A great option for beginner guitars under $300 are parlor guitars – the small scale is particularly helpful for younger players with small fingers.

Here’s a list of parlor size guitars.

The Blue Ridge series of Asian-made acoustics are okay guitars for the money, IMHO. Available on the West Coast, anyway.

Take a look at Seagull Guitars. Made in Canada. These are well made guitars. Consistantly rated well by Acoustic Guitar Mag. They also get very high marks by players. They’re a little more than the $300 you’re looking to spend. But your daughter will not outgrow this guitar in a year, as this guitar attracts players of all levels: beginner to advanced.

hayseed4u, one of my many quotes:

‘He who dies with the most stuff wins’.

Im winning ive got 14!! better get in and get that Crafter! 😆

I’m partial to Alvarez guitars when it comes to quality at a budget price.
Their, Regent series is a good place to start. The RDS20 is a great sounding guitar but the neck may be a little chunky if your daughter has smallish hands. Same goes for their RC10 classical.
Their Arist Series has slimmer necks but they are outfitted a bit fancier, so the price is a bit more. But you should still be in the $300 price range if you take the time to build a relationship with the owners of the shop. Pay no attention to the price tag. Once they know that you are serious about buying and think you will be back to buy stings and other accessories there and possibly trade up later a minimum of 30% will come off the sticker price. Especially if you go to a Mom and Pop store.

For the person who didn’t know if there are Crafter dealers is the US. There are. There is a dealer is Oklahoma City that I have been to several times and they are very proud of their Crafter USA guitars. They are very finely crafted and nicely appointed. Several times I have come close to buying one.If I could have walked out with one in a case for less than $700 dollars I would have one by now. The wife says trade two of your others in on it and you can have it. Poor woman thinks thirteen stringed instuments is too many. I think it’s a lucky number.

No problem, but if you can try out a crafter i strongly advise you to do so.

They are astonishingly good for the money, i dont think you could beat it.
But im sure these guitars are not available in the States, i dont think there is an importer.

A mate of mine has 2 Les Paul Studios amongst other gems…he does all his writing, fiddling about and practice on a Crafter acoustic because its just a kick-ass guitar.

Tim.

Active and Passive pickups too…. any more?

Give him another three months and ask if he’s worked out yet that the necks are different on a Jazz and Precision too.

Lee, this is a serious issue. NEVER listen to shop-sales if it contradicts an experienced mate’s advice. Can we start a thread, can we start a thread? “The garbage I’ve heard from a music-store assistant”

Some of it (in my exp) is absolutely painful. It would be funny, except it costs enthusiastic beginners serious money. I detest some of these apprentice-sales-types nomarks. When I was 17, I knew almost every plug-in stringer inside-out. At that age, I’d’ve loved to be paid to prattle about “this is better than that” in a shop. Recently, I had to show some assistant that a Jazz doesn’t have the same body as a Precision. “He’d only been there three months” 😯 .

On the bright side, he handed over the shop’s trade-prices for the gear I was interested in. Bit of an eye-opener when it came to haggling.

A non playing friend of mine asked my opinion on a good acoustic steel string to learn on, so i said i’d go to HIS local guitar shop and check out a good one, when i get there i play every sub £300 guitar on the wall, took all afternoon, in particular they had 6 Crafters all the same make and model and colour, one of them played like a dream, i took the s/no gave him my report and said get the Crafter Grand auditorium with this s/no, he thanked me said he would be going there on the saturday to pick it up.
I get a call from him on Monday morning, and what did he buy? a Washburn in Green burst! laminated top, with electrics, he said the salesman swung it and told him it had a £100 off (wonder why) and he got it for £299, he said come over and give it a play, i didnt have to. i remembered it well from my afternoon testing, it was awfull, dull, no ring, chokey on some of the higher frets and action like a cheese cutter, i went and played it and nodded and did all the usual ‘yeah great guitar’ bullshit, but why dont people listen? he told me he also didnt like the shape of the Crafter, and the salesman said the wasburn had a pickup and electrics in it, i suppose he just needs a nice PA to benefit from it.

I’ve played some very nice Washburn acoustics that didn’t cost a packet. Give them a whirl too!

I’m no expert on the subj, but I seem to remember the Yam F310 picking up a few “Best Buy” awards in its price range. Lee, you read the guitar mags – ring any bells?

If it were me, i would lean towards the Epi, or maybe the Yamaha, spruce tops are nice, ive played a few Epis, and for the money they play very nicely, if you can see Crafter in the States, have a look at those too, i was very impressed by them.