Pickers: best all-around electric guitar for a mainly acoustic player.

Today | Jagusafr

[Bullish]

Fender Telecaster, or if you want to get really flashy a Stratocaster. I’m a Fender guy even though I have some Gibson’s and others. You can’t go wrong with a Fender IMO.

[Right Brother]

Hard to go wrong with an American made Fender Stratocaster. Extraordinary tonal versatility and customizability.

[plain talk]

Depends on style of music. Gibson es-335 semi-hollow body is a good all around electric for blues, country, jazz, rock etc. It’s semi-hollow body so it does have a louder sound unplugged than typical electrics.

Another one is the fender telecaster although it is a completely different animal.

[Olog-hai]

Funny you mention the Tele, because after doing a search for acoustic electrics I saw the “Acoustasonic” Telecaster come up. Don’t know if anyone on here’s played one; looks like it has some kind of modern resonance system.

[Jonty30]

You can’t call yourself an acoustic guitar player, unless you can play this guitar.

https://youtu.be/y22bp6TPqvE

[sushiman]

Check out these links :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inpqiiQSIfo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNYG4fyKkNc

[Olog-hai]

That’s a transgender harp. 😄

[dayglored]

I'll add my voice to the above and say that my American classic sunburst Strat is about the best. I've got about a dozen guitars, four nice acoustics and the rest electric, including Gibsons, Ibanez, even a Ric 12-string. But the Strat is my go-to axe for anything from soft ballads to country pickin' to blues to rock-n-roll. The Ibanez is for slamming, the Les Paul is for Southern rock/blues, etc. but when I carry one guitar to a gig, it's the Strat.

Now that said, I got annoyed by the single-coil hum/noise, so I retrofitted a full set of DiMarzio humbuckin' Strat replacements, only lost a tiny bit of the very top end single-coil shimmer, and they're totally silent even in a room where everybody else is getting 60 Hz buzz.

[Right Brother]

Overprocessing and looping is not acoustic guitar.

[T.B. Yoits]

Cut through the mix, as in recording? Why not an electric-acoustic?

[Uncle Miltie]

Stevie Ray Vaughn.

[jagusafr]

I do pretty darn well, thanks - but that’s a mindblower!

[Fai Mao]

Try a Dobro guitar rather than an electric.

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Dobro/Hound-Dog-M-14-Metalbody-Nickel-1424360964875.gc

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I play Strats, but you can’t go too far wrong with a used Mexican made Telecaster. Even a Chinse or Indonesian made Tele would probably work for you. Couple of years from now, you can outgrow it or sell it for about what you paid for it, so the cost of ownership is minor.

If you like the shorter scale length, the Epiphone-branded Les Pauls would work well. I’d reco a 2-pickup one, eg; NOT a Les Paul Junior.

Craigslist. Look for a seller whose kid got interested and then lost interest.

[Uncle Miltie]

Whoops! You wanted a GUITAR, not a PLAYER.

[Bullish]

If you do finger picking and are kind of old school player I'd really recommend the Tele because it sounds like it would fit your style of play. I have a Strat myself but I love the sound of a Tele for rhythm. Leads sound better from a Strat and you'll have the spring loaded bridge for a tremolo bar on it, but either would do well for nice groovy leads.

Hope that helps.

[Bullish]

Cool!

[SteveH]

if you gravitate towards classic rock, a stock telecaster is probably the best acoustic match. avoid the early made in mexico telecasters (poor quality). do not get a strat before you have tried out a telecaster first. match with a classic fender or marshall amp.

[Bullish]

I love my Dobro, I play slide with alternate tunings, Usually G or E, it’s awesome. I have a hound-dog resonator it’s acoustic/electric.

I’m also a pro level bassist so I have a lot of guitars and stuff.