The electric acoustic guitar is a unique entry in the field of guitars, precisely because it’s a little difficult to define. If you’ve ever used an electric guitar, you know that it’s not in the same ballpark as an acoustic, and vice versa. So how exactly do the two meet in the middle, and what kind of sound does an electric acoustic guitar create?

Defining the Electric Acoustic Guitar

An electric guitar is easier to define because of its reliance on electronics and sound equipment in order to generate its full sound. Likewise, an acoustic guitar is a guitar that relies strictly on the sound it generates – without any plugins – to play to the ear of the listener. So if the two types of guitars are so different, where does an electric acoustic guitar come in?

Quite simply, an electric acoustic guitar is an acoustic guitar that is “rigged” up in order to modify and enhance the sound an otherwise acoustic guitar would generate. (If you want to see one in action, check out this YouTube video).

A good way of looking at an electric acoustic guitar is to imagine an acoustic guitar hooked up in the same was an electric guitar. It’s still capable of producing acoustic sounds, but it can also generate sounds an electric guitar wouldn’t be equipped for.

Elements of the Electric Acoustic

If you’re separating guitars by types, then you’d want a new category devoted to the electric acoustic. Why? Isn’t the electric acoustic just a glorified acoustic? As you saw in the video, this isn’t the case: an electric acoustic is instead equipped specifically for plug-in capabilities.

These capabilities include elements like transducers, microphones, and pickups. An electric acoustic guitar is capable of plugging into speakers without the need for microphones, which is essentially what makes it an “electric” acoustic in the first place.

How much do Electric Acoustic Guitars Cost?

After a quick search on Google, you’ll find that an electric acoustic guitar will generally run you around several hundred dollars – if you’re paying much less, then you’re probably buying it used or even possibly being scammed out of some money. When you look for electric acoustic guitars you can purchase, make sure that you order them with all of the equipment you’d expect from a guitar that’s plugin-ready. Don’t settle for anything less and you’ll soon find that you have a unique sound that many guitarists haven’t even pursued!