A practical  guide on buying for your first, second, or long-term acoustic

If you are new to buying an acoustic guitar, or you are looking to buy your second one, things can get confusing fast. Body shapes, wood types, electronics, brand names, and price ranges all get thrown around, usually without much context.

I am not an acoustic guitar expert or collector. I do not own a wall of boutique acoustics. What I have done is make mistakes, learn from them, and figure out what actually matters for everyday players.

This article is written to help people who are in the same spot I have been in.

This comparison didn’t start as an attempt to find a “Gibson killer.”

It started with me coming back to guitar after roughly a 17 year break.

When I picked the guitar back up, I wasn’t very good and had, and still have, a busy schedule. Still, I made a conscious decision to take it more seriously and finally start writing and recording the music I always wanted to make. Like a lot of players returning to guitar later in life, I thought I knew what I wanted. I didn’t want to make music that immediately dated me, so I assumed modern meant higher output, sleeker specs, and more aggressive features without realizing that a lot of that gear is really aimed at modern metal, which isn’t what I’m trying to do.

I want to share my thoughts on the Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Les Paul Custom in Cobra Burst, specifically the Sweetwater exclusive version, not to be confused with the cheaper Guitar Center exclusive.

At first glance, this guitar looks killer. It has a quilted maple top and that dark, aggressive Cobra Burst finish that clearly takes inspiration from the limited-run Gibson Les Paul Customs from around 2017–2018.

I’d been hunting for a 2003 Fender Showmaster in Gloss Black for a while. When one popped up on eBay listed as “Good Condition overall,” I jumped on it.

The 2003–2009 Korean-made Showmasters aren’t the most expensive guitars, but they are somewhat rare. They feature 24 frets, a set neck, and dual humbuckers, which was a solid spec sheet for their era.

Every once in a while, you stumble across a guitar that feels like it slipped through the cracks. For me, that’s the Korean-made Fender Showmaster. Built at the Cort factory between roughly 2003 and 2009, these guitars pack in a ton of features that make you wonder why they never took off.

Having recently streamlined my guitar collection, I felt it was time to step up to an ESP E-II Eclipse. While the E-II series represents a higher price point, it's worth noting that the Korean-made LTDs offer exceptional quality for their price, a point I'll revisit later. My goal was to find something sleek, modern, and distinct from the Fishman equipped guitars I already owned

Recently, I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Prophecy I was impressed with, so I started exploring Gibson Les Paul’s again. Wanting a Gibson with modern features while having a more modern sound it led me to the Gibson Les Paul Modern and Supreme series. However, with the price tag of $3,000 to $4,000 or more new, I found myself hesitant to take the plunge. Could there be a Gibson Modern killer lurking in a more affordable package?