High Quality Guitar Components

Like any products, acoustic guitars can be made cheap. They have been mass produced. Some manufacturers even use laminate particle board type material instead of real solid wood. These substitutes reduce price dramatically, but also reduce sound quality and playability.

The best guitars use the best components. Generally speaking, when you find a guitar (even a brand that you've never heard of) that is made with high quality parts, it will be a great sounding guitar. This is important because some of the best sounding guitars aren't big name brands. Many independent luthiers create amazing instruments by hand. They won't have the name "C.F. Martin" on the headstock, so they are hard to pinpoint. However, the component will be a good indication.

One of the first things to look for is an ebony fretboard. Ebony is one of the rarest of materials, used in guitar manufacture. It is used for acoustic guitar bridges and fretboards. While an ebony bridge is pretty standard on guitars, an ebony fretboard is somewhat special. There are high quality guitars with other types of fretboards, but ebony is a good sign that a guitar is high quality.

Some manufacturers will dye rosewood fretboards black just to get that slick black ebony look. This doesn't necessarily mean that the guitar is cheap, but it's a way to get sales and make the guitar look much better. Ebony not only looks good on a fretboard, but it also gives the guitar a brighter sound. Personally, I think the guitar is easier to play with an ebony fretboard too (generally speaking of course).

Another wood to look for is Koa. This is a very decorative wood used for some acoustic guitar bodies.

The main reason these woods are an indication of the quality of the guitar is the price of the wood itself. A guitar manufacturer making a quality guitar will buy the higher quality woods. Someone wanting to make a quick buck will use cheap materials. Usually the expensive materials give an indication of how much love went into making the instrument.

Martin D28 Kit

There's nothing like a good Martin or Taylor except for maybe a Martin kit guitar assembled by an expert luthier. Kit guitars offer a cost effective solution to expensive brand name guitars. I found a good deal on a Martin D-28 replica. 

http://usedacousticguitar.us/8/used_acoustic_guitar:_priced_between_$501_and_$1000.html

Used Yamaha Acoustics

I may have posted about this before, but I really like late 70's model Japanese built Yamaha acoustic guitars. I guess I feel this way because I own a very good example of one. Mine is a FG-345. I bought it around 2001. My dad had a Yamaha my entire childhood. I didn't really appreciate how good it was until I found mine in a music store.

If you can find one of these, grab it.