Ready to ship
55.000 Products
55.000 products
ready for shipment
Money Back
30 Day Return Policy
You have placed the following items into your shopping cart
Ready to ship
55.000 Products
55.000 products
ready for shipment
Money Back
30 Day Return Policy
Whether in the recording studio, live on stage or simply to play the guitar on the couch - the acoustic guitar is probably the most famous of all accompanying instruments. In countless songs, they provide chords with the characteristic full guitar sound in the rhythmic accompaniment. In contrast to the electric guitar, the steel-string guitar is certainly also the classical instrument for singer/songwriters. The most common body shape of the steel-string guitar is probably the dreadnought variant.
Dreadnought (fearless) at the beginning of the 20th century actually referred to a type of warship and indicates the somewhat wedge-shaped appearance of the instrument with a smaller upper part and less pronounced shoulder. The shape of this guitar provides a full sound with impressive basses. You can find information about the various guitar designs of the acoustic guitars on the numerous product pages. The expert team of the guitar shop is looking forward to your visit or call to assist you with words and deeds when choosing your new acoustic guitar.
The body shape of the Grand Concert acoustic guitar is based on the dimensions of the concert guitar. It does not produce as much volume, but is easy to play and can be mastered by people with smaller builds. A Grand Auditorium guitar is similar to the Grand Concert in its shape, with a pronounced waist, but has a wider and deeper body. In addition, the Grand Auditorium delivers a very balanced sound, which makes it a popular stage guitar. One of the most assertive and largest designs is the jumbo guitar, which can be recognized by the pronounced lower part of the body and the slender waist. Jumbo Steel-string guitars have a full sound volume with a distinct bass range. Parlor models, which were particularly popular in the 19th century, are immediately recognisable by their compact and particularly narrow body with a distinct waist. These acoustic guitars are smaller than a concert guitar, have a radiant overtone-rich sound and are often played by folk singers such as Joan Baez. In addition to these widespread forms, rarer and newer designs have also established themselves. For example, the Gypsy Guitars with their extremely assertive, brilliant midrange sound, made famous by Django Reinhard, or the instruments of the Ibanez Talman series, reminiscent of the body shapes of electric guitars.
In addition to the shape of the body, the selection of the woods used has a great influence on the sound characteristics of an Acoustic guitar. The tops of high-quality acoustic guitars are mostly made of radially cut Spruce wood with fine, evenly spaced and narrow annual rings. Cedar delivers a somewhat warmer timbre with complex overtones. Mahogany sounds warmer and with slightly less overtones than spruce. Taylor makes its GS Mini-e model with a fantastic looking Koa wood top. Mahogany, rosewood, cedar or maple are used for the sides, top and back. The neck is usually made of mahogany or another wood for the frame. The preferred material for the fingerboard of an acoustic guitar is rosewood, rarely ebony. Due to the much stronger string tension of steel strings, the neck of acoustic guitars is always reinforced with an adjustable steel rod (Trussrod), which counteracts the pulling forces of the strings.
Naturally, all well-known manufacturers also have 12-string models in their range. Whether in jumbo format, with a cutaway or in special varnish or wood selections - Ovation, Taylor, Sigma, Takamine, Ibanez or Guild, offer a suitable acoustic guitar for every budget. Here each string has a secondary string tuned to be in tune with the main string, with the lower notes sounding an octave higher with thinner strings, the higher strings are doubled and tuned to the same pitch - hence the rich and full acoustic guitar sound when striking chords on a 12 string.
The purchase of the first acoustic guitar doesn't have to be expensive. For the beginner, there are many of the inexpensive models also available as a set, with accessories such as bag, tuner, stand and footrest, to equip young guitarists directly with all the equipment and accessories you need if you want to learn to play acoustic guitar.
Left-handed people don't miss out either. More than 60 different acoustic guitars in all body variants and wood variations are waiting to be played. The Lefthand models are of course equal in sound to the acoustic guitars for right-handers.
In the case of the concert guitar and steel string guitar, the top is the main resonator and is responsible for the sound with a proportion of approx. 70 %. For this reason, it makes sense to take a closer look at the various guitar types and to specify their suitability for the various fields of application. Laminated plywood guitar tops are suitable for beginners because they are relatively cheap to produce. Many beginners don't want to spend a fortune on the start because they don't know yet if they really like playing the guitar. Compared to guitars with a solid top, instruments with a laminated top sound much quieter and duller in general. However, if the internal bracing of an acoustic guitar is well constructed, this can still lead to good sound results. Even for advanced players or professionals, acoustic guitars with laminated tops have their appeal. Compared to an instrument with a solid top, an acoustic guitar with a laminated top is less sensitive to temperature and humidity fluctuations and therefore extremely attractive for use as a travel, park or outdoor acoustic guitar. An electronically amplified acoustic guitar with a laminated top is less sensitive to unwanted feedback. However, this is usually accompanied by a smaller overtone spectrum. In the middle price and quality segment, the guitar comes with a solid wood top. The solid wood top sounds significantly warmer, more powerful and more voluminous than the laminated top and can produce significantly more overtone spectrum. The sound of the solid wood top unfolds in the direction of the grain.
The entire string tension of up to 100 kg on the acoustic guitar cannot be carried by the top alone but must be reinforced by the internal bracing. The trick is to construct the internal bracing in such a way that stability can be guaranteed on the one hand, but the very fine and thin top can still vibrate relatively freely on the other. The X-Bracing developed by Martin Guitars is widely used for guitars.
A cutaway is a cutout on the body of the lower body of the guitar and allows comfortable grasping in the higher registers. Since the cutaway cuts out a small part of the sound body, the acoustic resonance suffers a slight loss compared to a body without a cutaway. There are basically two different forms of cutaway. The pointed cutaway is called the Florentine cutaway, while the rounded cutaway is called the Venetian cutaway. Both forms of cutaways can be found in steel-string guitars as well as in concert guitars.
In the case of acoustic guitars, a distinction is made between two types of wood, each of which produces a different tone from the ground up. Here the widespread spruce top is lighter in colour than the clearly darker sounding cedar top and the same applies to the acoustics. On guitars, the solid spruce top sounds brighter and more brilliant in the higher frequencies and takes considerably more time to play in to develop a fuller overtone spectrum. The cedar, on the other hand, already has a very direct and overtone-rich tone response at the beginning. It resonates significantly more voluminously and warmer than the spruce, but will not develop this clear brilliance in the high frequencies even after long playing.
Whether you prefer the tone of the brilliant, solid spruce top or the warmer, voluminous sound of the solid cedar top is a matter of taste. In the premium segment, you can find fully solid acoustic guitars. So not only the top but also the sides and the back are made of solid wood. Compared to the models with only a solid top, solid guitars resonate even louder and produce about 30% more overtone spectrum. The finest wood selection of the top has on average narrower and relatively parallel annual rings. Due to the higher wood density, the well-selected solid wood top is considerably fuller and more balanced than a simple solid wood top.
Whoever wants to buy a Concert guitar or an acoustic guitar with a pickup should have the clear intention of conquering the stage. The installation of a pickup causes additional costs in production, which are also reflected in the sales price. In the entry-level segment and in the mid-range of concert guitars there are rather simple piezo pickups that work wonderfully on stage because they are relatively feedback-resistant. However, the body resonance of the body is barely taken along, since a piezo pickup is mounted under the bridge and thus only transmits the direct string vibration. The top pickups and condenser microphones in the body are much warmer, more natural and more dynamic. These pickups are more likely to be found in the premium segment of concert guitars and are also ideal for direct recording in a recording studio. However, the aforementioned technology is also much more susceptible to feedback, since both the condenser microphone and the top pickup also transmit the body resonance. The problem is often counteracted with so-called built-in emergency filters, phase switches or compressors. Most modern pickups are connected to an active preamp, which raises the pickup's rather weak output signal and is often equipped with a built-in tuner and equalizer for individual sound control.
