New Acoustic Advice

Well if it was me I'd shot for a seagull s6 with Q1 electronics. These run $499 usually but with 20% off it'd put you at $400. IMO they're hard to beat for the money. Anouther option would be the Takamine G340 acoustic electric.

I'd agree with the Takamine recommendations... I bought a EG561C 6 string cutaway with a TK4 pick up for about 400.00 @ Guitar Center after a fair amount of haggling. It has great action and great soung unplugged or plugged.

One of my more reasonably priced guitars is a Tanglewood T145 12 string which is fantastic. Well made, great sound, easy action. Can't imagine the 6 string would be any different.

My son has a Ibanez Talman which is a small bodied electro acoustic. This guitar is awesome for it's size. It plays beautifully. Plugged in it beats most electro acoustics I've played, apart from my Taylor.

Any of the guitars mentioned by the other chaps are well worth a look at.

You could also try Simon & Patrick or as Zurf mentions, a low end Taylor (same great sound and playability but without the expensive glitz)

You really have to play the guitar for a while before you choose.

OK Chordians, I think we done good.  Looked on line to see what Guitar Center carries, etc--checked out some Harmony Central reviews as well.
I had my eye on an Epiphone Masterbuilt AJ-500; solid wood construction / bone nut & saddle, etc.--nice guitar.
Usually go for $450-500 ish.  I told Kyle if we could grab one for $360-375, would be a good deal.  So we get there 7:30, the line is already 30 feet long & was a heck of a lot longer than that when the doors opened at eight.  Bunch of musicians up at 7:30; it was not a pretty crowd that's for sure. So we high tail it back to the acoustic room--and on a stand, right by the door was THE guitar--WITH A DOORBUSTER SALE TAG ON IT.  Marked down from $499 to $299, and got 20% off on top of that--so he spent $240 on  very nice insturment.  Had enough for a hard shell case & strap as well.  All-in-all, a VERY good day.  I played a Seagull and  LOVED it--I actually preferred a Seagull artist series, but Kyle fell in love with this epi.  No Washburn's to speak off--no Tanglewoods either...couple very nice Parkwood's, but they were out of our price range.  And just for fun, I plugged a Les Paul into a nice Marshall combo and played that baby for an hour or so.  I stayed until they ran out of free coffee and donuts....you think I'm kidding, but that's the truth.  Les Paul. Marshal.  Free coffee.  Free donuts.  It was a good day.

Cool.  My sister's had an Epiphone Masterbuilt acoustic that she's played for the past thirty years and it still has better sound than most guitars twice the price.  Good buy!!!

Sounds like the store manager knew what to do.  If you're going to get musicians out of bed before the crack of noon, offering free food is definitely the way to prevent riots.

- Zurf