Finding an impressive guitar is hard, but getting a Best 12 string acoustic-electric guitar under 1000$ can be a much harder nut to crack. For an amateur guitarist, selecting a 12 string electric or acoustic-electric guitar is one of the most difficult tasks to perform.
You do not only need to check the sound and built quality, but when you bet on an electric or acoustic-electric guitar, there are a lot of things, like tuning, neck, compatibility, and manufacturing material, that you need to check.
Therefore, if you have no knowledge about getting a guitar, you will end up wasting your money, energy, and time. And, this is why today we have brought for you some of the best 12-string electric and acoustic-electric guitars that you must get to develop your skills as a professional guitarist.
Contents
Top 12-String Acoustic-Electric Guitars Under $1000
Top Pick
Runner Up
Budget Pick
People usually neglect 12 strings guitar as they want to stay orthodox and play the same six strings guitar that sometimes fails to provide a variety of sound and musicality. So, keeping in mind your needs and to serve your requirements, we have come up with some amazing 12-string guitars that will help you enjoy and create music.
Hence, if you want to bet on the best 12 strings guitar, follow this article religiously.
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought
Fender is one of the most renowned guitar producers that has been standing firm in the market for decades. So, to serve your need for an acoustic-electric guitar, we would like you to bet on the Fender CD-60SCE dreadnought 12-string guitar.
This guitar is one of the best masterpieces that Fenders has ever crafted. Whether you are playing in a live concert or in a family musical event, this guitar will be your perfect match. No matter if you want high-pitched electronic sound or you love the smooth acoustic sound, the guitar will serve you with all this.
This masterpiece used Spruce, Mahogany for the body, and for the back, the manufacturers used Mahogany wood. The top of this guitar is made up of Spruce, and for the neck, the guitar has producers who have preferred Mahogany too. Lastly, for the fretboard, Fender has used walnut. So you can count this guitar as the Best Spruce 12-string acoustic-electric guitar.
The scale size of this guitar is 25.3 inches, and it comes up with 12 strings for fresh, smooth, sharp, and electric sound.
Along with all other things, the guitar gets full marks for its design and color. It was produced in a classic shape and comes up with natural color.
Also, it must not go without saying that this is a right-hand-oriented guitar with all the options of an acoustic-electric guitar. Moreover, we must also tell you that this guitar is compatible with all kinds of amps, so this must not be something to worry about.
Lastly, this is an easy-to-play guitar and is preferred for those who want to shift from acoustic to electric guitars.
Reasons to Buy
Reasons to Avoid
Vango VA20CE NT12
There are only a few rare guitars that are made up of Spruce, Sapele, Sapele Wood, and Laminated and Walnut wood, and Vangoa VA20CE NT12 can be counted as Best Sapele 12-string acoustic-electric guitar is one of them.
The body of this guitar is laminated, and the back of the guitar has been manufactured using Sapele. Along with it, for manufacturing the top, the company has used Spruce wood and fretboard material of walnut. The neck material of this amazing guitar is crafted using Sapele wood, and the color of this guitar is natural.
Despite being an acoustic-electric guitar, this musical instrument offers a high-pitched, loud, and fresh sound that is good enough to rock any concert. Moreover, the size of this guitar is perfect for professionals, amateurs, and beginners, so all of them are good to get it with no issues in playing.
It is a right-hand-oriented guitar, so make sure you play with your right hand, or there will be no use in getting this guitar. Also, the string set of this guitar is bronze which provides an extra sharp and thin-pitched voice that sounds perfect for an electric guitar.
Furthermore, you must not leave without knowing that the guitar comes up with a zipped backpack, a new set of strings, some plectrums, scratch-guard, capo, tuner, User’s manual, L-key, and a jack to jack for easy connectivity with amps for pure electric sound
Reasons to Buy
Reasons to Avoid
Oscar Schmidt OD312CE-A
Oscar Schmidt is one of the oldest guitar producers working in this industry. The company has been enriching its users with high-end guitars for as long as 1871. Their OD312CE-A-U 12 strings acoustic-electric guitar is something that you must own to satisfy your demands of having an electric acoustic guitar.
The guitar comes up in a tobacco sunburst color. For the top material of the guitar, the company has used Spruce wood. The body and the neck are crafted using Mahogany wood. Both of these woods are used in some of the best performing and most durable guitars available in the market.
Along with it, the fretboard is made up of Rostek, and the strings used in this guitar are metallic to provide you with a fusion of electric and acoustic guitars.
Moreover, the guitar is compatible with all types of amp, so you will not have to worry about the compatibility of the guitar. Also, for using it as an electric guitar, the guitar comes with a lithium metal battery.
Despite being a 12-string guitar, this masterpiece produces a fresh sound. Furthermore, the best right-hand 12-string acoustic-electric guitar comes up with a fixed bridge, so you will not have to worry about bridge adjustment all the time. Lastly, this guitar is crafted for right-hand guitarists.
Reasons to Buy
Reasons to Avoid
Vango VA20CE BKM12
The guitar comes up in a black color that itself adds an extra star to its beauty. Along with it, the body of the guitar is made up of pure wood, and the top is crafted with Spruce. The neck of this guitar is made up of Okoume wood and the fretboard’s own walnut wood. Lastly, the back of the guitar is made up of Sapele.
This guitar is the perfect combination of various high-end woods that are used for top-notch manufacturing guitars.
Having 12 strings, this guitar provides a louder sound with an impressive pitch. For professionals, this is the guitar to use in concerts if you want to play lead on any song.
This particular guitar uses bronze strings and provides precise tuning. Also, being an electric acoustic guitar, it offers a built-in EQ and a preamp to provide a range of sounds that people around you will love to hear.
Unlike various guitars, this masterpiece comes up with a built-in truss rod that allows you to reduce string tension and adjustment of action. Along with it, the truss rod also helps you to avoid temperature-related shrinking of your guitar’s neck.
Lastly, this guitar comes with a proper guitar set that includes a backpack, strings set, capo, pick, tuner, owner’s manual, and much more. So, betting on this guitar is never a bad option.
Reasons to Buy
Reasons to Avoid
Takamine G Series GD30CE-12
For those who’re beginners and want to practice electric guitar, we suggest you bet on Takamine G Series GD30CE-12 Dreadnought acoustic-electric guitar. It is one of those guitars that helps you enjoy electric as well as acoustic guitar.
It is one of the best guitars for those who love the fusion of acoustic and electric guitar. Along with it, the best thing about this guitar is that it will not only fulfill your electric guitar needs but also provide you with a good instrument for learning.
The body and the back of this best cutaway 12-string acoustic-electric guitar are made up of Okoume, and the top of the guitar is crafted with Spruce. Moreover, Mahogany was used for manufacturing the neck of the guitar, and the fretboard was crafted using Rosewood.
The guitar comes up with a split saddle bone bridge for the provision of fresh, loud, and high-pitched sound. It must not go without mentioning that this epic guitar is for right-handed guitarists.
The body shape of the guitar is a dreadnought cutaway that provides it a classical and elegant look and attracts hundreds of eyes when played on stage. Also, the body has a gloss finish that offers extra beauty to this musical masterpiece. It must also not go without mentioning that this guitar is compatible with all types of amps and produces a natural sound when connected electrically or played normally.
Lastly, it is worth mentioning that this is one of those guitars that works perfectly as an electric and acoustic guitar and provides a finely fresh sound to the user and its audience. Those looking for an electric acoustic guitar must bet on this beauty from Takamine.
Reasons to Buy
Reasons to Avoid
Takamine GD30CE-12NAT
There is no better guitar than the Takamine GD30CE-12NAT dreadnought 12 strings guitar when we talk about the perfect electric acoustic guitar. It’s one of the Best beginners 12-string acoustic-electric guitars for mid-level guitarists who want to put their hands on the best electric acoustic guitar.
The guitar’s body and back material is made up of Mahogany, and for the top of the guitar, the manufacturer has used Spruce. This is the perfect back, body, and top combination that you will find in any good guitar. Along with it, for manufacturing the guitar neck, the company used Mahogany too, and for the fretboard, Rosewood was used.
Along with it, this is a right-hand-oriented guitar, and the pickup combination of this guitar is Piezoelectric which allows you to enjoy fine acoustic as well as electric guitar sound.
The bridge of this guitar is fixed, so one thing is sure you will not have to worry about bridge adjustment. Also, with a fixed bridge, there will be no need for everyday tuning, and you can enjoy finely tuned guitars for a longer duration.
Furthermore, the guitar has the Takamine TP-4TD preamp system, which offers the guitarist an impressive built-in tuner. The icing on the cake is that it also provides three-band EQ with gain controls that guarantee excellent amplified performance. It helps you to enjoy a perfect acoustic-electric sound.
Lastly, it is worth mentioning that along with an impressive feature, the glossy finish of the guitar put an extra feather in this guitar’s cap.
Reasons to Buy
Reasons to Avoid
Ibanez Artcore AS7312
There will not be a single guitar lover who does not know about Ibanez. It is one of the finest guitar producers famous for manufacturing pure electric guitar that performs perfectly at concerts, parties, and even at family gatherings.
And, this is one of the primary reasons why we’ve come up with the Ibanez Artcore AS7312 12-string guitar.
There are very few guitars on earth that are electric and come up with 12 strings, and this is one of those rarest guitars that produce amazing electrical sound and own 12 strings. The guitar comes up in pure red to provide you with a rock star image on the stage.
The body, top, and neck material of this guitar are made up of pure maple which adds some extra year to the beauty, quality, sound, and life of this guitar. The back and the fretboard of the guitar are made up of pure Rosewood, making this guitar a perfect example of quality manufacturing. So you can say that it’s the best maple 12-string acoustic-electric guitar.
Moreover, this is an H-type pickup configuration guitar that comes up with 12 strings. You must remember that this guitar is made for right-hand pickup. Lastly, on a lighter note, we must tell you that you should only get this guitar if your neighborhood also loves music.
Reasons to Buy
Reasons to Avoid
Buying Guide to Best 12 String Acoustic-Electric Guitars
If you are a beginner guitarist, then something that you need before betting on the best 12-string guitar is a compact yet informative buying guide. We value our readers, and for your ease, here we have crafted an informative, compact, and useful buying guide that will help you get your hands on some of the best 12-string guitars.
Follow the guide to the end to know every useful thing before getting an electric guitar.
The Material: A must-check thing
If you’re going to get an electric guitar, then one of the most important things to check is the material used for manufacturing the guitar. There are a lot of guitar manufacturers available in the market, but only a few use quality wood for producing the body of your electric guitar.
So, if you are in the market and have no experience with getting guitars, then the first thing you need to check is the wood type used for manufacturing the guitar. In the market, you will find thousands of guitars having top-notch qualities, but if the wood type is lousy, then we bet our lives that we are not going to have fun with your guitar.
We are telling this with our personal experience, not everyone is a born expert, and there was a time when we also got robbed choosing a guitar with low-quality wood and won’t believe it, but the guitar is still rotting in a corner. No one loves to play that guitar.
So, if you want to avoid such experiences, then we suggest you bet on a guitar built while using the best wood available in the market. For us, the best wood for manufacturing a guitar is Spruce.
It is the best quality wood that some of the top guitar manufacturers use for crafting high-end guitars. Hence, if you want to buy the best guitar from the market, bet on Spruce wood guitars.
Sound: You can never compromise it
Impressive sound quality is what compels us to spend thousands of dollars on a guitar. And, if the sound quality of the guitar is not good, then there is no need to spend even a single penny on that guitar.
If you get a guitar with poor sound quality, you’ll not be able to rock the audience. So what is the need to get such a guitar which produces poor sound, does not impress your audience and above all, it costs a lot.
Therefore, we suggest you always check the sound quality of your guitar, and this needs to be done using an amp. If this step is missed, you will regret getting a guitar. Even if you are getting a guitar online, ask the seller for a video sound review or ask your band members or your friends about the sound.
Also, you can get help from the user review section, and it will help you bet on the best 12 strings guitar available in the market. Hence, if you want to get one of the best guitars from the market, never forget the soundcheck. The durability of the guitar
Guitars are meant to last for years. For us, guitars are like our dogs. The affection, love, and sympathy we guitarists have for our guitars are unmatchable. We care for them even more than we care for ourselves. With that said, no guitarist would like their guitar to die.
But, there are some cases where a guitar dies within a year. We know it sounds sad, but this is what reality is.
Some of the guitar manufacturers available in the market do not care for guitarists’ emotions and produce low-quality guitars for capital gains, and these guitars do not even last for a year.
However, there are some amazing manufacturers that produce guitars that last for a lifetime. My current electric acoustic guitar turned ten last month, and believe me or not. It produces the same sound as it produced on the very first day of its production.
I have kept it with care and love, and I believe that if things do not go south, it will surely last a lifetime. So, if you want the guitar to last that long too, we ask you to bet on some of the renowned brands that value their customers and who really care about music.
This will help you avoid heartbreaks when your guitar dies.
Manufacturer: A must-follow thing
As mentioned earlier, a guitar manufacturer is one of the most important things to check when you are going to bet on a new expensive guitar. There are a lot of manufacturers that cost a lot and provide nothing in return.
Therefore, if you are getting your first guitar and want to get the best guitar, we suggest you bet on some of the known brands like Ibanez, Martins, Yamaha, and Les Paul.
These are some of the best guitar manufacturers that you can get from global marketplaces. And the reason for these brands to stand firm in the market is because they value their customers above money.
Though they are some of the most expensive guitar producers and sellers, trust our words that their guitars will last longer than you expect them to. We own Yamaha, Martins, and Les Paul, and all of them are performing impressively well.
So, for the quality of sound and longevity of your guitar, we ask you to bet either on renowned manufacturers or research a lot before betting on a new brand.
Compatibility
One of the most common issues that all of us guitarists face is our guitar’s compatibility with different amps and other musical instruments. If you have been to a concert’s soundcheck, you must know that tuning and setting a guitar is something that takes most of the time.
This is because most of the guitars are compatible with a certain type of amps and musical instruments, and their sound varies if you connect them to any other amp than the preferred one.
So, if you want to avoid such things, we suggest you get a guitar that is compatible with all types of amps and can produce impressive sound. It is one of the less cared things, but if you keep this thing in mind, it will help you avoid embarrassment in front of hundreds of people.
Price of the product
After going through the above portion of the article, you must be wondering that here we will ask you to bet thousands of dollars on a single guitar. But, things are not the same as they seem. Here I want you to understand that not every expensive guitar is amazing, and not every cheap guitar is lousy.
We own a guitar that costs only $100, but the sound it produces is huge, impressive, and loveable. So, here what you need to do is compare some guitars, check their specifications and the built quality, compare their prices and choose the one that comes up with the lowest prices with impressive quality and topnotch specifications.
We do not say that by this method, you will end up getting a guitar worth only a few dollars. What we mean is that by this method, you will be able to bet on the cheapest guitar with the best specification and built quality.
So, if you want to save some dollars, always follow this method before betting on any guitar.
Conclusion
For those who were looking for the best 12-string electric guitars under $1000, this article is no less than a treasure. Here you must have found everything that you need to know before betting on an electric or acoustic-electric guitar. No matter whether you’re an amateur or an experienced one looking for a new guitar, this is the article to follow.
Above, we have provided you with everything that you are required to understand and acknowledge before placing your hands on any guitar. This article is a proper, informative, and compact buying guide that you would certainly have required before betting on a new expensive guitar. If beginners have been through the guide, they will come to know a lot, and if you are an expert, you will certainly acknowledge everything written above.
Along with the buying guide, the article includes 7 of the best electric and electric-acoustic guitars that you will love to have in your music room. However, we know that there are some questions left in your mind, and they do need answers.
So, to answer those unanswered questions, we have brought a compact section of FAQs to help you find answers to your queries. However, if you have any particular questions related to the topic, do let us know. We’re available all the time to answer your queries.
Will it be easy to play the guitar having 12 strings?
To be precise, if you are a beginner and do not even know how to play a 6 string guitar properly, it will be a hell of a task for you to operate a 12 string guitar. A 12 string guitar is made for professionals who prefer a fuller, richer, and deep sound in concerts to engage their audience.
But, if you’re a beginner, we will never suggest you go for a 12 string guitar. It will not only be hard to play but, if you trust our words, we must tell you that playing a 12 string guitar will jeopardize your skills.
All in all, a 12 string guitar is not an easy instrument to play. Even some experts find it hard to play in their early days of jamming.
Can I use a 12 string guitar capo or 6 string guitar?
Certainly, you can. We know that there is a bit of difference in the neck width of a 6 string and a 12 string guitar, but the capo of a 12 string can perfectly serve on a 6 string guitar and vice-versa. Capos are already a bit bigger than the guitar neck, and this is why there is no issue while using a capo of 12 string guitar on a 6 string guitar.
It will not affect the sound quality, performance of the pitch of the guitar.
Do 12 string guitars possess a wider neck?
Indeed it does. On a 12 string guitar, to create enough space to accommodate all of the strings finely, the manufacturer increases its neck’s width by some millimeters. This is the only reason why its neck is large in width, and it is also the reason why it is harder to play a 12 string guitar than a 6 string one.
Can I get a Gibson 12 string guitar?
This is the most asked question, and there are a lot of misunderstandings as to whether or not Gibson produces 12 string guitars or not. So, the answer to this question is that you can surely get a Gibson 12 string guitar. The best thing about this is that Gibson offers the same build quality, same engineering, and sound quality, and durability as it offers for its 6 string guitars.
So, if you are a Gibson fan and want a 12 string guitar, then Gibson is available at your service.
s it possible to play a 6 string song on a 12 string guitar?
Yes, it is possible to play a 6 string guitar song on a 12 string guitar. But, for this, you need to have expertise in the arrangement of those notes. However, while playing technical and more complex music, it will be hard for you to play a 6 string guitar song on a 12 string guitar. Because, like a 6 string guitar, it is a bit hard to strum a 12 string guitar properly.
However, if you want to play a 6 string guitar song on lead, then it will be finely possible to play it on a 12 string guitar. In short, in some cases, it is possible to play a 6 string guitar song on a 12 string guitar.
