Acoustic Guitar Construction

Yesterday, I attended a music jam taping for a radio show and had the opportunity to hear many different brands of acoustic guitars played. The tone of one guitarist's instrument stood out "head & shoulders" from all the others. This person was an extremely tallented musician who used vibrato and string bending to enhance his perfomance. I was blown away by the tone of his instrument. I didn't recognize his guitar brand so I asked what it was. It was a Fender Starcaster acoustic - a hundred dollar guitar he got from Wallmart. If I hadn't heard it with my own ears I'd have a hard time believing such an inexpensive guitar could sound that great.

I would hazard a guess much of the tone differences were as much int he instruments as they were in the strings used, the pickup settings on the instrument, and the tone in the players fingers.