10 Best Acoustic Guitar Under $300 in 2020 [Buying Guide]

Choosing the right guitar can be very challenging. When I started off learning guitar, my first challenge was finding the perfect guitar for me. I had to figure out which guitar was best suitable for me by going through countless reviews.

There are thousands and thousands of guitar models to choose from. I figured out that it depends on what I am looking for and the budget I had for the guitar. So, today I will bring you the best acoustic guitars under $300. 

Some guitars might be a little above $300, but it will be a crime against all guitarists, not keeping them on the list. Keep in mind the list may not be suitable for every type of player.

For example, some guitars can sound very nice but do not have the right cutaway for your play style. So like I said, the list contains the top 10 guitars under $300, but you have to find out which one is the best suitable for you!

If you are looking for a cheaper $200 guitar or an upgrade $500 guitar, we got you covered too!

The line up at a glance

We’ve done in depth loads of researches through many various products and chosen ten different models to compare. Have a look through all our pros and cons for each one to find your best acoustic guitars under 300.

Our Picks For Top 10 Best Acoustic Guitar Under $300

The Yamaha FG830 is a powerful guitar. It comes with an excellent sustain, tone, and it’s very durable. This entry-level guitar makes you feel like you are playing a luxury acoustic guitar. Yes, the quality is that amazing. Everything was made with high-graded materials like rosewood and spruce. The only drawback in the quality being the plastic nut, bridge, and saddle. There are not many guitars that offer such exceptional quality in that price range.

Yamaha FG is the best-selling acoustic series in the world. With the classic look and shape and fantastic quality, Yamaha FG830 has everything. The guitar’s key features are its dreadnought shape, adjustable truss rod, Sitka spruce top, Rosewood fretboard, back and side, die-cast tuners, and the scalloped bracing that improves the punch and the project.

Body: The body type of guitar is traditional western. There are no cutaways that can create some difficulties reaching the higher note. The top wood is made out of solid Spruce, but the back and sides are made out of rosewood. The body comes with a natural glossy finish.

Neck: Just like the guitar’s side, the fretboard is made out of rosewood, although the neck is made out of nato wood. Scale length is 25.6″ with 21 frets. Lastly, the width of the nut is 43mm.Other factors: The headstock overlay is made out of rosewood. The tuning machines are die-cast. There are no pickups or any electronics in the guitar, which means you can get a clear sound from the mic without any noise issues.

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Takamine GD20-NS is affordable, but not cheap. The design and the tone both are rich. All 20 frets are seated tidily. The saddles and the bone nuts are also precisely notched. The pin-less bridge makes changing strings easier than ever. Takamine came to a position where it sounds close to handmade. Handmade guitars have better build quality but are very expensive. Undoubtedly, this guitar is the best choice for someone looking for handmade guitar but does not have the budget.

Body: The body shape of the Takamine is the dreadnought. You can already tell reaching the higher notes can be difficult. The top of the guitar is solid cedar, while the side and the back of the guitar are made out of laminated Mahogany. Surprisingly, we usually don’t see a solid top in this price range. It has a natural finish to it. The bridge is made out of Rosewood.

Neck: The neck is made out of a slim Mahogany piece. The fingerboard is made out of Rosewood. There are 20 frets. The scale length is 25.3,” and the nut width is 42.8mm. There are Pearloid dot inlays on the fretboard. The nuts are made out of synthetic bones. It also comes with chrome die-cast tuners.

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The Alvarez Artist Series AF30 is famous for its rich and deep sound. It is smaller than an average guitar, which makes it easier to play. It is also very affordable but does not sound cheap. For example, the guitar is louder and has more vibration because of its FST2 scalloped X-bracing system. It also has a solid top. The Mahogany and Sitka Spruce is the best combination for sound projections. Both of them resulted in a sweet, clear, and warm, mellow tone.

Body: Alvarez artist series AF30 is a folk guitar. It means the guitar is smaller in size compared to an average guitar.  The guitar used Sitka Spruce wood as their best top. It provides good sound even though it is not that expensive. Alvarez chose Mahogany wood for the sides and the back, making the guitar more durable while giving a good visual. There is a 2mm rosewood headstock plate in the headstock. The bridge pins are made out of rosewood. The body has a premium PE high gloss finish to it. The guitar looks fantastic.

Neck: Alvarez chose Mahogany wood for the neck. The fingerboard is made out of rosewood. Nut and saddles are made out of real bones. Like any other quality guitar, the tuners are chrome, premium die-cast. The guitar uses a dovetail neck joint technique for the neck joint.

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The Epiphone DR-100 is a low-budget quality guitar. This guitar is best suited for beginners. The action of Epiphone DR-100 was set up very well right out of the box. The sound quality, build quality and playability are as good as a high-end acoustic guitar. Because of its dreadnought body shape, the guitar has an excellent booming sound to it. The smooth neck allows the beginners to learn the guitar without any challenge.

Body: The body shape of DR-100 is a dreadnought which is ideal for rock, country and bluegrass. The guitar has a solid Sitka spruce for the top and the back, and the sides are made out of laminated Mahogany. The top gives the guitar a loud blooming tone. The nuts and saddles are both made out of synthetic plastic.

Neck: The neck is made from Okoume and comes with a slim-taper neck and an adjustable truss rod. The guitar has 20 frets with a scale length of 25.5”/ 647.7mm. The neck joint is a Dovetail; glued-in system.

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Yamaha APX600 is a good choice for a small guitar design. Despite being thin, the guitar can produce great sound. It also has an excellent plugged-in tone. The guitar is widely known for its comfortable handling and easy access to higher frets.

Body: The guitar body is APX with a single-cutaway. The top wood is made out of spruce, and the back and side are made out of 3-ply nato. The bracing System is non-scalloped X-type bracing. It has a lovely gloss finish to it.

Neck: The neck wood is made out of tropical tonewood. The fingerboard is made out of rosewood. It comes with 20 frets with a scale length of 25inch. The neck finish is matte.

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Ibanez has always been a great line up of acoustic guitars. The Ibanez AW54CE was the result of combining both new and old manufacturing. Its primary focus was the acoustic tone. The guitar looks nice, and you can tell from the specs, the guitar falls into the high-end category despite the price. The guitar is filled with electronics that help both tone and performance. Even though AW54CE does not give you a lot of genres to play with, it absolutely rocks the one genre it was made for.

Body: The beautiful Ibanez AW54CE features a classic dreadnought shaped body with a cutaway. The dreadnought is perfect for beginners, where the cutaway gives you access to the higher notes. Top of the guitar is made out of solid Mahogany, and the side and back are made out of Laminated Mahogany. The bridge is made out of rosewood. The saddle and nuts are made of plastic. It comes with an X bracing pattern. The body comes with a natural open-pore finish, and it looks gorgeous.

Neck: The neck wood is out of Mahogany. The neck finish is also open pore. There are 20 frets in the fretboard and the scale length is 25.6”. The fretboard is made out of Ovangkol. The tuning machine is a chrome die-cast system.

Other: Ibanez AW54CE comes with a preamp. The preamp EQ is 3-band. It also comes with a built-in tuner.

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The Fender CD-60SCE is an excellent budget guitar. It comes with a scalloped X bracing which makes it easier to play. The guitar is durable and appreciated by both beginners and intermediate players because of its excellent and clear sound when it is connected to an amplifier.

Body: Fender CD60SCE is a classic dreadnought style guitar with a Venetian cutaway. The Venetian cutaway allows for easy access to the higher notes. The spruce top makes the guitar lightweight and gives the guitar a very powerful and clear tone. The side and the back are made out of Mahogany that emphasizes the bass and the treble.

Neck:  The shape of the neck is easy-to-play, and it is made out of Mahogany. There are 20frets available, and the scale length is 25.3”. The neck also comes with a glossy finish. The fingerboard is made out of Rosewood.

Other: The guitar comes with a built-in tuner. You can also find a 2-band EQ system and a preamp with the guitar.

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The Alvarez artist series AD60 is a cheap acoustic guitar. But don’t get fooled by its low price. Despite its low price, it is still really good with the sounds. The guitar has a powerful projection because of the body shape. The top is also made from high quality Sitka Spruce. The guitar is extremely durable.

Body: The Alvarez artist series AD60 is a Dreadnought shaped guitar. The top is made out of solid Sitka Spruce. The back and the side is made out of Mahogany. The body does not have any cutaway. The forefront of design is FST2 X bracing. Because the X is closer to the soundhole, the guitar can produce great energy and vibration. The material used for the bridge is the Alvarez bi-level rosewood bridge. The Alvarez AD60 comes with a premium high gloss finish. 

Neck: The neck material is Mahogany. The fretboard is made out of rosewood and comes with 21frets. The neck joint system is the Dovetail neck joint. The neck also comes with a 50/50 semi-gloss finish. The nut and the saddle are made out of real bone.

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The Jasmine S34C Nex is a great acoustic guitar. The guitar focuses a lot on the sound rather than the durability. It is for people who want high-quality auditory. The guitar is not too bulked as it is very comfortable to handle. The bracing of a guitar is crucial as it gives the guitar stability and directly linked with producing sounds. Because of the advanced X bracing the sound of Jasmine S34C is more reverbed and full. The guitar also looks beautiful.

Body: The Jasmine S34C comes in a grand-orchestra shape. The top of the guitar is made out of Sitka spruce. The back and the sides are made of Sapele wood. The bridge is made out of Rosewood. Saddle and bridge pins are from synthetic bones. Last but not least, it comes with a glossy finish.

Neck: The neck is made out of Nato wood. There are 20 frets on the fingerboard, and the scale length is 25.5”. The neck also has a glossy finish to it. The fingerboard is made out of Rosewood with a 12” radius. You can find pearloid dot inlays on the board. The tuning machine is a chrome covered system.

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Ibanez Talman TCY10 comes in a double-cutaway, which means the guitar is highly comfortable for players using the high notes. The guitar is thin, thus allowing max playability. The model’s main focus was to get access to all the frets without losing comfort, and it absolutely completed its work as a perfect instrument.

Body: The Ibanez Talman TCY10 comes in the signature Talman double-cutaway shape. The back and the side is made out of Mahogany. The top is made out of spruce. The guitar has a lovely glossy finish to it.

Neck: The material used for the neck is Mahogany wood. There are 21 frets with a scale length of 25.5″. The width at nut and joint is 1.69″ and 2.16″. Fretboard and the bridge are made out of rosewood.

Other: The guitar comes with an Ibanez chrome die-cast tuner. You can also find the Ibanez AEQ200t Preamp with 2-band EQ. It has an Ibanez Piezo pickup.

Criteria used for evaluation

Type of woods

Different tonewoods sound and feel different. A good tonewood resonates better, gets better with age, and improves the visual. But it comes to us with no surprise; the definition of great sound is subjective as it depends on each individual’s genre and taste.

The spruce is the best choice for the top of the guitar. It gives the guitar tonal properties. Stika spruce is slightly harder than average spruce. The rosewood will be the perfect one for the back and side. It provides the guitar with a rich and warm tone.

The Mahagonny is the more commonly used tonewood as it is famous for its durability. It is also renowned for producing subtle overtone and earthy midrange tonality.

Body shape

The guitar shapes affect both the sound and the playability. There are many guitar body shapes like the dreadnought, grand auditorium, orchestra, Parlor, and Jumbo. A parlor shaped guitar has a light, focused, and balanced sound. Grand auditorium and orchestra guitar shapes come in outstanding balance, projection, and volume.

They are usually not dependent on any plug-ins or amps. They tend to sound good on their own. The dreadnought guitars are larger in size and more focused on the low frequencies. It is highly famous among flat pickers. The body shapes also include cutaways.

A single-cutaway can give you access to higher notes. It is more prominent among people who tend to play solo or leads. But guitar with no cutaways tends to have better volume and bass.

Acoustic-Electric

A pure acoustic guitar is more focused on the unplugged sound, whereas an acoustic with a plug-in system, yes, of course, focuses more on the plugged-in sound. An excellent acoustic guitar usually comes with a preamp to make the sound stronger.

The preamp also comes with a tuner, volume, and tone control. So if you plan on playing in an unplugged show or just to play for your own, you can go with pure acoustic guitars from the list. The acoustic-electric guitars are more suitable for plugged performances.

Neck

The neck of your guitar does not affect the tone. But it does put a huge difference when it comes to comfort. Acoustic neck usually has 12 or 14 fret necks. This number of frets is above the guitar body. On a 12th fret neck guitar, the 13th and 14th frets will be on the body. Thus it will be harder to reach the high notes.

Another factor is the neck joint. Most acoustic guitars come with a set neck, which is basically glued. Then there is a bolt-on neck. The advantages of bolt-on necks are they are replaceable, and the guitar with bolt-on necks are cheap. The dovetail neck joint is the best choice for acoustic guitars.

Dive tail necks are structurally strong. It also helps the vibration of your playing. It can somewhat give your instrument a warm and more fullness in sound.

Fingerboard

The fingerboard is an essential part of a guitar, and your fingerboard must be made out of high-quality material. Woods used for the fingerboards are Rosewood, Maple, and Granadillo.

Rosewood is more preferred for the majority of the player as it is naturally oily and a medium density wood. You can expect your guitar to be lightweight and smooth. The rosewood also provides a warm and soft tone.

The maple is more famous for its stunning visual. Maple is very dense, and it’s a strong wood. Rosewood is better than maple because the maple fingerboard can be a bit sticky after the finish. So it should come to us with no surprise, you should choose an acoustic with rosewood fingerboard rather than a maple fingerboard.

Bottom line

There are many more good acoustic guitars in the market. But our focus was to bring out the best from each type of guitar. I hope after reading our article, you are a bit more confident in choosing your guitar. Thank you for reading!

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Frequently Asked Questions