[quote=”1bassleft”]I must emphasize that I’m not an expert on acoustic or transducer-equipped acoustics so bear that in mind. First off, though, welcome back and feel free to make a post as long as you like. Especially if you need advice before spending money – I write long posts for no good reason at all 🙂

The first thing that struck me (and I checked just to be sure) is that Alvarez is really a step up or two from Stagg. How ‘good’ an acoustic is, and its price tag, is more than just a brand name. Things like the construction method and woods used play their part, and the quality of the electrics, if present. Even so, an Alvarez ranges from about $125 all the way up into the thousands depending on the quality of the model. Stagg, by contrast, starts at pocket-money price and stops at just over the $100 end. An Alvarez should be relegating your Stagg to the backup; not the other way round.

A lot of guitars like Stagg are just taken out of the box and hung up on the shop wall. It simply isn’t economical for the shop to devote staff time to setup. At the price, the strings aren’t exactly top-drawer either so, yes, a lot of budget end guitars dangling from a wall for several weeks can sound a bit dull. Don’t be afraid of “steel” strings (actually, a nickel/brass alloy). They may hurt at first but they won’t actually cut you. With time, your finger pads will get used to them and harden up a bit.

Does that two-year old Stagg of yours have its original strings? Get them replaced (just a few bucks) with a quality set and that’ll be a big surprise to your ears. If you can, ask an experienced friend to set up your guitar and fresh strings for you. Then have a think about what you want before spending more serious money. A true “backup” is really for broke-string-quick-replacement at a gig. Me, I’d aim for the Stagg being the backup and spending money on a higher-level acoustic as your ability and confidence grows. If you fancy a different sound, ditto. A better guitar is a wiser move than another budget with a different shape.

But what about the amp? Again, this depends on what you want to do. They’re great for using at home and light gigs if you’re not singing. If gigs with a singer are around the corner, you may want to save money for a vocal PA (good ones are so cheap now) and you can plug the acoustic into that.

So many options, but time is on your side. No need to rush before opening the wallet :)[/quote]

Am I think I was typing funny, if I did get a better name/sounding guitar, I would most defintly use that as my first and stagg would go to back up, and a braking string is the very reason I was thinking of for having a back up lol 🙂

It’s my fault I was not going into detail enough (though now not fearing making a long post lol) I left out details. Since I have played pretty long on my steel string stagg my fingers are pretty well built up. The problem with the strings at the shop on there guitars, it felt like the steel strings were almost rusted! 😮 which I can only imagine is bad for guitar strings lol. Plus some times on the other strings they sounded like sand paper when I held them down and when I would move the string back and forth to get that cool sound (no idea what its called lol)

The reason the alverez stuck out at me, was it sounded pretty good, plus it was discounted, however theres a reason behind that. It has a blimish, a small lump of wood say about the size of this o <<<<<<<< which took 100 $ of the price I believe, thought its not in a very easy place to see for anyone looking at it while you are playing, its on the part of the guitar where the fret board is attached to the body. But honostly to be buying it, I would want a dif color, because if it was my main guitar, I don’t want to be stuck with the guiter, however that leads to the amp i’m thinking about. lol 🙂 The amp, is a PA I think, i’m not sure what a PA is but I think it might be one. It is a coffe shop gig acoustic amp, WITH a mic plug in for singing 🙂 I need to go back to the store and price it again, plus ask to try my guitar on it so I know it sounds right. I think it was around 230$. Thanks for all the advice 1bassleft, i’m starting to feel really welcomed and will most defintly start reading the boards more 🙂