Are you looking for a well set up and easy to play guitar without having to rob a bank? Then you should check out our best guitars under 800 US Dollars. The guitars will give you a performance with ease.
In this article, we will help you to decide a guitar that will bestsuit you. This is in case you are a beginner or an expert guitar player. The guitars reviewed produce a great quality sound, are made from some of the best woods and have effective guitar strings that will be durable.
Does it sound good? Does it stay in tune?What is its size? What type of strings does it have? Which otheraccessories do I need? Is the neck straight? Can you comfortably reach the frets while playing?If you are left handed does it consider you? How about the price and the warranty?These are some of the questions you will ask before settling on the right guitar.
We will try to answer these questions. This will therefore help you to decide the best speaker for you.
Best guitars under 800 US Dollars top picks
Epiphone Les Paul Tribute Plus Outfit
Epiphone Les Paul Tribute Plus Outfit is a great sounding vintage guitar with fantastic looks. Just as the ‘outfit’ partpoints out, it’s known to have a hard-shell case to protect your instrument from the outside environment.
Its neck is capped with a, 24.75″ scale 1.69″ nut width and 12″radius rosewood fretboard. On the outside, It has a mahogany body with acarved maple top for a heavier sound that adds brightness to the tone and is more focused.
This instrument has a high-gloss faded cherry sunburst finish with flawless cream binding on the top, neck and cream plastic covers even for the cavity cover, control and the toggle switch (there are other types of finish).
It has a dual volume, 2 tone controls and a 3-way selector withpush-pull types of tone pots that split the coils of the pick-ups to single coil sounds when you shred the speed knobs to increase your speed thus help you play fastergiving a good wallop.
The pick-upsPAF-style humbuckers gives a warm sonic tone with more bass, a fine, clear and smooth treble sound output with perfect finish with no scratches.
Epiphone Les Paul Tribute Plus Outfit has a reasonable light weight of 8.64 lbs to sustain long playing (LP). It could be a nice choice since its well set-up, good sounding whether standing or seated, and is the best speaker under 800 USD with the hard shell case included.
Pros
- Produces a great balanced sound
- The guitar has a lovely look
- It has a durable hard shell case
Cons
- It is a bit heavy
- The original strings are a bit weak
Lava Me 2 Carbon Fiber Guitar
Lava Me 2 Carbon Fiber Guitar is an impressivegood quality instrument. The guitar is one of the best under 800 USD because of the combination of sound and the material quality. The build quality is perfect the sound is amazing.
The design includes manufactured carbon fiber and high pressure laminate materials, and honeycomb structure which are meant to reduce gluing. They form an excellent solid build that can withstand any weather condition (change of humidity and temperature), unlike the wooden ones which may deform.
The guitar is available in different colours like white, blue, orange, red, pink and black withmatching body and a reinforced fly-neck, oval cavity cover, tail, aluminium controls, saddle and HPL fingerboard.
Their designs, shape and weight are really good, optimized and comfortable to hold and play both for music performance or just music videos.It weighs 12.32 pounds and have dimensions of 36.85 x 12.72 x 4.65 inches
The version being Air-sonic it has a light weight which allows the design to be thinner and to produce a brighter, clearer sound. The PLEK action used allows a consistent pitch range and a nice low without fret buzz and hits high notes.
It has a warm, clear and full tone with a tight bass that can play a wide range of genres. It can be used with or without an amplifier. The controls consist of the volume, reverb, microphone and effects with an impressive sound.
It is such a nice deal considering the impressive looks, the great quality and the good immersive sound. Also that it can be a nice travelling guitar considering its ability to withstand harsh weather conditions and plus it has a hard case for more protection.
Pros
- A stable playing surface and strong big tone production
- Stylish look
- Durable- made from carbon
- Narrow fret-board that is easy for you to finger pick and transition from string to string
Cons
- Bass is not as good as wooden guitars
Washburn Comfort Series USM-WCG20SCE Acoustic-Electric Guitar Natural
Washburn USM-WCG20CE is an amazing looking acoustic electric guitar. As the name instantly reveals, this guitar has been designed for comfort; with an elbow comfort on the lower bout. This is for a comfortable playing experience, no matter how long you play, whether standing or sitting.
It has a rustic design with a grand auditorium body sizemade of mahogany/maple, as well as theheadstock binding. Laminated Koa on the top, back and sides. A maple/mahogany/maple strip Parquet-style rosette as well as the armrest.
As for the neck, this matches the body in its style and comfort. Made from mahogany, it features a slick satin finish with a rosewood fretboard and 20 frets with no inlays, which actually offers quite a high-end look.
Fishman Presys+ 501T pickup/preamp system delivers a balanced and natural amplified great shaped tone to let you perform onstage. The control panel on the top bout features a plethora of knobs to shape your sound as you like it directly from the guitar.
In addition to the built-in chrome die-cast tuner, controls include 3-band EQ. As well as notchfilter that helps eliminate the possibility of feedback while playing live. The mic blend and phase controls helps solve phase problems when recording. The headstock tuning stability and consistency are complemented by theovangkol bridge, nut and saddle
Playability-wise, this is a rich elegant full-bodied tone, smooth satin finish and a luxury hand feel. The quality craftsmanship and the all Koa build lead to a balanced tone leaning to the side of warmth.
The Grand Auditorium body delivers that great tone, for versatile genres whether fingerstyle or strumming. The sound is nicely amplified through the quality Fishman pickup, with an accurate replication of the natural tone mahogany elbow-comfort binding on lower bout.
Pros
- The guitar has a gloss finish
- It produces a great, high quality sound
- The guitar offers great value for money
- It is comfortable to play
- It has an elegant look
Cons
- The original screens are weak
PRS SE 245 Standard
The PRS SE series are good build with great sound and finest guitars. Its appearance seems to be influenced by the Les Paul design. The PRS SE 245 standard being one of the affordable ones from the company with its price being under $800.
The PRS SE 245 Standard sounds good just as it looks, vibrato feels just a little freer and easy. It hasa bevelled maple cap on a mahogany base, flame maple top with veneer and beautiful bird fretboard inlays. With a visually striking appearance and the proportions make it very comfortable to play, whether you’re sitting or standing
The body and bloated neck (feels great and comfortable)are made of mahogany with a rosewood fretboard.It also features PRS’s wide-fat neck profile that has been a preference for players of all levels along with offering easy access to all 22 frets. It has twoPRS humbuckers pickups, volume controls, one doubled tone and a 3-way pick-up selector switch.
The tuning machines have a very tight and precise feel along with the wrap-around bridge, this helps your tuning rock to be steady and stable. It also comes with a gig bag for protection.
The PRS SE 245 is a versatile guitar that can play different music genres; metal, rock, jazz, blues, or country. The pickups are voiced treble and bass.It plays very silky smooth and bends while holding fair amount of sustain. It’s not built for the shredders.
Pros
- Has great distortion
- Greatly designed
- Good quality
Cons
- Not meant for shredders
Ibanez S670QM
Ibanez S Series guitars are built for super-fast playing, shred machines, hard rock, fusion tones and metal lovers. But the Ibanez S670QM guitar is built for guitar players in any genre as well.
They are extremely light for comfortand heavy enough to provide the tone and sustain that player’s expectation. It’s easy to play and extremely responsive. Ultra-thin comfortableAfrican mahogany body that always stays in tune and comes at a lower cost than the normal mahogany.
It also has a beautiful quilted maple top, a thin superfast maple neck for comfort which translates to responsiveness and speed. The guitar has an elegant transparent finish. It also has one volume control, single coil and one tone, 5-way switch.
Ibanez S670QM guitar has two quantum humbuckers and one quantum single coil pickups that provide accelerated bass response for exceptionally fast tracking of high-speed staccato riffing with crushing mid-range and precise high-end articulation.The humbucker configuration provides an impressive palette of tone textures.
Ibanez S670QM guitar is built for the lovers of shred, metal and speed it’s a good guitar for the price.A one-year warranty is provided on all Ibanez guitars.
This model does not come standard with a case/gig bag but it has a Cosmo black case sold separately. All these features make this guitar one of the best guitars under $800.
Pros
- Outstanding Ibanez hardware and solid electronics.
- Good tone
- Good feel, easy and fun to play
Cons
- Locking nuts making it difficult to tune
Fender Standard Jazzmaster HH
Ibanez S670QMhas an impressive appearance and feels like a metal axe. The finish has metal flake in it with some sparkle on it making it shiny. The Fender Standard Jazzmaster HH comes in3 finish options; Black, Olympic White, Ghost Silver
Unlike other Jazzmasters it has a nice push/pull tone, volume and 3-way selector. It has a rich neck pick-up, a distorted tone, die cast tuners, two blacktop humbuckers pick-ups that split to outer-coil single mode.
It has a dope maple neck made of smooth satin urethane finish on the back, well dressed medium jumbo sized 22 frets. Has a 25.5″ scale, 9.5″ radius rosewood fretboard and the body made of alder.It weighs 8.64 lbs
When tune the pickups it gives a warm, mellow and organic tone of the Ibanez’s single-coil soap-barsthat will get a shock to find two relatively hot humbuckers in the bridge and neck. It has a tone control with a clean sound for a wide range whether fingerpicking or using a pick.
The dual-pickup setting with the coils split also provides cool rhythmic and melodic textures. The bridge is adjustable it has 6-saddle with Jazzmaster vibrato. It is made in Mexico meaning you won’t be paying much for it.
Pros
- Affordable- not overpriced
- Easy and fun to play
- Well made
- Big solid sound
Cons
- No vibrato lock
- It looks plain
Blueridge BR-160
If you are looking for one of the best guitars under 800 USD, you should give the Blueridge BR-163CE a first thought. It is a good dreadnoughtvintage acoustic guitar because it has a beautiful design paired with a uniquely narrow fretboard. It is made of Sitka Spruce, mahogany, and Indian rosewood. The company makes awesome designs that are of good quality and are durable
The Blueridge BR-163CE unique narrow fretboard makes it easy to finger pick and transition from one string to another making it perfect for learning since you won’t press on the wrong string you can also strum it. The guitar has an impressive widebold dreadnoughtbody style with wide frets that produce nice cleardeep sound even at high tones, for a wide range of genres.
It has that classic acoustic and vintage sound with a low profile neck and beautiful inlays along the fretboard that allows this dreadnought guitar to be very playable. It creates great sounds that are both loud and bright.
The high quality features make the Blueridge BR-160 a great sounding instrument, and also a durable guitar.
Pros
- Awide dreadnought body, with wide frets, with a nice deep sound even at high tone
- Durable due to the Sitka wood, good quality and vintage look
- Perfect for learning
Cons
- Doesn’t come with a case
Takamine GN93CE NEX
When looking for one of the best guitars under 800 Dollars, this has your back. Takamine guitars have a nice build and of good quality and value that being their core principle.The GN93CE NEX acoustic-electric guitar is one of the great quality guitar from the company that is affordable.
This guitar has a comfortable mahogany neck, a comfortable cutaway NEX-style solidjumbo bodyanda 3-piece blackwalnut/maple back,black walnut/maple sides in addition to a spruce top. The Takamine GN93CE NEX showcases a great rustic sound and spot-on intonation, thanks to the split saddle pick-ups.
It gives a full, rich and clear amplified tone output. It also has an in-built tuner. Plays tones in versatile styles and genres.The scalloped X-bracing allows the top to vibrate more freely. It commands the audience attention and gives a nice glossy finish.
The Takamine GN93CE NEX provides you with a well-rounded sound both plugged and unplugged. The TK-40D features a preamp which produces rich clear amplified tones and carries a 3-band EQ with bass, middle and treble sliders and a low battery indicator.This guitar has a long playing time onstage and unplugged.
Pros
- It has the finest tone-woods and construction techniques
- Incredibly comfortable neck has great intonation
- TK-40D preamp sounds great
Cons
- Let me know if you find something to complain about with this guitar
Seagull S6 Cedar Original
The Seagull S6 Cedar Original is from Seagull. It is a great dreadnought guitar.
It is a full-size guitar, has an intense black semi-gloss solid cedar top and blackwashed back and sides.It plays well whether you play fingerstyle or use a pick. Seagull fans love the S6 for its responsive body. Each Seagull guitar is handcrafted in Canada and showcases good looks, easy playability, and unforgettable tone.
It has an innovative thick stable neckand smaller heads for better tuningsince it makes it easier for players to move from low to high notes quickly and without the hassle with a natural dynamic sound.
It has a thick sound that accent the root notes. Seagull has the tuners in line with its nut, to improve the tuning stability.The guitar will stay tuned for longer and maintains its quality sound despite the many plays.
Seagull S6 Original acoustic guitar has a pressure-tested solid cedar top paired with wild cherry back and sides. Its modified dreadnought body shape provides a warm tone and eliminates unwanted boom. A compound curved top enhances the natural projection of the cedar and versatile controls that makes it fun to playwith bright vibrant sound output.It is not easy to findsuch guitars from this price range.
Pros
- Good quality feel and sound
- The innovative headstock design makes it to stays in tune
- Available for the left-handed
Cons
- It is plain
- Wide neck
Taylor GS Mini-e Koa
This guitar version has a nice look and so many great shrunk down size features for the value price.It has agrand symphony mini shaped20’’ size comfortable body, an all-wood laminated and solid exotic veneered Hawaiian Koa top, back and sides that can resist humidity changes.
The features are perfectly designed which include Taylor’s stage-ready ES-B acoustic electronics;an on-board preamp with a built-in digital chromatic tuner. The preamp features an LED display for tuning and indicate low battery. ES tone and volume control knobs give you great tone and fantastic live sound. The ES-B conserves battery life provided for around 300 hours of use.
It can be both fingerpicked or strum.it has 20 frets. It also has a great playability and clear balanced warm sound with a versatile tone range.
Taylor GS Mini-e Koa produces a bright mellow sound with impressive tone controls. It has a built-in tuner and a low-battery indicator.
With all those features, this marvel is one of the best guitars under 800 US Dollars.
Pros
- Solid Koa body adds warmth and resists humidity
- good looks and quality
- mini sized and weight- easy to play
- Has a great sound
Cons
- Pricey
- No cutaway henceit is a challenge to play on the higher frets.
Best guitars under 800 Dollars buyers guide
What is it made of?
The wood that is used to craft the guitar has an effect one the tone: for deeper tones, sharper tones, warmer tones and brighter tones. Some of the commonly used woods in guitar crafting are; Mahogany/African mahogany, maple, ash and carbon fibre they all have their advantages and disadvantages as explained in the article.
Accessories
You don’t want to play your guitar and disturb your whole family and neighbours, headphones would help. You may also need an amplifier, stand, straps and a case
Beginner or expert
Beginners mostly are advised to start with acoustic guitars which are easier to learn, portable, doesn’t need an amplifier, doesn’t need a lot of equipment and are not hard on fingers.
As for electric guitars, when making the decision will rely more on the components and the quality of the make rather than the type of wood unlike the acoustic guitar where the wood is the amplifier.
Also consider the switches, tone knobs and volume knobs and the strings. If they are easy to reach and control with the hand.
Picks
If you are not going to use your fingers to strum the guitar, then you will need the right material and in the right thickness to use.
Tuner
The in-built tuner helps in tuning your guitar so that It doesn’t stay off tune. The neck should be straight with a small arc so that the strings don’t cause a buzz.
Strings
The thickness of the strings determines how much volume, bass, or treble you want for your strings.Plus, those of the electric guitars are louder since they are amplified, than the acoustic which are softer.
Related Article: 10 Best Intermediate Electric Guitars
Conclusion
There are 3 different types of guitars; Classical guitars, Acoustic guitars and Electric guitars: The classical guitars are the smallest in size, the strings are made of nylon which are gentle on finger tips and sound soft. This makes it comfortable to play the guitar.
The acoustic guitars are light but bulky in weight, made of steel strings which can be hard on young fingers and for learning beginners. There are also acoustic-electric guitars which can be played with or without an amplifier hence having the advantages of both acoustic and electric guitars.
The electrical guitars are made of metal strings which makes it easier to play since less force is used to strum making them able to produce a variety of tones. They require an amplifier for a full good sound, either loud or soft. They are available in many sizes and can be heavy depending on the model. This makes them easier to play than acoustic or classical making them popular in most music genre.
From the above superb models,we hope we have been helpful and you now know which guitar fits you best without any confusion. All of them come at a friendly price, get your best guitar under 800 US dollars, grab yours now while stock lasts!
