- All right, you asked for it, you've got it.
I did an electric guitar brand tier list,
I don't know, about a month ago?
And I had a lot of people request an acoustic one,
so I was like "You know what? I'll do it."
I didn't get a lot of hate for the electric one, so.
I have a lot of positive feelings about this one
that I can stir up some strife here on the interwebs
about which guitar brand...
Which acoustic guitar brand you think is best,
again, I'm gonna do this one
according to a bell curve, so there
has to be some in the F category,
there has to be some in the S, you know
most of the stuff is gonna fall in the middle and the
criteria for this, is I have to have had first hand
experience with these brands, so here you go.
All right let's start at the bottom.
Probably the worst guitar I've ever played for an acoustic
is a Rogue, and that's what it's meant to be.
It's a very inexpensive, entry-level guitar
but really I would go look for a used brand
in the C or B tier list when they come up
and if you've played a Rogue, that's awesome.
Let me know in the comments below
but that's probably my worst one,
and right next to that, although I don't think
they're as bad, is Mitchell.
I think this is a house brand for Guitar Center,
and I worked at Guitar Center for a long time
and I played a lot of these guitars,
and they just were not very good, in my humble opinion.
If there is any hate that's gonna come from this video,
I think it's gonna be from the D tier list
because I know a lot of people play these guitars
and there's nothing against them
but my biggest complaint with every guitar in this
tier list, and there's three of them, three different brands
is the tone and most of that is because
a lot of these guitar models
for these brands have laminated tops.
And they just don't sound that good to me.
Solid wood tops always sound better,
but the first one in this category is Washburn.
This would probably be the best
one in this category actually, to me.
I haven't played a ton of these but
the ones I have played have been like eh.
But I have played a few...
They're pretty good, and another thing that I should say
throughout all of these brands,
I'm looking at these as a brand overall.
'Cause Martin for example, has very
inexpensive ones or more inexpensive than very expensive
ones, so I'm looking at them as an overall thing.
Not at just the expensive ones, middle priced ones
or just the cheap ones.
The next one for this list, and I'm not gonna lie,
these guitars do...
Or this brand does a good job at making their guitars look
really good but a lot of them are laminated tops
and I just don't think they sound
very good and that's Ibanez, and I've played
a ton of Ibanez acoustic guitars.
I will say that they play pretty great.
They come set up pretty well but for the sound,
I just can't do it, they look pretty good too so.
The last one in this D tier, and this one
may surprise you, but it's Fender.
I kind of put that in the same category as Ibanez.
A lot of them with the laminated tops,
and even some, I don't know why,
but some of the solid tops just don't sound that great to me
and I know a lot of these acoustic guitars are made in the
same factories, but I'm kind of putting it out on my mind
to just give them my opinions here for the brand as a whole.
And my opinion and five dollars will
get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
Okay one guitar brand that I wish I saw more of in general
that I like, but especially for electrics,
but I like a little bit less for acoustic, is Guild.
And I just find them to be a little bit lifeless.
I have played a lot or a few that I really liked
but a lot of them, I'm like eh that's okay.
I can't say that about the electric as much.
See electrics, I like a little bit more.
They'd be in like B tier list to me
if I had played more of them, which I haven't.
But Guild C tier, see next one this may surprise
some people too because I love their electrics.
I think this brand is in the B tier list
for the electric, Gretsch.
I don't know, like just something about the construction,
the sound, just the sound mainly, not the looks,
not the feel but the sound of Gretsch guitars
is a little bit lacking to me in volume and like openness.
Definitely a tier down from where the electrics are.
Lets see next, and this is an extremely popular
brand, especially from around the five to 700$ mark,
but a lot of them look really good
but they don't sound that good to me.
Obviously like I'm going by sound here,
that's my main criteria but Takamine,
and this isn't always the case.
Again, this is as a brand as a whole,
all the way from like their 200$ stuff,
all the way up to like their 1200$ stuff.
They just sound a little bit thin to me
and lacking in the low end department,
but you may like that, you may like your guitar
to have a more high end than more mid, so.
Now this next one, I'm a little bit conflicted about
because I really really like Epiphone Masterbilt
series guitars, I think they're incredible value
for the money, all solid wood guitars
but like on a brand as whole with their
cheaper stuff included, I would put
Epiphone in the C tier list.
Epiphone Masterbilt, I'd probably put in B
but all their cheaper stuff or their other stuff
that they're not all solid wood
kinda brings the whole brand down to a C tier list to me.
All right , B tier list has the most brands overall,
and again this another one I'm conflicted about
because I own an Alvarez Yairi
and I consider that like an A tier list
because it's a hand-made guitar from Japan,
solid wood or some of them are all solid wood
but a lot of the more inexpensive stuff doesn't sound that
great to me, so I'd put that in the C tier list.
I would put the Yairi stuff in the A tier list
and that kind of averages out for a B.
Hurts me to say, but it's true.
Next, and this one is...
This guitar, this brand is kind of
in a class all of its own because it's so different.
I don't wanna say weird, but it's
so different and that's Ovation.
I played a lot of really good sounding Ovations
over the years but they definitely have their own unique
sound and generally I think they feel pretty good too
but they are different, they've very polarizing.
Either you love the sound or you don't like any,
you don't like the round back and the feel of that so.
You know, that's more of a personal thing
as far as the guitar, but I think the more expensive ones
sound really good and the less expensive ones sound decent.
Larrivée guitars next, I think this is
a really high quality brand.
The only reason and this is more of a personal thing
than it is like "Oh cool", it's the materials or the build
or whatever, but just the sound the guitars to me in
general, doesn't appeal to me as much.
It might be an A tier for you and
I would totally understand that.
It might be in a C tier for you
but Larrivée falls kind of right in the middle to me.
It's a really solid quality guitar
with a good sound that's just not for me.
Seagull guitars I think, are one
of the best of values for the money.
The S6 is incredible and anything from there up
just sounds better and better.
The solid top on those guitars, the cedar one
sounds really good and you get really good electronics on
the ones that come with electronics.
So I think it's a really good value for the money.
Kind of along those same lines is Yamaha.
I think they make some of the best starter guitars for the
money and matter of fact, I just did a
video on the best starter...
Beginner acoustic guitar for 200$ and it was a Yamaha,
and they're very consistent like the farther up you go,
you kind of get diminishing returns for Yamaha
but if you wanna spend just the minimum of amount of money
to get into acoustic guitar but you want something
with a solid top and a good sound,
I think Yamaha is super solid.
All right next, the only reason this brand is in the B tier
list and not the A tier list is consistency.
I can pick up one of these guitars and be like
"That is awesome", I could pick up the same model and be
like "That does not do it for me at all"
and that's kind of the same with
their electrics too and that's Gibson.
I know it's high quality parts, high quality
craftsmanship but the quality control
and the consistency just has issues for me so.
Okay the next three brands to me are just different flavors
in the spectrum, all of the same kind of quality
but it depends of, if you want more of a traditional
vibe, a more modern vibe, a brighter vibe
and just the feel of the guitars.
I think they're all about the same quality
and they're all really great.
My dad is a huge Martin fan and I always have been too,
but I don't even own one, my dad does though.
They have kind of a deeper sound that's more traditional
so I really like them for that, and the other part of the
spectrum, kind of the opposite of this, is Taylor.
They make really good quality guitars, they're brighter,
more modern sounding and just another, like an overall take
this kind of the same quality level is Breedlove.
I really like their guitars, they're very different vibe
from both of these, leaning a little more towards like
the Taylor and modern, bright kind of thing
but a really different feel,
and obviously the last one for this is Collings guitars.
The Collings plant is like seven miles away
from my parents house so I did visit there.
And every Collings acoustic guitar
I've ever played has just blown my socks off.
There are a lot of guitar brands out there,
like Santa Cruz, Olson, that I haven't played
that I would...
I suspect would be kind of on the same level as Collings
but again, I have to limit this to just stuff
that I've had a lot of first-hand experience with.
So let me know in the comments below
what you think about this tier list,
where you think these brands should be,
your own personal opinion with your experience
or different brands that you have a lot of experience with
that you think should have been here
and what tier you would've put them in.
I'll see you later.
(jazz music)