Spruce top, mahogany back and sides, fast-playing neck, electronics and more, all for well under $200
Boroughs Guitars might be a new entry in the acoustic marketplace, but the New York-based company is making a name for itself as one of the hottest affordable brands for just-starting-out players, with six models of acoustic and acoustic-electric guitars and two ukuleles boasting high-quality construction and design at entry-level prices.
Just ask guitar ace Pete Thorn, who recently took the company’s new B30ACENT Auditorium acoustic-electric for a test drive.
“When I got this guitar I didn’t realize it actually sells for $159,” he says in the above demo video. “I think when I got my first guitar back in the early ‘80s it was more than that. But you heard it on the song at the beginning of this video, and it sounds as good as a guitar maybe three times that price. That’s my honest assessment.”
Borough’s goal, he continues, “is to present guitars at reasonable prices that are quite high-quality and well-made.” And to be sure, the B30ACENT has some really cool features, especially for the low price.
(Image credit: Boroughs Guitars)
For starters, you get a spruce top, mahogany back and sides and an environmentally-friendly Techwood fingerboard. “There’s also some nice touches, like sealed 15:1 tuners,” Pete says. “And the Auditorium body style is a little smaller than a dreadnought, so it’s really nice for kids or players who are smaller in stature. It’s easier to get around on.”
Other appointments include a headstock “designed specifically to have a relatively straight string pull, which helps with tuning,” a NuBone nut and saddle, and and a pickup and preamp system built-in with a tuner and phase switch. What’s more, the B30ACENT ships with D’Addario coated strings, so it’s ready to go, right out of the box.
As for how it plays and sounds?
“Really darn good,” Pete says. “It’s got a fast-playing neck that I would classify as being on the narrow side, with more of a C shape. So it should be really comfortable in medium-to-smaller hands.”
In summary, he continues, the B30ACENT boasts “Easy action and easy playability, it sounds good, it tunes up great and has lots of nice features. Thanks, Boroughs, for making a nice instrument at a nice price point.”
To check out the B30ACENT for yourself, head to Adorama.
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