Austin AU341S

Austin AU-341S Acoustic Guitar. Made in China. 20 frets, chrome plated plastic tuners, plastic bridge and pins. The fretboard is made out of some sort of wood...I actually think it's plastic painted black, and white fret dots were splatted on with white paint. Has a spruce top, definately not a solid spruce top though. The back and sides looked like mahogany or oak or something. Not quite sure.

A very bare-bones no features budget grade acoustic guitar. Just like any other cheaply made acoustic spit out from the budget line.

I play anything from hard rock, alternative rock, ambient soundscaping, noise making, sigur ros, etc. This doesn't have any electronics so I just played it unplugged.

The sound, if I remember correctly was pretty dull. It had this big boomy bass that drowned out everything else. An open G chord sounded like a car wreck, I can't really describe it, but it was like BLUNGGGG. The two middle strings screamed boomy midrange, the top two strings were overwhelmed with bass, and the two bottom strings did not ring out very well at all. The only time it sounded good was when I tuned it down to DGCFAD. That's a super low tuning, so the bass was dominant anyways. Otherwise, It didn't sound good mic'd, it didn't sound good on recordings, it was just a poor excuse for an instrument pretty much. Don't have it anymore.

The top of the guitar had seen its better days, there was a nice share of dings and dents, finish flaws, paint chips, wood gashes, etc. It was a beater.

The action was pretty poor. If you checked the action by looking across the board straight, the fingerboard was a bit warped and the strings did not line up. Intonation was okay, for the most part, but the high E string started to hang off the board around the seventh fret. The action was really high, not as high as SOME guitars, but high enough to get your fingers and wrists aching after 20 minutes of playing time. I had to learn on this thing. At least some kids get to learn on half-decent guitars like Squier Stratocasters. This thing was a monster to play.

I wouldn't take it to a gig, because the sound is just too muddy and sounds bad. The guitar would probably hold up, as long as I wasn't throwing it into the crowd. The guitar was extremely light though, which scared me, it was about 3 pounds lighter than my other acoustic, but that one has solid wood and REAL wood. It seemed to hold up for bedroom playing fine though.

No Opinion...

When I got sick of the instrument, I tried returning it to the pawn shop I bought it from. I claimed I bought it there for over a hundred dollars, and you know what they said they'd give me for it? FIFTEEN DOLLARS. What a rip! I traded it for an Ernie Ball Mono Volume pedal, which I now sold that, and with the extra cash I threw a down payment on a Big Baby Taylor.

With that aside, it was my first acoustic and my mom bought it for me as a birthday present. I learned on that, and even though my fingers hurt so bad, I kept at it...trying and trying and trying. The inspiration that I learned one new chord every couple days kept me at it, and now I play all over the place. I wouldn't recommend this guitar to anyone though, since there is so much more out there now than this. You can buy an entry level squier affinity stratocaster for less than $75 on eBay, get a little 10 watt amp for maybe $10-$15, and you're set. Then after you learn on that, you can start buying your Marshall stacks and your Gibson Les Pauls, your Taylor 310s, your Fender '52 Reissue Telecasters, and your Record Contract.

This acoustic was almost a nightmare to learn on, because of the action, but if I can do it, you can too. Just don't pay more than $50 for this piece, it's not worth it!!

God Bless!

I've had this guitar for about 9 months and I figured I better post a review on this damn thing. Austin AU341S Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar. Solid spruce top, 20 frets, made somewhere between 1994-97. This is an American-made guitar (Austin, TX I believe), and retails for about $130.00. This is a fairly standard guitar, made for a beginner, or I guess if you like this guitar, it is playable for more experienced players as well. The top is made of spruce, or so they say...whatever it is, it's an awful thin layer. The back and sides are made of some other wood (beats me). The fingerboard is painted black, I don't know what kind of wood it is but my guess is that it's alder or maple...something like that. Not very many features here. A very basic, standard guitar.

The sound on this guitar won't impress a professional, but it won't make a little kid cry either. After getting my Yamaha FG-412S Acoustic Guitar, I realized how flat sounding and narrow this guitar sounds. The sound doesn't carry very far. This is basically a gutiar to chord around with, when you're just getting started. Once you get more advanced and start writing solos and stuff, you'll want to upgrade to a nicer, fuller acoustic. And trust me, nothing fits your emotions like a warm fuzzy THICK acoustic sound. Too bad this doesn't give off that fuzzy feeling. I wouldn't recommend this for backyard barbeques or any events. Unless it's backyard wrestling, in which case you can use it to hit your opponent with. I guess you can't really beat the price though.

I bought this guitar used, with a few knicks here and there, but otherwise it was alright. What makes me feel uncomfortable about this guitar is that it is underweighted...and as I stated earlier in my review, the top is very thin, hence the poor sound quality. I don't use this guitar as often now since getting my Yamaha. The tuning pegs seem solid, but this guitar is hard to tune. It doesn't come out of tune often, but when it's time to tune it, you're spending 5-10 minutes to tune it...which is ridiculous. The wood seems standard for a cheaper guitar, and the fretboard is a bit weak, but the headstock is sturdy and the bridge is nice.

Would I gig with it? Definately not. This is a beginner's acoustic, although a musician of any stature could use it. The finish seems to be cheaper. It's not as shiny as other acoustics, but I guess I can't complain. It never bothered me when I was first learning how to play. The fingerboard however has become weak over the course of a few months of my playing. I've also noticed the wood in the fretboard has deteriorated, and there are indentions in the wood. Not good, but I guess I should have clipped my fingernails more often. Would I depend on this guitar? It just depends...heh...I'm such a joker *raises gun* *bang*! It depends on what you want to use it for. If it's for bedroom playing and practicing, I would depend on it. If it were to play in front of more than 2 or 3 people, I wouldn't reccomend this.

Haven't had to deal with the company.

I've been playing for about 10 months and I have a Yamaha FG-412S Acoustic Guitar, the Austin (mentioned above), and a Gibson Ventura SG Electric Guitar from '73. I also have a Kustom 250 Amp and all of the accessories (pedals, capos, picks, etc). If this were stolen or lost, I doubt I would purchase another. I wish this guitar had more features and better sound and reliability. It's a beginner's guitar at a cheap price, so what can you ask for?