Top 8 Best Mini Acoustic Guitar in 2021

Every guitarist played acoustics at least once in their lifetime. It’s the booming resonance, nothing to plug-in, simple and easy to play that makes everyone fall in love with the acoustic. Some people might even travel with their acoustic, and this is where the problem begins.

You see, acoustic guitars can be huge and heavy and absolutely not suitable for travel, especially because of the lack of durability and weight. To solve this problem, what we got is mini-acoustic guitars. What is a mini-acoustic guitar, you might ask?  Well, It’s the same as an acoustic guitar but smaller in size.

People tend not to go for big, heavy, or expensive guitars. Today, I bring you a list of the best mini acoustic guitars for all the travelers and live performers. Let’s get right into it.

The line up at a glance

After a series of in-depth research on several products, we’ve selected these right best mini acoustic guitar. Read through each product with its pros and cons to find a suitable mini acoustic guitar.

Our Picks For Top 8 Best mini acoustic guitar in 2021

Martin LXK2 Little Martin Koa is the best beginner-level mini acoustic guitar in the market. It gets the job done perfectly and perfect for fingerstyle. Many beginner players are usually interested in fingerstyle, making it more compatible with their playing style. It is not made out of the best material, but I guess a guitar with high-end materials requires much more careful handling, which is not suitable for traveling guitarists and beginners. It has a nice warm tone with very stable tuning contributing more to what it is made for.

Martin LXK2 Little Martin Koa is a modified 0-14 fret with Mortise and Tenon Neck joint. It comes with an X-bracing pattern and non-scalloped. The top material with HPL and back material side material also are made out of HPL. The scale length is 23” while the fingerboard width at the nut is 1 11/16” and the neck shape is a modified Low Oval. There are no electronics available. That is all for the specs.

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The Taylor BT2 Baby Taylor has a nice soft, mellow, and warm sound to it. The guitar is very chord and rhythm-friendly. Though it costs a little more than notable competitors, the guitar is really good, to say the least. If you think the Taylor BT2 Baby Taylor is not the best sounding guitar, it might come to you as a shock since it has a very pleasant sound. It is a very good travel guitar but keep it in mind if you are traveling and looking for a live performance. It might not be your best choice.

The Taylor BT2 Baby Taylor is a 3/4 size guitar. It has a dreadnought shape with a finger joint neck. The neck has to die-cast chrome tuners with Pearloid dot inlays and 19 medium frets. The fretboard material is Genuine African Ebony. Nut material is bone.  The scale length is 22 ¾ inches. The guitar has a nice varnish finish on the neck. The top also has a varnish finish. The bracing system is a standard baby X-bracing. The guitar is also very affordable and easy to work with

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The Luna Safari Series Muse comes with the most popular materials when talking about single tone wood bodies. The guitar is beautifully handcrafted from tonewoods like mahogany and walnut.  The guitar also looks super good because of its minimalistic design. The guitar also has a high playability level; it means you can work with the guitar very easily. The guitar is highly famous for its unique and genuine design.

The Luna Safari Series Muse is a right-handed dreadnought shaped guitar with no cutaway. They make the body and the side of the guitar out of Mahogany. They also make the top out of Mahogany. On the body, it has a nice satin natural finish. For the neck profile, it is a C shape neck with 1.69 nut width.

The fingerboard is made out of Rosewood, while the neck is made out of Mahogany to match it with the body. The scale length of the guitar is 22,” and finally, the neck is also paired with the body when it comes to the finish. Like any travel guitar, it does not have any pickup or preamps. But It is well detailed when it comes to the headstock. It is made out of Rosewood with Sealed die-cast tuners.  The bridge is also made out of Rosewood. Lastly, the saddle and the nuts are of Graph Tech BC6115.

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The Yamaha FS800 Small Body Solid Top Acoustic Guitar is an excellent sounding guitar. It is also very durable. The guitar is loud for a mini-guitar and has a very nice and warm tone. It is like the counterpart of the FG series but for mini guitars. It feels very comfortable and has a well-balanced sound without losing any robust strength. It overcomes all the drawbacks of a mini-guitar by projecting sweet sounds.

The Yamaha FS800 Small Body Solid Top Acoustic Guitar is a small-bodied acoustic guitar. It falls into the mini guitar because of its miniature size. It features a solid spruce top. You can already tell because of the top the guitar has an amazing sound. The back and the sides are made out of Nato/Okume. It makes the guitar very durable.

One of the guitar’s key features is its newly developed scalloped bracing for amazing sound projection. The guitar comes with 20fret on the fingerboard. It comes with Diecast tuners and a truss rod, making the guitar a complete package.

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The Taylor GS Mini is a well set up guitar right out of the box. The size is perfect despite being small. It is also very loud. The great playability of the guitar gives the player a great feel while picking it up. The thin neck and the low action contributed a lot to its playability. The guitar’s sound is very rich, making it also the perfect choice for a travel guitar.

Taylor GS Mini Mahogany-L is a Taylor grand symphony mini shaped guitar with no cutaway. The top of the guitar is made out of Mahogany, but the sides and back are made out of layered Sapele. The bracing pattern of the guitar is a GS mini with a relief route.

The shape of the neck is the Taylor GS mini profile with a genuine African ebony wood fretboard. It has 20 frets with a 23.5″ scale length. The body and the neck both come with a Matte 2.0 finish. The chrome GS mini tuning machines hold the tune for a long time. The complete package indicates a perfect inexpensive guitar.

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The Fender MA-1 3/4-Size Steel String Acoustic Guitar is a high-quality mini-guitar. The guitar is not only stylish. It is better than most of the guitar from its price range. The guitar is perfect for programs and travelers. The guitar features stable tuning, satisfying sound, and a satin finish. 

The Fender MA-1 3/4-Size Steel String Acoustic Guitar comes with a laminated agathist top and laminated Sapele back and side. It has X bracing to it. The neck is made out of nato wood and comes with a satin neck finish. The scale length is 23.3in, and there are 18 frets. The tuners are die-cast machine heads. Lastly, it comes with a gig bag.

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The Cordoba Mini M is a very reasonably priced guitar. The guitar aimed to reach near perfection, and it is the second-best guitar on the list only after Yamaha FS800 small bodied guitar.

The Cordoba Mini M features a solid spruce top and mahogany back and side. The neck is also made out of mahogany. The scale length is 510mm with 18 frets.  The nuts and the saddles are made out of bones. Lastly, the guitar has a nice natural satin finish to it.

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The Yamaha JR2 Acoustic Guitar is a small-sized guitar. It is surprisingly cheap and the most affordable one. But the key feature should be the light-weightiness. It is super portable, and any travel guitarist should get this.

The Yamaha JR2 comes in an FG small shape. The length of the body and the scale is 389mm and 540mm. The top is made out of spruce, but the back and the sides are made out of Mahogany pattern UTF. They use rosewood to make the fingerboard. Lastly, the guitar has a nice gloss finish, giving it a nice visual.

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Criteria used for evaluation

Tonewood

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 visuals. 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.

Frequently Asked Questions