I've played a long time, and I have never seen the guitar market so saturated with great value guitars. A little while back I played a Yamaha Fg800 with concert style body (perfect size for someone learning) and I was blown away by the performance and features on this $199 guitar. Solid spruce top, with scalloped bracing and a very nice gloss finish. It sounded good, and played like butter too. If I were shopping for a 12 year old learning to play acoustic guitar, this would be my pick. There is no better value. They also offer different finishes, such as natural or sunburst. All for the same price. They are not acoustic/electric, but for learning they are just about perfect. I highly recommend taking a look at the Yamaha.
Here's a link...It is the Guitar Center site, but these can be had at a number of different places, such as Ken Stanton. I only post this link because it has 35 reviews.
