Sound acoustically with an electric guitar

Requirements for acoustic sound on electric guitars

• First of all: even with the best effects devices and conditions, it is not possible to make an electric guitar sound exactly like an acoustic guitar. However, effects are absolutely sufficient for live music; After all, in the studio you can still fall back on a real acoustic guitar.

• A good alternative to electric guitars is, by the way, to play an acoustic guitar with an electric pickup over effects devices and thus, for example, to distort it. However, in addition to the look of an electric guitar, many musicians naturally prefer the lower strings of electric guitars, especially since an acoustic guitar itself still sounds relatively warm even if it is distorted.

• It is also possible to retrofit electric guitars with so-called piezo pickups, which are available from music and electronics stores for as little as a few cents. In addition to the pickups on the electric guitar, very good results can be achieved if you also use a pre-amp.

• However, pure electric guitars with a single-coil pickup on the bridge - e.g. B. the legendary Fender Stratocaster - sound almost as realistic as acoustic guitars. However, you definitely need effects devices for this.

Acoustic sound with electrical effects

• One of the best effects devices for acoustic sound on electric guitars is this Boss AC-3. The compact floor pedal offers four simulation modes: standard acoustic guitar, jumbo body, enhanced and piezo.


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• Other manufacturers like Line6 have interesting products in their range that can digitally reproduce a wide variety of sounds. These multi-effects devices are particularly suitable for sound experiments and for approaching the ideal, personal guitar sound.

• For many musicians, effects devices in connection with full-body guitars are only a bad compromise, which can never achieve the sound of acoustic guitars completely convincingly.

Guitar alternatives to the pure electric guitar

• If you want to elicit acoustic sound from an electric guitar without effects devices, hybrid instruments that combine acoustic and electrical properties might be something for you. Both semi-acoustic guitars and Archtops like the Epiphone ES-335 PRO as well as electric guitars with acoustic pickups like the Epiphone Les Paul Ultra-II are good instruments in the lower price segment; There are of course no upper limits to the prices.

• The Line 6 Variax is an electric guitar that is designed to sound like many different guitars and also like an acoustic guitar through built-in effects. For the ideal acoustic effect, however, it is advisable to play the guitar through an acoustic and not an electric guitar amplifier.

• The guitars of the American manufacturer Parker Guitars are also through modern construction methods and unusual materials like fiberglass designed to take advantage of electrical and acoustic instruments too associate.