The Best Acoustic-Electric Guitars

Every guitar here is a normal steel-string acoustic first. The electric part is a pickup — usually a piezo sensor under or behind the saddle — wired to a small preamp, almost always mounted in the soundhole with volume and tone knobs. Unplugged, these guitars should sound like any other acoustic in their price range. If a guitar sounds thin or lifeless with the cable out, no preamp fixes that; you're hearing the top and the wood, not the electronics.

Most budget and mid-range acoustic-electrics use an under-saddle piezo, which senses string vibration through the saddle itself. It's reliable and simple but can sound a little quacky or thin on its own. More refined systems, like Taylor's Expression System 2, move the sensors behind the saddle to pick up more of the top's actual movement. A few guitars, like Fender's Acoustasonic line, blend a piezo with a modeled microphone signal for a rounder sound. An onboard tuner and 3-band EQ are conveniences for tuning quietly backstage and shaping tone at a gig — they don't change the guitar's acoustic voice.

A cutaway trims away part of the upper bout so your fretting hand can reach the highest frets. It's nearly universal on acoustic-electrics because the same players who want to plug in for a gig also tend to want that upper-fret access for solos and fills. The tradeoff is a very slightly smaller soundbox, which in theory reduces bass response — in practice, on guitars this size, it's not something most players notice by ear.

Onstage, a pickup avoids the two problems a microphone brings: feedback from stage monitors, and the guitar moving out of the mic's sweet spot as you play. Plugged into a DI box or acoustic amp, these guitars sound consistent night to night. At home, plenty of people still prefer close-mic'ing the guitar for recording and treat the built-in pickup as a backup or a blend partner — a pickup captures less of the room and the top's natural resonance than even an inexpensive condenser mic a foot away.

• Full dreadnoughts (Yamaha FGX800C, Fender CD-60SCE) suit strummers who want volume and low end.
• Smaller Grand Auditorium and OM-style bodies (Ibanez AE100, Taylor 214ce Plus) suit fingerstyle and seated recording.
• The Yamaha APX600's thin-line body suits players who stand on stage and want a guitar that sits close and light on a strap.
• The Guild DS-240E's slope-shoulder dreadnought body and mahogany back lean warm, better for strummed songwriting than crisp fingerpicking.

Be wary of any acoustic-electric under about $200 with an all-laminate top — the pickup will faithfully amplify a thin, boxy sound rather than fixing it. Also skip guitars whose only selling point is the electronics; a preamp with a flashy display doesn't compensate for a poorly built top or a neck that won't hold tuning.