Stanford OM5

Handmade OM sized guitar manufactured by Stanford / Furch (www.furch.cz) in Czech republic in 2005. Identical in size, but slightly deeper than a Martin OM. 20 frets, 14 to body. 1 3/4" wide neck, 25 1/2" scale. Scalloped X-bracing. Solid bookmatched AAA Spruce top, solid rosewood sides, solid bookmatched rosewood back all beautifully finished in an aged toner and gloss laquer. 3 piece satin mahogony neck with rosewood fingerboard and rosewood faced headstock. Rosewood bridge, Tusq saddle, rosewood end pin. Herringbone binding to top and rear and soundhole rosette. Small alabone dot fret markers and alabone "S" insert to the headstock. Slotted vintage style headstock with closed butterbean tuners. Case not included. This guitar has every feature that a vintage style Martin has at a fraction of the price.

Incredible..... the best sounding acoustic guitar I have ever played in 23 years of playing. Comparable to a cross between a really nice vintage rosewood Martin 000 and an Martin OM. It has that crystal clear bell like quality that only rosewood and spruce can give and is perfectly balanced with a rich warm bass. Has the most resonance and sustain I have ever heard in an acoustic guitar...... a fingerpickers and flatpickers dream and none too sloppy for some light strumming. For blues and dropped D tunings it excels. Forget you Santa Cruz, Collings, Larrivee, Martin etc.... this guitar is awesome, at a fraction of the price.

Finish is perfect, bookmatching, binding and inlays all perfect, the bridge neck an frets all perfect. Cannot be faulted. Action is medium, without a buzz in sight and could easily come way down if required.

Has stood up perfectly. I played a gig in fairly cold weather the other day, my Taylor 514c develoed a couple of horrendous checking cracks as a result, whereas the Stanford is still perfect. It stays in tune perfectly and never misses a beat. Finish is thick and glossy to the body and despite the body binding getting knocked about it has never marked or split anywhere, the satin on the neck is holding up well.

Not tested. 2 year manufacturers warranty.

Been playing for 23 years, if this guitar was stolen, i'd buy another straight away without hesitation. Seriously consider this guitar if you are looking at a Martin 000 or OM. I was initially looking for a Martin 000-28EC or OM-42, however for only 1/4 of the money I bought this guitar. When you play the Stanford and Martins back to back the Stanford is the better guitar and both have pretty similar specifications, the only real difference being the scale lengths and the slotted headstock. The one thing they do have is vastly differing price tags. If you can find one try it, you'll be amazed........

Made in the Czech Republic by luthier Frantisek Furch's small but thriving factory. (For the story of his rise from "illegal" banjo player in russian-occupied Czechoslovakia to reputed guitar builder consult www.furch.cz - it's worth the while!)
Bought second-hand on ebay, therefore not shure about the year. Serial No. is 13494, and the Stanford Vintage line not was introduced, I think, before 2003.
Basic OM shape, 14frets to the body, solid rosewood body, solid spruce top, extremely beautiful wood, nicely finished with a brownish aging toner that is much more aesthetically pleasing than the bright orange toner varieties used by asian factories for their pseudo-vintage models. 20-fret mahagony neck, 45mm wide at the nut and graced with a slotted (!) headstock. Fingerboard rosewood (In contradicition to the factory specs that state ebony!) Herringbone purfling and rosette. Abalone inlaid "S" for Stanfod on the headstock. No electronics. Nice hard shell case. While new OM5-V's go over the counter for roughly 1000 Euros, similar specs on a Martin would set you back two to three times that amount, so I think a "10" for features is more than fair.

I play blues, folk stuff, some country, lately most folk&blues fingerpicking of the Van Ronk/Renbourn variety (That's where I want to go, not wanting to give the impression I am halfway there!), and I have long looked for the perfect sound: Warm, rich, big sustain, good definition of every single string, convincing overall balance, and all that with an affordable price tag, please. I tried my hand on a very nice Blueridge solid wood 000 with a very fast, low-profile neck, but while being loud and rich, it sounds a bit like speaking throught a stuffed nose. My Martin D-16GT does the job O.K., but I find a D-body a bit unwieldy for my purpose. The closest approximation to what I had in mind was up to now, and to my lasting surprise, a cedar-top G-series hex body Takamine: Maybe a tiny bit sterile soundwise, but best "bang for the buck" up to now.

And then, shortly before christmas 05, I landed this OM5-V on ebay. I went to pick it up, and was, at first glance, very unimpressed: The instrument had obviously been trashed around by a very uncaring owner who had installed a soundhole pickup with an endpin outlet, and deinstalled that before throwing the guitar on the market. As a result, there was a gaping hole where the endpin should have been. Even more displeasing was the slight, but visible bridge belly that indicated protracted use of too heavy strings. The old, corroded string set on the guitar made an unimpressive noise. Being a good ebayer, I honored my contract and paid, thinking of immediate reselling, but before doing that, I wanted to test the sound. With the bridge belly in mind I picked the lightest set I had in my drawer, some 0.10 Thomastik-Infeld Plektrum strings, tuned them up - and experienced the biggest single WHOA!!! moment of the year: The Stanford started singing like a nightingale. Deep, rich bass, great in the middle, beautiful heights, all the sustain you could ever wish for, and all that with a very nice low action in spite of the bridge belly. I was in heaven, people! Reselling? Out of question! This one is a keeper! I will tackle the belly with a JLD bridge doctor, that done, will switch to 0.11 strings, and likely throw my Blueridge on the market, nice as it looks. Well, seems like I have found the fingerpicking love of my life, and it happens to be a beat-up, bridge-bellied Czech Stanford OM5...

No way telling what the factory setup was. Action, as stated above, is low and cool without a trace of fret buzz. The wood is extremely beautiful and the guitar is expertly made. Tuners work nice allright, frets are perfectly finished and not visibly worn, bridge and saddle are where and how a bridge and saddle should be, and the finish seems to have been flawless. Frantisek Furch scores a 10 in my book for craftsmanship.

Durability? Let's see... - Now this is a very well-built instrument with quality hardware and a finish that looks pretty bomb-proof. That gives reason for optimism. On the other hand it is a solid-wood guitar, and that spells loads of trouble if you mistreat it: Expose it to frequent radical changes in temperature and humidity, ignore the factory specs when putting on strings, keep it in a car trunk during a snow storm or in summer heat, and see what happens. The former owner of the instrument seems to have done a lot of that and then some, and the fact that in spite of all his honest efforts he did not manage to ruin the instrument completely is the reason for another 10 score for Mr. Furch!

Never dealt with Furch, but hope I will sooner or later meet the guy in person. After all, the factory is a two hours drive from where I live...

I've played for 30 years now, played with new wave/new rock bands in my 20ies, am long since "retired" and nowadays have a good time as an advanced hobby player. I own a Koa/Cedar Breedlove, a Martin D-16GT, a vintage Martin 1218, a rare and beautiful Aspen Dreadnoght, a Blueridge 163, a G-Series Takamine, a Fred Jakesch custom Strat, a vintage Lang Jazzbox and a very rare Lang flattop.
I someone stole my collection, I would certainly replace this guitar. As matter of fact, it would be the guitar I would replace first, because I love the sound so much. Comparisons? As stated above, I have the Takamine and the Blueridge to compare as guitars of similar body size and approximately similar price range. I will hang on to the Tak, but will let go of the Blueridge now that I have found the Stanford. Why did I choose it? Well, I buy a guitar on ebay from time to time, if I like it I keep it, if not, I resell it. I have long wanted to try out a Stanford, and this one happened to go for an affordable price. Anything I wish it had? Well, it definitely will get a bridge doctor presto, and while I am at it, I might fit it with a fishman or highlander or something similar - the endpin hole is already there, isn't it?

Made in 1998 in Tchechien , former Furch company
with 20 fret solid spruce top with solid mahagoni back and sides
Fischer preamp (active)
Martin OM body style

Best for playing finger or flat-picking
it has a brilliant sound

very well set up from factory

A very good guitar for a reasonable price