Welcome to the section of our 2022 Buyer’s Guide that is devoted to the craft and finesse of acoustic guitars. Unlike the electric guitars in the preceding pages, we haven’t broken the selection up into separate price bands but put our choices into ascending price order in one convenient place. Before plunging in, however, we thought it might be helpful to refresh your mind about the major types of acoustic guitar and the tonewoods they’re made of – as these details dictate so much about the sound and performance of the instrument.
DREADNOUGHT
The most easily identifiable acoustic body shape is the dreadnought – based on the classic Martin D-28 (rosewood body) and D-18 models (mahogany body) that were first built in the early 30s, though there were earlier precedents for the shape. Dreadnoughts typically have a broad-shouldered body over 15 inches wide at its broadest point and over four inches in depth. This results in a bassrich, sometimes boomy voice ideal for strumming but often surprisingly capable at fingerstyle, too. Martin-derived dreadnoughts have square shoulders (where the body meets the neck), whereas some Gibson-built acoustics, such as the classic J-45, have rounder shoulders in their traditional form. Both these styles of dreadnought are characterised by a good level of volume with abundant bottom-end.
000/OM
Ever the innovator, US guitar-maker Martin pioneered the hourglass-shaped 000 model in 1902, from which the even more influential Orchestra Model (OM) was later derived. The triple-0 originally had a body 15 inches wide in the lower bout, while the neck met the body at the 12th fret and it also
