An acoustic guitar is simply a musical instrument in the classical guitar family. Its strings vibrate on a wooden resonator board with a thin metal resonator to send a vibration through the air to create a sound. The finger holes are single and do not play frets, so all the notes are produced at the same pitch as the strings to the guitar.
In the past the acoustic guitar sound was created by the instrument manufacturer winding each of the strings a little differently and pushing them slightly outward to create different octaves of sound. Now the manufacturers of machine tools that run various operations that cut the string, move it around to the right or left, and press it into place with metal filings that form the tone of the string. There are six strings on an acoustic guitar, and each string is tuned a different way. So they are referred to as individual strings.
So how do you know which instrument sounds best? This is a tough question. I tend to prefer an acoustic guitar over an electric guitar when I am listening to mainly instrumental music because the acoustic guitar has a more mellow sound to it. When I am listening to a band with a lead player who has a great touch and can play amazing solos I prefer an acoustic guitar. Sometimes it depends on where I am sitting. If I am sitting in a coffee shop or the park or in front of a fireplace and there are other instruments blaring away then the electric guitar will probably be my favorite.
One of the advantages of an acoustic guitar over an electric, acoustic guitar is that sometimes the strings are cut off at the factory, leaving just the top (or “cutaway”) frets. These frets are usually closer to the ground than the other six strings on an electric guitar so they are closer to the floor and less likely to break or damage easily. With a cutaway guitar I can freely reach above and play notes without worrying about damaging the frets. The only situation where a cutaway makes a difference is if the strings are too high (higher than the factory-installed cutaways).
The third advantage of acoustic guitars is that they are able to produce more melodic tones than their electric counterparts. For many acoustic guitarists, jazz is not their main genre, but many classical guitarists also have a fondness for jazz music. For these guitarists, the inability to play chords when using the frets on an acoustic makes playing jazz songs more difficult and boring than it could be on an electric guitar. As well, some classical guitarists who do play jazz prefer to learn finger style rather than chords.
There are three types of acoustic guitars: seven-string, five-string, and acoustic/electric hybrids. The most common acoustic guitars in the US are the seven-string and the five-string. Guitars six and seven-strings are becoming rarer because they are considered “frail” instruments by many guitarists. Five-string acoustic guitars are also growing in popularity.