppy.
What Are the Important Things to Look for in a Cheap Guitar?
Sound Quality
The sound of the guitar is the most critical factor. The tone and resonance of a guitar are what make each guitar unique. Different models and manufacturers have distinct tonal qualities.
Guitars from reputable makers will have good designs and fret spacing and use quality woods to produce a reliably great-sounding guitar.
Feel and Playability
The feel and playability of the guitar are also substantial. A well-shaped neck and cleanly laid frets help a guitar feel comfortable for the hand while sliding up and down the guitar’s neck.
Most steel string guitars have adjustable relief so that you can adjust the height of the strings above the fretboard –higher if there is buzzing or lower if the strings are too far above the fretboard.
Looks
The overall quality and looks of a guitar are critical. How a guitar looks and how carefully it was constructed help make it something of beauty to the eyes and the ears.
A guitar constructed with attention to detail will usually sound better and be a joy to hold.
Should I Get A Laminate Or Top Solid Guitar?
Laminate top guitars provide good sound combined with affordability. Laminate top guitars are usually cheaper than solid top guitars because the solid top is cut from a single piece of wood, usually spruce.
Solid top guitars generally have superior tones. Still, they may be more susceptible to cracking or going out of tune from extreme temperature changes, so if you want a rugged guitar, laminate is the right choice.
Final Thoughts: the Best Affordable Acoustic Guitar Is…
Now that we have reviewed the four best cheap acoustic guitars for you, you should have an easier time finding a good guitar that meets your needs and fits your budget.
Thanks to competition and innovation, guitars in this affordable price range can be excellent instruments and express the musical talents of a wide range of musicians from beginner to experienced.
In our opinion, the Yamaha FG800 is the best acoustic guitar for under $200.