You best bet is to own one of each.
Most professional guitarists have at least one acoustic and one electric guitar.
But not everyone can afford that.
Nor does it make much sense, if you primarily play electric and only need an acoustic occasionally.
That’s when it pays to know how to make an electric guitar sound acoustic.
It’s not all that easy to get it right and it will take some experimentation.
But if you follow the guide below, you’ll get there.
Table of Contents
How To Make An Electric Guitar Sound Acoustic
Making an electric guitar sound acoustic involves a number of different steps that each helps you get a little closer. Do them all and keep playing with the settings and you’ll get it.
Step 1: Upgrade To Thicker Strings
Acoustic guitars can’t rely on electrics to amplify the volume (and shape) of their tone, so it’s only natural that they’re usually equipped with fairly thick strings. If you want to emulate an authentic acoustic guitar tone, the first thing you can do is buy a more acoustic-like set of strings.
The type of strings you choose should be mainly influenced by the kind of tone you are chasing. Steel works best for me, but if you’re looking for a more manageable sound (especially if you’re recording), I recommend aluminum-bronze strings instead.
Steer clear of nylon unless you are purposefully going for a classical guitar emulation.
As a general rule of thumb, the average difference in string thickness between acoustic vs electric guitar strings is around 0.02 inches. In other words, you should go for heavy-gauge 12s for your electric axe, if you want to come close to the light-medium 12s in the acoustic realm.
Step 2: Experiment With The EQ settings
All musicians play differently, so there’s not one universal EQ setting that can give you a plausible acoustic guitar tone on your electric guitar.
Some of my friends say that they need to cut off all the bass completely and crank up the highs to achieve a proper acoustic tone, but you don’t need to do this, if you’re playing accurately.
I usually start with a balanced EQ setting. T then I roll the lows, mids, and highs to the lower end and observe the difference. I then turn the sliders up and compare the results.
Your guitar’s sonic signature should match the desired frequencies before you get to the fine-tuning part, so experiment with different setups.
Step 3: Record Your Optimal Acoustic Guitar Tone
You don’t need to go into a studio and professionally record the tone you’re after. Pick up an acoustic guitar you like, or play an existing recording of it on any music streaming service, and record this tone on your phone.
After tweaking your EQ pedal, strum your electric guitar a few times and play the recording of the acoustic tone you’re looking for. Observe how the two stack up, and make a mental note of the differences.
I believe it’s important that this becomes a third step in the process. Otherwise, you may fall into the trap of overanalyzing your electric and acoustic tones before you even start.
Make subtle changes to your EQ if needed, but don’t go overboard. You’ll get to change your tone even further through the following steps, which will introduce new changes to the EQ.
Step 4: Add Subtle Reverb To The Chain
The acoustics of an electric guitar behave significantly dissimilar to the real thing. That’s why you’ll need to artificially set up an authentic environment in which your electric guitar tone can soar as if it were an acoustic one.
Any reverb is better than none, but if you can afford a quality pedal, I recommend investing in Ableton’s Convolution Reverb pedal. It’s extremely difficult to tell it apart from real-world acoustic reverb, but it does cost quite a bit.
If your budget is limited, I recommend choosing any analog-type reverb. Types like “room”, “chamber”, and “hall” tell you which space they’re designed to emulate, so pick according to your preferences.
Digital reverbs can be good, but since you’re chasing an acoustic sound, they’ll electrify your tone unnecessarily.
Step 5: Upgrade To Piezo Pickups
If everything you’ve done so far bore little fruit, your guitar might be a bit too electric for acoustic tones. The good thing is that you don’t have to buy a completely different guitar. You can simply purchase another set of pickups that are more suited for the job.
I should emphasize the importance of choosing a Piezo-style pickup that is designed for an electric guitar. Piezo magnets and bridges come in all shapes and sizes, and some of them are exclusively usable with acoustic guitars.
LR Baggs, Fishman, and Skysonic offer some of the best Piezos on the current market, but if you’re short on cash, tons of entry-level models can get you closer to your desired tone, too.
Step 6: Tweak Your Amp’s Settings
Some people prefer to set their amp and then their guitar. I do it in reverse order because I want my instrument to be set as close to perfection as possible before the amplifier colors its sound.
Some guitar amps are basic and won’t allow you to transform an electric tone into an acoustic one. If you’re using a low-cost amp with a simple 3-band EQ, the only thing I can recommend is paying extra attention to how your guitar’s own EQ is set with the pedal effect.
One of my first serious guitar amps was a humble 20w Peavey Vypyr. It has tons of preset tones and models. More importantly, it also packs dozens of effects and sliders that can help you shape the acoustic tone you want.
Regardless of which amp you are using, it is imperative to completely eliminate all incoming gain. This is, sadly, impossible on many amps (some have naturally distorted tones), but strive to keep it as low as you can.
Step 7: Keep Testing And Experimenting
The only way to truly attain an acoustic tone on an electric guitar is to record your electric guitar and operate it until the desired effect is achieved. Even then you’ll only get a sample that will probably sound different as soon as you switch amps and playing gear.
That’s why my last advice is to keep experimenting with the steps I listed above until you find the golden formula. When you can, invest in better pedals, guitar parts, and possibly even a better guitar that can offer better cleans.
In a nutshell, upgrade to thicker strings and Piezo pickups, get at least decent reverb and EQ pedals, and always keep comparing your tone to the one you’re after.
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