Finding the best cheap acoustic guitar under $200 with great tone that plays great isn’t that easy. Not every affordable acoustic guitar in the $200 price range is made of real tonewood with high-quality hardware. Some less expensive acoustic guitars only have laminate back and sides and some don’t even have binding.
The key is to find a guitar that has great features and build quality but won’t break your guitar budget. That’s exactly what we’ve done. We reviewed all of the most popular budget-friendly acoustic guitars out there, so you can find the perfect one that fits your playing style and sound. It doesn’t matter whether this is your first acoustic guitar, all of these cheaper guitars are great for beginners.
Let’s see which one of these top inexpensive acoustic guitars for the money is right for you.
Click Below to Compare the Top Budget Acoustic Guitars Below $200
Contents
- 1 Click Below to Compare the Top Budget Acoustic Guitars Below $200
- 2 What We Recommend and Why
Here is a list of the best affordable acoustic guitars under $200 that are made of quality materials and sound great.
- Ibanez AW54OPN – Best Acoustic Guitar for the Money
- Yamaha FG800 – Best Acoustic Guitar Under $200
- Epiphone DR-100
- Jasmine S35
- Jasmine Orchestra JO36-NAT
- Samick Greg Bennett Design GD100S
- Ibanez IJV50
- Rogue RA-090 Concert Cutaway
- Jasmine S34C NEX
- Yamaha FG JR1 3/4 Acoustic Guitar
Ibanez AW54OPN
Specs, features, and benefits
The Ibanez AW54 Open Pore Natural is a dreadnought guitar that costs just under two hundred bucks, but it is built like a guitar that costs double the price.
The body of the guitar is made out of solid mahogany for the top and laminated mahogany for the back and sides. The neck is also made out of mahogany and it has a rosewood fretboard with twenty frets. It has a rosewood bridge, chrome sealed die-cast tuners, and
Ivorex II nut and saddle. It is finished in satin brown color and open-pore lacquer, which gives the guitar a rustic look. The sound of the guitar is very nice, open and bright, with a booming low end and big sustain, and it can easily be mistaken for a guitar of higher price.
Pros and Highlights
- Low cost – The guitar is pretty affordable. Great for every kind of player that wants an affordable, yet good-sounding acoustic guitar.
- Great sound – Due to the dreadnought construction, the wood choice, and the open-pore lacquer, the guitar sounds way above its price.
- Nice looks – The guitar looks beautiful.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- It is a mass-produced guitar – This means, you could get a guitar with sharp fret ends, and it might need a setup. The best advice we can give is “try it before you buy it”.
- Also, there are no electronics on the guitar. So, if you are planning to play it in a venue, you will need to mic it up.
Bottom line
The Ibanez AW54OPN is a great guitar for the money. The dreadnought construction, the wood choice, the hardware, and the finish, are making this guitar able to compete with guitars of a higher price. Still, it is a mass-produced guitar – it is possible to get a dud. This is why we recommend trying it before you buy it. Also, the Ibanez AW54OPN has no electronics included, so you’ll need to buy a mic/piezo/pick-up separately in order to play it at a gig.
The guitar sounds way above its price range.
Yamaha FG800
Specs, features, and benefits
Yamaha is one of the top best-selling companies in the guitar and instruments world. Why? Because they make affordable, yet high-quality instruments.
The Yamaha FG800 is a dreadnought guitar with a body made out of solid Sitka spruce for the top, and laminated nato wood for the back and the sides. The neck is joined at the fourteenth fret, it is made out of nato, and sports a rosewood fingerboard with twenty frets.
On the headstock, there are six sealed die-cast chrome tuning machines that hold the guitar in tune very well. Speaking of hardware, the guitar has a rosewood bridge, and urea nut and saddle. The Yamaha FG800 has a balanced bright, warm, loud and resonant sound.
Pros and Highlights
- Won’t break the bank – The guitar is perfect for beginners, and for parents who want to buy their child a guitar that sounds good, it is playable and affordable.
- Great sound – The sound of the guitar is very nice. You will fall in love with this guitar within five minutes of playing.
- Very playable – The neck on the guitar feels very nice and smooth. It is very playable, and even advanced players recognize this as a great guitar.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- You might get a dud – The Yamaha FG800 is one of the most-selling acoustic guitars in this price range, and it is mass-produced. This is why we recommend trying before buying to eliminate the chance of getting a defective guitar.
Bottom line
Whether you are just beginning to play, or you are an experienced guitarist and you want to buy a decent, yet affordable acoustic guitar, the Yamaha FG800 is a great choice.
It is a well-constructed guitar, very playable, and it has a great sound. However, we strongly advise you to try it before you buy it because it is a mass-produced guitar, which means that there is a chance you’ll get a defective one.
The Yamaha FG800 is a great guitar for the money.
Epiphone DR-100
Specs, features, and benefits
The Epiphone DR-100 is the best-selling Epiphone acoustic guitar. It is very affordable, it comes for less than a hundred and fifty dollars, which makes this guitar very beginner-friendly.
It is a dreadnought guitar with a Select Spruce body top, mahogany back and sides, and SlimTaper profile glued-on neck, made out of okoume sporting a rosewood fingerboard.
The hardware on the guitar features a set of chrome die-cast tuning machines, rosewood bridge, and synthetic saddle and nut.
The Epiphone DR-100 has an enhanced mid and high frequencies sound, and less low end, which results in bright and punchy sound.
Pros and Highlights
- Cheap – The Epiphone DR-100 is a cheap guitar. It comes for less than 150$!
- Beginner-friendly – The SlimTaper neck is perfect for those players with small hands and just starting out. It is easy to get a decent grip of the neck and progress fast with it.
- Nice sound – This guitar can be seen at gigs at small venues. Just mic it up and go!
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Sharp end frets – This doesn’t happen with every DR-100 guitar, but there are cases where the owners are not happy with the fretwork on the guitar. This is an opportunity to meet your local guitar repair guy; he might also do a proper setup for your Epiphone.
- The best thing to do when buying a new guitar, of course, is the trying-before-buying method applied.
Bottom line
Try it before you buy it. The chances are you are going to get a really nice beginner guitar, for a very low price. It sounds good, it plays nicely, and it is very playable. If you are not an experienced guitar-guy maybe you should try bringing a guitarist friend on your shopping at the guitar store, to eliminate the chances of getting a dud. The Epiphone DR-100 is cheap, yet decent dreadnought guitar.
Jasmine S35
Specs, features, and benefits
The extremely affordable Jasmine S35 (it is under a hundred dollars) is a great dreadnought guitar for those folks who are just starting out to play. It has a body made of spruce top, and nato back, sides and neck. The neck sports a rosewood fingerboard with twenty frets.
It has a rosewood bridge, synthetic bone saddle and nut, and sealed chrome tuning machines. The sound of the guitar is pretty balanced, which is usually not expected with a guitar with a price as the Jasmine S35 has, and it probably won’t serve the stages around the country, but it won’t hurt the beginner’s ears too. For a guitar under a hundred dollars, it actually sounds pretty good.
Pros and Highlights
- Cheap – This guitar is one of the cheapest guitars that actually have decent sound.
- Good sound – The dreadnought body of the guitar produces loud and pretty decent sound, which is very important for every player, beginner or experienced. Of course, you can’t expect a sound like a high-prized Martin guitar, but yeah, for an under hundred-dollar guitar, this Jasmine sounds good.
- Good playability – This is a guitar that won’t back you off from playing, like some other guitars in this price range would. The construction of the guitar is pretty solid, and the neck is pretty playable. Great guitar for newbies.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- It might need a few adjustments right out of the box – Just take your new Jasmine S35 to your local guitar repairman, and let him do the set-up for you, as well checking all the other stuff, like the nut, the saddle, and the tuners. This is a pretty cheap guitar, so you can’t expect everything to be perfect on it. It will need a few adjustments.
Bottom line
If you are a beginner, or your child recently told you that is interested in playing the six strings, the Jasmine S35 is a good starting point. It is not a high-quality guitar, but it is a good beginner-guitar for sure. It might need a few adjustments and set-up right after you bought it, but pretty much every guitar needs that, no matter how much you paid for it.
Great guitar for a very affordable price. Of course, if you are looking for a guitar that you can play venues with, just keep on reading.
Jasmine Orchestra JO36-NAT
Specs, features, and benefits
Jasmine is the affordable brother to Takamine, just like Epiphone is to Gibson or Squier is to Fender, and they produce affordable guitars of decent quality.
The Jasmine Orchestra JO36-NAT is an orchestra body-type guitar with a body top made out of laminated spruce, and laminated sapele for the back and the sides. The neck of the guitar is made out of nato wood, and it features a rosewood fingerboard with twenty frets.
The bridge on the guitar is made out of rosewood too, while the saddle and the nut are made out of synthetic bone. On the headstock, you can find six die-cast chrome tuning machines.
The Jasmine JO36-NAt has a bright, yet balanced sound, due to the X bracing of the body and the good material choices.
Pros and Highlights
- Great for beginners – The Jasmine JO36 has a smaller body than the dreadnought style guitars, and a very playable neck, making it suit even the youngest players.
- Great sound – The sound of the guitar is very well balanced. This is why this guitar can fit many different genres and styles of playing.
- Won’t break the bank – Whether you are an experienced player or you are just starting out, if you want to buy an affordable acoustic guitar – the Jasmine JO36 is a great choice.
It costs under $150.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- It might need a bit of attention right out of the box – Just take it to your local luthier, he will do the guitar set-up for you.
Bottom line
Although the Jasmine Orchestra JO36-NAT is made out of laminated woods, it is still a very good-constructed, and beautifully sounding guitar. Definitely not for a professional player, but for a beginner, this guitar is a great choice.
Samick Greg Bennett Design GD100S
Specs, features, and benefits
Although the GD100S is an affordable guitar, it is a great one, and it could serve professional guitar players as well as beginners. Greg Bennet is an American luthier who designs guitars for the Korean manufacturer Samick, and the guitars that are made there, are playing way above their price range.
The Samick GD100S is a dreadnought body guitar with solid spruce top, and laminated nato mahogany back and sides. It has a nato neck that sports a rosewood fingerboard with twenty frets. It has a rosewood bridge, die-cast tuning machines, and synthetic saddle and nut.
The guitar sounds very loud and resonant, has lots of sustain and a very balanced tone, due to the solid spruce top. It has a gloss finish.
Pros and Highlights
- Affordable – For a little less than $200, you’ll have a guitar good for practice and for playing live!
- Great design – When you hear that Greg Bennet designed a guitar, don’t hesitate – go and try it out. He is a well-known American luthier that has designed a bunch of guitar models, and they are all sounding and performing great!
- Awesome sound – Due to the solid spruce top, and the scalloped bracing, the GD100S sounds way above the other guitars in this price range. The guitar is highly resonant, with a balanced tone and big sustain.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- No cons!
Bottom line
The Samick Greg Bennet Design GD100S is truly a great guitar. Very well-designed guitar, with a great sound. It sounds like it is twice the price.
It is mass manufactured guitar, but it seems to me like the workers at Samick are paying great attention to every instrument that they make. Great guitar!
Ibanez IJV50
Specs, features, and benefits
Ibanez is a Japanese guitar brand that makes high-quality and affordable instruments.
In the guitar world, they are most famous for their high-gain, shredding axes, but they make a whole variety of series including jazz guitars, classical guitars, and of course, acoustic guitars.
The Ibanez IJV50 is a dreadnought style guitar, with a body made of laminated spruce top, and laminated Agathis back and sides. It has a mahogany neck that sports a rosewood fingerboard with twenty frets. It has the standard rosewood bridge, Ivorex 2 saddle and nut, and sealed chrome tuning heads. The guitar has a loud, bright, clear and resonant tone.
It usually comes with a set of accessories like a gig bag, picks, strap-on, tuner, etc.
Pros and Highlights
- Wallet-friendly! – For $150, you’ll get a great acoustic guitar, plus everything you need in order to play it.
- Great tone! – The guitar sounds great. Not too dark or too bright – it has a very well balanced tone.
- Sturdy construction – If you don’t play baseball with the guitar, or something like that, this guitar can last you decades!
Cons and Potential Flaws
- It will need a set-up – This guitar is usually shipped from overseas, so it will need a set-up right out of the box. However, this is pretty usual when buying a guitar.
Bottom line
The Ibanez IJV50 is a great guitar for beginners to learn acoustic guitar. It is a well-constructed dreadnought guitar with a decent, balanced sound. It also comes with accessories like a gig bag, tuner, picks, strap-on, so you won’t have to buy those things separately. It is a good guitar, specifically aimed for beginners. If you are more on the professional side of guitar playing, you might want to see some other options.
Rogue RA-090 Concert Cutaway
Specs, features, and benefits
If you want to start playing guitar, but you want a guitar that you can plug in into an amp, the Rogue RA-090 Concert Cutaway is a great choice.
The Rogue RA-090 Concert Cutaway, as the name suggests is a concert-type of a guitar with a cutaway on the body for easy accessing the higher tones on the fingerboard.
The body top, back, and sides of the guitar are made out of laminated whitewood, while the C-profile neck is made out of nato mahogany, which features “simulated rosewood” fingerboard with twenty frets. It has a bridge made out of the same material as the fingerboard, plastic saddle and nut, and covered nickel tuners.
It has an Eden piezo under the saddle, and a pre-amp with three-band EQ controls, phase control button for eliminating bad feedback, and a built-in tuner.
The Rogue RA-090 has a decent, bright sound when unplugged, and full tweakable sound when plugged in. Great guitar for beginner guitarists.
Pros and Highlights
- Dirt-cheap! – This guitar is very affordable. Or should we say, wallet-friendly?
- Decent sound quality – Although it is not sounding like a Martin guitar, for the price, it actually sounds pretty good.
- You can plug it in! – This may be important for some of you just starting out, but aiming high.
Or maybe you are in a school band? Either way, this is a great feature for such an affordable guitar.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Fret buzzing – Just like pretty much every other newly bought guitar, this guitar needs to be seen by a professional. A set-up, and a few adjustments here and there will make this guitar much better than it will be right out of the box.
Bottom line
Great $200 guitar for the money. If you are on a low budget, but you want to buy an acoustic guitar with an option to plug into an amp, the Rogue RA-090 Concert Cutaway is a good choice.
The guitar is of decent quality having in mind its price, and it is a great instrument for beginners.
Jasmine S34C NEX
Specs, features, and benefits
The Jasmine S34C NEX is an orchestra-style guitar with Venetian style cutaway that comes for an affordable price – perfect for beginners and for those who want a cheap guitar with decent performance quality.
The body of the guitar is made of laminated spruce top, and sapele back and sides.
The neck of the guitar is a slender-type, and it is made out of mahogany. It sports a rosewood fretboard with twenty-one frets, all of them being easy to access due to the cutaway. The hardware on the guitar consists of a rosewood bridge, synthetic saddle and nut, and standard die-cast tuning machines.
Due to the jumbo-size body, and Jasmine’s Advanced “X” Bracing, the S34 NEX has an enhanced low-end with defined treble frequencies sound. It is a very loud, and resonant guitar.
Pros and Highlights
- Affordable – This guitar is very affordable, and it is one of the best in its price range.
It will serve good both beginner and experienced guitar players. - Loud, resonant – Due to body type and size, the guitar has very loud and resonant sound. The low end is massive, and the high end is pretty articulated.
- Venetian Cutaway – With the Jasmine S34C NEX you won’t have any problem reaching the higher notes on the guitar. The single cutaway allows you to have easy access to all of the frets on the neck.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- It is still a cheap one – This means that there are some compromises made, like cheaper tonewood and hardware. Still, this is one of the best guitars in this price range.
Bottom line
If you are a jumbo-sized-body guitar fan, or you are just a beginner who wants to be loud and present, the Jasmine S34C NEX would be a good fit for you. It is loud and resonant guitar, and the cutaway allows you to play the higher notes on the guitar without difficulty.
Definitely, one of the best guitars in this price range.
Yamaha FG JR1 3/4 Acoustic Guitar
Specs, features, and benefits
The Yamaha FG JR1 is a 3/4 size guitar with an FG style body. This means it is big and loud enough but comfortable for traveling with it and for keeping it at home without taking a whole lot of space.
The body of the guitar has laminated spruce for the top, and laminated meranti for the back and the sides. The neck of the guitar is made out of nato mahogany with rosewood fingerboard featuring twenty frets. It has a rosewood bridge, synthetic bone saddle and nut, and chrome tuning machines.
The sound of the guitar is pretty solid and punchy, with lacking a bit of low-end due to the smaller size of the body. Great guitar for traveling musicians, and of course – beginners.
Pros and Highlights
- Small size – This guitar is a 3/4 size guitar, which is great for the young players, for those with smaller hands, and for traveling musicians;
- Sturdy construction – Yamaha is one of the best guitar-builder companies in the world. This is no surprise for a company like Yamaha. Pretty much all of their instruments are constructed sturdily.
- Good sound – The FG JR1 lacks a bit of a low-end due to its size but is a lot louder and punchier than other guitars of this size due to the well-constructed body and the wood choice.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- It has flaws just like any other affordable guitar – The hardware is not the best, of course, also the wood on the body is not solid – it is laminated. Well, for the price, it is expected. But, with proper set-up and a good set of strings, this guitar plays fine.
Bottom line
If you are a musician on the road, or you have smaller hands, or your child wants to start playing the guitar, the 3/4 size FG JR1 by Yamaha is a great choice of a guitar.
It is affordable, it is well-built, and it has a decent sound.
What We Recommend and Why
Depending on what your needs and wants are, there are several good and affordable guitars you can choose from. Of course, there are tons of affordable guitars on the market, but not every one of them is of decent quality. We tried to put the best of the best in this list in this price range – which is up to $200. We recommend the Samick Greg Bennett Design GD100S.
It is a sturdy, great sounding, affordable guitar, that can compete with guitars which cost double its price. It is great for beginners, but also the experienced guitarists can fall in love with how this guitar plays and sounds.
Awesome guitar for a very affordable price.