[vmorrissette]

Alright, this might be a dumb question, but I don't see why people buy acoustic/electirc guitars (yes, I know that's technically not a question). The one's I have fiddled around with in the past do not have that great of a sound quality (compared to real acoustics). I know there are definately some benefits, so I was wondering if someone would share them and enlighten me.

I was also wondering how they work... I could always wikipedia it, but people from this site are always so much better at explaining from a player's point of view which is always more helpfull than "Invented in 19xx the blah blah was the first...."

Thanks again.

[torontodave]

An acoustic electric guitar is basically an acoutsic guitar with a pickup and electronics that allow you to plug it into an amp and play, like an electric. They are very popular now, but alot of people will tell you that just a mic'd regular acoustic will sound alot better than an acoustic/electric through an amp. To get a good plugged in sound, youll need a proper acoustic amp, and theyre not cheap.

[annoying_2001]

i've got an acoustic/electric dean exotica dao.

i don't use the electric portion. i bought the guitar because it looked great. the sound is pretty good too, but, looking back on it....i still would've gotten that guitar over a straight up acoustic in the price, because i love it.

i was, at the time, getting prepared to do some gigging, so i figured having the electric option would help, but i've never used it.

[matt_theripper]

I've never noticed a huge difference in sound between the two.

[tape's]

I have one, A/E...

It's a cutaway version, and yeah..it's not like the ordinary non-c acoustic guitars, it sounds quite thin and i have to play it around the neck to get a half-assed full sound.

But plugged in, it sounds wonderful as any acoustic guitars i've heard, and i got full access to 21 frets.

My A/E serves me not as well for my current situation (i don't gig, not planning to for a long time and i don't even own an A/E amp) it's very tough to play, so it might be good for just practicing on it, but it doesn't matter that much.

If i were to gig again and have to go places for rehersal, demo and whatever, A/E would serve me better then a non-cutaway acoustic guitar. The power of full natural acoustics combined with state of the art electronic technology is superior than a pure acoustic imho.