Maybe you’re on the market for an acoustic guitar but you’re strapped for cash. Maybe you are a beginning guitarist and are unsure of your commitment to the instrument. Maybe, for whatever reason, you don’t feel ready to dedicate the kind of money to buying a guitar that some other people do. There are still great guitars available to you.
There isn’t any reason someone has to spend thousands of dollars to get a quality guitar. For just a few hundred, it is possible to find an instrument that plays well, sounds great, and can grow with you for years to come.
This is a list of the six best acoustic guitars under 500 dollars. On it, there are guitars for virtually every kind of acoustic guitarist. After describing each of them, I will talk a little bit about what you can expect, in general, from the best guitars in this price range.
- Seagull S6
- 4.8 Customer rating
- Back and sides: Canadian Wild Cherry
- Fingerboard and bridge: Rosewood
- Top: Solid Cedar
- Price: $$$
- Taylor BBT Big Baby Taylor
- 4.8 Customer rating
- Back and sides: Layered Sapele
- Fingerboard and bridge: Ebony
- Top: Sitka Spruce
- Price: $$$
- Seagull Entourage Rustic
- 5 Customer rating
- Back and sides: Canadian Wild Cherry
- Fingerboard and bridge: Rosewood
- Top: Solid Cedar
- Price: $$
- La Patrie Motif
- 4.8 Customer rating
- Back and sides: Wild Cherry
- Fingerboard and bridge: Rosewood
- Top: Cedar
- Price: $$$
- Cordoba C7
- 4.6 Customer rating
- Back and sides: Indian rosewood
- Fingerboard and bridge: Rosewood
- Top: Solid Canadian cedar
- Price: $$$
- Takamine G Series G340
- 4.7 Customer rating
- Back and sides: Mahogany
- Fingerboard and bridge: Rosewood
- Top: Genuine spruce
- Price: $$
Top Six Acoustic Guitars Under 500 Dollars
Seagull S6
The Seagull S6 is a great guitar at a fabulous price. It features a solid cedar top and laminate cherry back and sides. The cedar lends warmth to its sound and the cherry adds something unique (cherry is not nearly as commonly found in acoustic guitars as woods suck as spruce, cedar, rosewood, or mahogany).
The neck of the S6 is maple, while its fretboard is rosewood. Acoustic guitars with maple necks tend to sound punchy and well defined, and the maple construction of this guitar’s neck balances the warmth of its cedar top. The rosewood fretboard adds to that warmth and rounds the sound of the guitar off in a way that something like ebony would not.
Owners of the S6 cite its extraordinary value, claiming that though its back and sides are laminate, its sound is full and rich. They also remark positively on its playability and overall solid construction.
Taylor Big Baby
The Taylor Big Baby is part of Taylor’s affordable line of guitars, and it’s the older, slightly larger cousin to the very small Baby Taylor. It is a dreadnought, but built to a 15/16 scale, so it is a little more than six percent smaller than full size.
The Big Baby features a solid spruce top and laminate sapele back and sides. The spruce top lends a slightly sharper air to the sound of the guitar than, for instance, a cedar top would. The sound, however, is still full. Its neck is sapele, like its back and sides, and its fretboard is ebony. Ebony fretboards on acoustic guitars are slightly sharper sounding than rosewood fretboards, and in this case the ebony adds slightly to the punch that the spruce top creates.
This guitar, in general, is sharper and punchier than most dreadnoughts. Partially, that is due to the combination of its cedar top and ebony fretboard. It is also due to its slightly smaller frame. Owners of the guitar, however, claim that its sound is very pleasing and that it puts out plenty of body and plenty of volume.
Seagull Entourage Rustic Guitar
The Seagull Entourage is, in many respects, identical to the S6. It features a solid cedar top and laminate cherry sides and back, its neck is made of maple, and its fretboard is rosewood. Aesthetically, it is slightly different, featuring what Seagull calls a “rustic” finish, and it has a slimmer neck, which affects the way it feels more that the way it sounds.
Like the S6, the Entourage’s sound is balance. It’s cedar top gives it warmth, but its maple neck gives it clarity and definition. It differs primarily in the way that it feels due to its slim neck. Suited to smaller hands, the nut itself, and the neck that holds it, is slimmer than on most acoustic guitars. This may, for many people, make the guitar more playable. If, however, you have large hands, it may seem cramped; and the shorter distance between the strings may make certain things – like fingerpicking – more difficult.
La Patrie Motif
La Patrie (literally, “the homeland”) is a small Canadian company based just outside of Quebec. La Patrie specializes in classical, nylon-string guitars. The Motif is their smallest guitar, taking its shape and size from turn-of-the-century classical guitars. It features a cedar top, cherry back and sides, a mahogany neck, and a rosewood fretboard.
Even with its small body, this is a warm sounding guitar. Its cedar top and rosewood fretboard ensure that much. Since it is a classical guitar, and has nylon strings, its sound is markedly different than the first three guitars on this list, which are steel-string guitars. It is also quieter than those guitars, in part due to its exceptionally small body, and in part due to the fact that classical guitars are, in general, not as loud as bigger, heavier, steel-string guitars.
In general, this is a great, very affordable nylon-string guitar. Classical guitars routinely sell for thousands of dollars, so to get a solid one for under $500 is quite a deal.
Cordoba C7
The Cordoba C7 is another classical guitar. This one is slightly more expensive than the La Patrie, but it is still a very impressive guitar for its price. Cordoba is known for making affordable classical guitars that are nonetheless of high quality, and this guitar is no exception.
The C7’s body is larger than the La Patrie. It is the size of most modern classical guitars (which means that it is still much smaller than most steel-string acoustic guitars). In general, that means it will sound a bit “bigger” and will have more volume.
The C7 features a cedar top and rosewood back and sides, which means it will be quite warm sounding, like most classical guitars. Its neck is mahogany, which adds a sense of fullness to its sound, and it has a rosewood fretboard (like many classical guitars), which, again, adds warmth.
Takamine G Series
Takamine makes the final guitar on our list. Takamine is known for producing very high-quality guitars at an affordable price. In general, if you’re looking for value in an acoustic guitar, Takamine is a great place to start.
The G series acoustic guitar is a full sized dreadnought, so it is big, loud, and full-sounding. It features a spruce top and mahogany back, sides, and neck. Its fretboard is made of rosewood. Compared to similar dreadnoughts, the G series is slightly brighter, due to its spruce top, but it is still a great guitar for warm fingerpicking or full strumming.
Owners of G series guitars cite its remarkable value. It is quite inexpensive for a quality full-size dreadnought. Many people also remark on how well Takamine’s, in general, play. Overall, this is a great guitar at a great price and it is a good buy for anyone looking for a full-size steel-string acoustic under $500.
Best Acoustic Guitars Under 500 Dollars Comparison Chart
| Product name | Back and sides | Fingerboard and board | Top |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seagull S6 | Canadian Wild Cherry | Rosewood | Solid Cedar |
| Taylor BBT Big Baby Taylor | Layered Sapele | Ebony | Sitka Spruce |
| Seagull Entourage Rustic | Canadian Wild Cherry | Rosewood | Solid Cedar |
| La Patrie Motif | Wild Cherry | Rosewood | Solid Cedar |
| Cordoba C7 | Indian rosewood | Rosewood | Solid Canadian cedar |
What to Expect from an Acoustic Guitar Under 500 Dollars
You can’t expect the things out of an acoustic guitar under $500 dollars that you might expect out of a guitar costing much more, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t expect to get a good guitar for your money. The guitars on this list are great values, meaning they are not only inexpensive but are 
in fact quality instruments. Here are some of the things you can expect out of the best acoustic guitar under 500:
First, you can expect at least some of the body of the guitar to be made of solid and not laminate wood. Usually it is the top, which is generally the part that makes the most difference. Solid woods increase resonance and produce a sweeter, richer tone than laminates, which sometimes sound “dead.”
You can also expect that at least some (hopefully all) of the guitar is made of quality woods. These include cedar, mahogany, spruce, and rosewood (among others). Woods like these are “tone woods,” meaning they are known for resonating pleasantly and producing a good tone when they’re used in an acoustic guitar’s construction.
You can also expect that the guitar’s intonation will be good. Intonation is, roughly speaking, how well a guitar can be put in tune with itself. Intonation describes the way that a note played in one way on an instrument relates to the same note being played a different way on that same instrument. The closer these two tones are, the better intonation, the more purely the instrument can be put in tune. Good acoustic guitars have better intonation than bad acoustic guitars, which means they will sound more in tune than bad guitars.
Good quality acoustic guitars under 500 dollars will be eminently playable. It shouldn’t be hard to play your guitar, but for owners of bad guitars it often is. Many things influence the playability of guitars, but maybe none more than the action of the guitar. Action is the distance between the strings and the frets. The shorter that distance, the less your fingers have to work to press down on the strings, and the easier it is to play the guitar. You can expect that a good inexpensive guitar will have good action and will, in general, be easy to play.
Finally, you can and should expect that a quality inexpensive guitar sounds good. Few things about a guitar are more important than their tone, and good guitars, put simply, have good tones. Whether your looking for warmth or clarity or some combination thereof, you should expect the guitar you buy to sound rich and full.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is this: You don’t have to break the bank to get a solid acoustic guitar. Whether you’re looking for a steel-string or classical guitar, and whether you’re looking for something full-size or something slightly smaller, one of the guitars on this list can likely accommodate you.
These guitars are some of the best acoustic guitars under 500 dollars. If you are unable or not yet ready to spend any more than that, you can still expect to find a quality instrument that will be meet your needs. Hopefully this guide can help you do that. If you are looking for a more upscale instrument, check our article on best acoustic guitars under $1000 here. Beginner players might find the best beginner acoustic guitars article on this page also useful.
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