Stanford D5M

Made in the Czech Republic in the Furch factory. Unsure as to the year of manufacture. Dreadnought with solid spruce top with lots of quality cross-silking, solid mahogany back & sides with three piece Taylor like neck with heel portion and finger-jointed headstock. Beautiful gloss finish and satin neck with Gotoh vintage tuners (just like Waverleys). Rosewood bridge pins and end strap button, very small dot inlays on the fretboard and herringbone and tortoise body binding. Semi-wide 44.5mm nut width with nice airy string spacing. A beautiful vintage vibe going on with this thing similar to a pre-war Martin D18. Saved ??150 on the purchase price as these are no longer built.

Superb open sounding with plenty of ringing sustain. After only a few days of ownership, I can already detect the sound opening out with bass notes sounding deeper and clearer. If you like the sound of mahogany Taylors, this could be the guitar for you at half the price. It lacks the overall low end of a rosewood guitar, something that I was originally looking for, but the D5M is so much clearer, brighter and better balanced across all the frequencies. I'll sound like acoustic heaven in 10 years time !!!

The shop I purchased from said they were going to do a full set-up on it to my liking but I suspect this hasn't been the case due to a small amount of string (presumably from a hang-tag) still looped round the top E string. The action is spot on for me, although going any lower would be impossible as there's virtually no saddle left to take down. I also think the tusq nut is cut slightly too high as some effort is required to fret the unwound B string in the lower positions. I'll get this seen to which should result in a near-perfect set up for my playing needs.

I've no reason to suspect that STAN won't be up to playing live and I do tend to look after my guitars. I'm going to have B-Band electronics installed to enable powered playing with my band. The guitar is feather-light (as any good acoustic should be) but I don't think that will be an issue as to its durability. The vintage Gotoh Waverley like tuners are very solid with no play whatsoever. I'll also get a neck strap button fitted too. I'll have to gig without a backup as I don't own another acoustic.

I've emailed the Furch shop and factory twice now to advise them of the serial no. and request a few details, but so far no reply has been forthcoming. I suspect Stanfords are no longer made as there is no working link to them on the Furch website. It seems they have been re-branded as Stonebridge Guitars so might try them.

I've been playing for about 10 years now and wanted a proper acoustic that I could learn to play properly. Part exchanged a very nice but overbuilt Takamine EAN16C (primarially used for live work) for this guitar but the Stanford is by far a superior guitar and one that should age and mellow beautifully given time. If you are looking for a pro-quality dreadnought, don't have the money for a Taylor / Martin and you can find one, then get a STANFORD. I'm happy in the knowledge that this Stanford will probably be my last ever acoustic purchase, it's that good !!!

I own a 2002 Model which was made in Tschechien.
The guitar features a solid sitka spruce top, and mahagony sides and back, solid too.
The Neck is rosewood.
The Tuners are Vintage Licking from the manufacturer Gotoh.

The sound of the guitar is very rich and bright.
It sounds warm and brilliant like a martin!

The used wood is of a high qalitiy and looks fantastic.

You can play the guitar wherever!

I don't need it this time!

The Stanford D5M is the best guitar i ever played at this price region.
It reaches the standard of a martin guitar.(it looks also like a d-18)