I love the guitar because it is an instrument financially accessible to all. For many of us, we started on a "Kapok" or "TGM" brand beater guitar and this allowed us to get our basic chops down when we were financially strapped as students. This got me wondering, at the day and age, for less than 200SGD, are there any other better choices out there for budget-minded Singaporeans who just want to get something to strum their troubles away in their free time? After dedicating a day to shopping around Singapore for a good guitar under 200 that one would not be afraid to keep in the office for practicing during lunch time, the answer is Yes.

Different people hear tone differently, and so for good measure I got two friends who were kind enough to come along for the trip, Starving Musician #1 and Starving Musician #2. For each guitar, each of us gave our opinions on it. Basically, the three main guitar areas in Singapore were visited, Bras Basah Shopping Complex, Excelsior Hotel and Park Lane area. The hard criteria was that the guitar had to be under 200 SGD, after typical store discounts. No attention was paid to salesmen attitudes when trying out the guitars - the important thing was that the guitar had to be the best possible bang for the buck for under 200.

RECOMMENDED GUITARS

Protege DG1032 - Recommended

Tried at : Maestro Guitars @ Parklane Shopping Mall

Price : 100++ SGD

Pier - Low action, bright full tone, nice for fingerstyle and strumming if you want a dreadnought. Good looks too in a variety of sunburst colours.

Starving Musician #1 - Action is low but might be too low as feels a bit "flappy", nice tone

Starving Musician #2 - No comments.

J&D DGSOLO Recommended

Tried at : Ranking Sports @ Bras Basah Shopping Complex

Price : 100++ SGD

Pier - Bright, jangly when strummed. Slightly less full than Protege DG1032 in tone. Low action which was very comfortable to play. The spruce top version sounded much better than the cedar top version.

Starving Musician #1 - Nice snappish tone. Low action.

Starving Musician #2 - This is the one I like most out of the whole lot. Bright tone and low action.

Greg Bennett D1 Recommended

Tried at : Davis Guitar @ Excelsior Hotel

Price : 100++ SGD

Pier - Feels warm and full, balanced sound. Action is pretty low. The headstock is pretty, gives a feeling of quality.

Starving Musician #1 - Fuller sounding than J&D DGSOLO

Starving Musician #2 - No comment.

Tanglewood DBT Discovery Deluxe F Recommended

Tried at : TY Music Center @ Excelsior Hotel

Price : 100++ SGD

Pier - Fell in love with this one the moment I started playing. Great for fingerstyle at this price point. Tone is on the bright side and volume is pretty good. I brought this one home.

Starving Musician #1 - It sounds good with low action. Good balance between warmth and jangly-ness. And Pier was grinning when he started playing on it!

Starving Musician #2 - No comment.

CONCLUSION

All in all, we tried many guitars below 200 but the above are the ones that stood out, providing excellent value for little money. The rest were either average sounding or had problems like buzzing fretboards or overly-high action. As you can see, this author went back with the Tanglewood, but the J&D appealed more to the other reviewers. It shows that even among the sub-200 range, there are some hidden gems to be found.

There are really pretty many choices out there for the budget-minded guitarist out there in Singapore - if you are willing to stretch your budget a little further from below 200 SGD to below 400SGD, you will have much, much more to choose from. But that is another article, for another day.

If you have a guitar that you bought new for under 200 SGD and you feel that it should be on the list, we would like to hear from you using the comments box below.

Pier Lim

Play Guitar Singapore Reviewer