Fender Stratacoustic / Telecoustic anyone?

[sundaypunch]

OK, so I did a search and the word "Stratacoustic" has never been mentioned once in the history of the Gear Page. Probably not a good sign for my question. :p

I already have a very nice acoustic. I'm looking for a super cheap thinline acoustic / electric that I can take to an open mic. night or party. It just has to be reasonably playable and be able to be plugged into an amp and produce a sound somwhat like an acoustic guitar. I have seen the < $200 Fender Stratacoustic and Telecoustic. They appear to have mixed reviews. Has anyone here played one? I'm not expecting them to sound like a $1k guitar. Any other recommendations are appreciated (ala the Kramer Ferrington, etc. )

Thanks in advance.

[vampwizzard]

For an open mic night situation Fender Stratocustics or whatever they are called work pretty well. Thier plugged in tone is very decent for the money you are paying. It is neck heavy, and the unplugged sound has something left to be desired, but since you are going into an amp i dont see a problem.

[Old Tele man]

...another "Thumbs Up!"

...I've played & compared the Fender Teleacoustic ($300) to my Ovation (electric-acoustic) Viper ($1400) and it's very good...it certainly plays and sounds much, MUCH better than 1/5th of the Ovation's cost...in fact, I'd put the value/cost ratio closer to 60-70%!

[sundaypunch]

Jeez, I'm going to have to break down and get one now. :)

[boog204]

i've played a few stratacoustics at gc and i personally thought they were horrid. to me they just felt weird, sounded tinny, and played very poorly (could of been gc's fault). sorry to rain on the parade, but i really disliked it.

[Old Tele man]

...and that's WHY "Mother Nature" makes blonds, brunettes, and redheads -- something for differing tastes -- can't please everybody with just one model (woman or guitar)!

[boog204]

oh absolutely... if it speaks to you, beautiful. it would be a nice, comfy, low cost alternative for live playing. just didn't work for me.

[drbob1]

It's funny, they're pretty much a dead on rip-off of the Ferrington that Kramer made in the late 80s. Whether being "vintage" makes the Kramer cooler or not-they all sound decent, lots of piezo quack but no worse than a lot of higher dollar guitars sound with amplification. And they do have a more electric neck so they can be set up to play pretty nicely.

[sundaypunch]

Originally posted by drbob1
It's funny, they're pretty much a dead on rip-off of the Ferrington that Kramer made in the late 80s. Whether being "vintage" makes the Kramer cooler or not-they all sound decent, lots of piezo quack but no worse than a lot of higher dollar guitars sound with amplification. And they do have a more electric neck so they can be set up to play pretty nicely.

It's funny that you post this. In looking for a Stratacoustic I ended up purchasing a Ferrington (I won't admit that outside of this thread though :) )

It's not going to make me get rid of my Galloup acoustic but is perfect for what I need it for. On the plus side the back and sides are wood rather than plastic and I'm into it for even less than a used Stratacoustic.
http://users.power-net.net/~mkl9600/ferrington.jpg