Vintage V300

I paid ??95 for this spruce solid top, and what a bargain. Pretty good finish for the money. Finish on some of the fret edges was a little rough but that's my only grumble(and it's a minor one)

I bought this as a back up to my Crafter J12. This little beauty really sings. I tried it out with DADGBD tuning, and for the next hour was in acoustic heaven. It fingerpicks really well with good projection and tone, also spot on when flat picking.

I had reservations about buying over the net, but needn't have. Guitar was set up pretty well. I possible may get a bone saddle and nut fitted at a later date.

I think I could gig this guitar. I use a Seymour Duncan Woody with my Crafter.

I've got a year warranty, but have heard bad things about JHS. However proff will be in the pudding.

I would thoroughly recommend this guitar to any level of player. As mentioned I purchased it as a backup to my main acoustic, and this little star may even overtake it. I got it over the net for ??95 inc delivery, I know it retails normally at around ??119. I was on a limited budget, so I had to buy carefully and do my research. Longer term I am eying up the Vintage V1800N model, as I want a genuine parlour with slotted headstock.

Pretty Standard, nice sealed smooth machine heads. plastic nut, saddle and bridge pins. Only one strap button. Gloss finish, mahogany lam sides and back, lovely solid spruce top. Mahogany Neck. Lack of a second strap button allways anoys me, but for the price I don't mind screwing one on. Its an OM style body kind of like a mini Jumbo. Also known as folk guitar.

This guitar really does sound fantastic, even better after the addition of a Tusq saddle, its so perfectly balanced has a great booming bass for hard strummed chords, I have had mine for over 2 years now and the spruce top is just opening up, this guitar is getting better and better. The top is a lovely honey yellow colour now. The balance and tone for finger picking is fantastic.

Its easily on par with or better sounding than a lot of Martin guitars I have played especially the ones with the MDF back and sides they still seem to manage to charge around ??1000 for. For under ??100 and ??5 tusq nut upgrade you could have an acoustic that is far superior in every way except brand name. I have never been a sucker for brand names anyway. I love mine and it keeps getting sweeter sounding with time, I have recorded in the studio with it and performed live, it shined in both situations.

The best part about what makes this guitar so nice aside from the great balanced sound is the very comfy and playable neck, it's perfect for an acoustic I really can't fault it. The action as I find with most guitars fresh from the factory/shop was to high for my liking, on an acoustic this is 1 hour job at most to fix, the nut height was perfect but the saddle was about 1/2cm to high, so i just sanded it down a little at a time till i go the strings nice and low without fret buzz tweaked the truss rod. I have to say its possible to get a very, very low action on this guitar without any fret buzz at all which is fantastic.

The guitar is coverd in what appears to be a fine layer of spray on plastic, I am not a fan of gloss finishes on acoustics's. The grain of the wood is perfect on the top a nice piece of spruce. The finish it has is free of any imperfections. I will give it a 7 for factory specs, but easily a 9 after getting the action down.

I have played live a good few times with it,withoiut a back up and it has been in studio 3 times, survived 2 years so far with my Daughter putting cake etc..in the soundhole (gratefull for the easy clean gloss finish. I was going to replace the machine heads with some Grovers but it holds tune solidly, through a 45 min set the g string went flat once and that was it.

Its had a few falls and bangs and has a few small dings, I can see know evidence that this guitar is going to randomly fall apart or explode at any minute, I would trust this guitar to last. So far I have found this to a remarkably resilient and very dependable little picker.

never dealt with them.

Overall for less ??100 and compared with some mid/lower range guitars from big name manufacturers I would suggest you save yourself some cash and buy one or these,. I have been playing guitar for over 15 years and i have had some exquisite guitars pass through my hands, but nothing has been as much of a god damn bargain as this, if this had Martins name on the headstock it would sell for ??600+ easily. For the price your getting an incredible acoustic guitar that will suit all styles of play, I would easily suggest this for any level of experienced player.

2006 model. Others have already given the spec on this guitar - spruce top etc, neck joins at 14th fret. Body is slightly smaller than a standard size acoustic which I like as its far less cumbersome to play.

I'm no expert on acoustic guitars and I'm sure that half decent Martins and Taylors etc would totally outclass it in every way. But these things are now selling for ??75 brand new!! For the quality and sound of this guitar its an absolute bargain. I play fingerstyle blues, some rockabilly and travis picking etc on this and it sounds great. I have a friend who bought one of these and is now thinking about selling his 500 quid Takamine because he prefers the Vintage.

The guitar set-up was just about spot on straight from the factory. Its a little on the high side but that can be easily changed by tightening the truss rod. Personally I like it a little high for slide playing and so have left it. No problem for normal playing either.

I can't fault my model. Its has no flaws. The finish of the wood and the condition of the hardware is first class.

As with anything - if you look after it, it will last.

N/A

I've been playing for 15 years. I own a Les Paul, a Strat, a Gretsch 6120, a Tele, a Dobro and a pedal steel as well as as a banjo and a mandolin. I play blues, country, rockabilly and rock. I've never owned my own acoustic before and was researching Takamines, Martins etc. But a couple of my friends have this Vintage model and highly recommended them. I played theirs and loved them straight away. So I thought I'd save myself a few hundred quid and get one.

??106 paid 09/2006.
000-style, black
slim neck
solid spruce top, nato lam body, nato neck, inlaid headstock
on-board shadow electronis VE300

Sounds good, high spec for price

This is my second VE300, the first was sent back as neck and bridge were misplaced. This one has also been sent back with a split neck-block.

This is my second VE300, the first was sent back as neck and bridge were misplaced. This one has also been sent back with a split neck-block.

There are also finish flaws and kerfing is not glued cleanly or well inside.

Frankly I have lost faith in this product and will be looking at an alternative with a similar spec. but one that is not made at 5.15 on a Friday afternoon! Afterall if two come to me with neck-joint problems then what else has been fudged?

Lets see, thay've got my guitar now.
I did try to ring when I first got the guitar to find out what the body wood is website says mahog others say nato - I got put on hold and passed through several staff before I could get the answer, to then be told that nato is mahogany!!??
Also have heard they are pretty naff to deal with, some shops won't stock JHS because of poor service.

I love all the features, it's clearly a well designed guitar and sounds pretty good for it's money, but having bought it on the back of good reviews I'm bitterly dissapointed. I won't even risk a third replacement, the production is clearly not as well supervised as it used to be and should not even have left the factory.

I bought this as a result of the much published " Best Accoustic under ??1000 " reviews for this model, although obviouslyI did not take the hype literally.
I wanted a cheap unplugged accoustic guitar for around the house with a reasonable sound.
I cannot fault the quality of construction, neck feel and the flawless finish for the price, but herein may lie the problems. I think that it is too solidly built and braced. The spruce top seems very very thick and the internal top bracings seem overly substantial. This results in a bright clear tone , but with very little volume or depth. I have changed the supplied 12s D'Aquisto strings for phosphor bronze 12-53 D'Addarios, but this has given only a slight improvement in depth of tone and volume.
Just for comparison and old junker spanish guitar , restrung from the original nylon to super light bronze D'Addario 9s has far more volume and depth although nothing like the clarity of this Vintage model.
Perhaps I just bought a one off with extra dense wood and construction? Perhaps the solid spruce top will develop more flexibility with playing?
Maybe I'll try restringing with 16s , but this will play havoc with playability. Shame really as it's such a nice looking and handling guitar.

Action is very good but a little high at 4-5/32 at 12th fret ( It could easily be adjusted to a recommended 3/32, but this may lower volume still further). Finish is flawless. The nut is cut a little narrow i.e. it does not take full advantage of the 43mm width of the fretboard.

Seems to built like a battleship ( which is killing the depth of tone and sustain

Noe experience of customer support

Playing 40 years. I own mainly electrics Teles and Strats including a Fender 52 repro Tele and a Fender 54 repro Strat, both of which have ash bodies and vintage pickups giving tremendous tone and sustain. They sound better (although quieter) unplugged than this Vintage.

This guitar is built and finished like a guitar costing three times as much. It's a shame that it has such poor depth of tone and sustain. For that reason I must mark it down

000 size solid spruce top acoustic. Made in China I believe.

Fantastic neck proportions, really feels right in my hand.

Sounds very even and balanced, especially after a recent string change. Excellent sustain. No fretting problems at all.

Action is a bit high but looks like the bridge can be lowered 1-2mm. Neck action itself is fine.

Some tiny laquer drips around the bound fingerboard but for #110 it's as well made as a lot ofmid price guitars, some of which should be ashamed for charging so much money.

It's built solidly and it will be gigged. Martin/Taylor/Gibson owners will sniff at this but it sounds great, especially when up against a 000-15 or a 110 it feels a lot more durable.

No need

An absolute steal for the money.

I realise that Martin and Gibson guitars are THE acoustic sound, and i'd love an OM Martin but I don't want to re-morgage just to be able to afford a decent guitar in their range. It seems that you have to spend nearly #800 just to get a guitar with a gloss top!!!!

For #110 this guitar is comfortable to play, has a good balanced sound and looks great. Not bad when a D45 is worth 35 times the cost - don't think it plays 35 times as better if you get what I mean!!

This one was made in April 2005 in China according to the quality control slip. The reviewer above covers the basic features very well. It certainly doesn't give the impression of being what is literally a cheap guitar unless you're the sort who looks closely at the transfer around a soundhole or puts your nose two inches away from a bridge saddle and thinks, "That looks quite plasticky." (I only looked that closely for this review!) I think the tuners as fitted are OK, by the way. They're nice and positive and keep the beastie in tune very well.

Has a very balanced, quite bright sound, not too boomy in the bass. Has a good solid ring when strummed - good for getting out the songbooks and belting out pop songs. When fingerpicked it has a rather delicate, crystalline quality whilst retaining a decent volume, good for ragtime or singer-songwriter stuff, but not really meaty enough if you want to thumb out some dirty country blues. Flatpicked it's very good for single string stuff like fiddle tunes (chimes in well with a mandolin) but it would be a bit lost doing bass-strum stuff in a bluegrass band, say. That said, all guitars have limitations, so I'm going to give it a 9 rating because what it does it does very well.

Intonation is as near perfect as any guitar I've played. This is an instrument that likes to play the fancy chords and sing out their component notes with due definition anywhere on the neck.

Action was a little too high for me from the box, but a one-third revolution with the supplied Allen key on the truss rod adjuster (inside the body and easily accessible with strings in place) made all the difference. Finish was mostly clean, some tiny droplets of glue around the edge of the bridge but nothing to worry about.

Seems very solid in every respect.

N/A

The V300 was bought for a knockaround guitar in rooms that contain a kid and a huge dog but on balance it seems worth protecting from them! Whilst it isn't up there with my darling Martins it makes for very credible performances and I'd be quite happy gigging with it if I wasn't already set in my ways.

I used to tell beginners to get a mid-range guitar rather than a cheap one to start with, as they would be happier with the way they sounded and progress more quickly. Now I'd tell them to buy one of these. At less than a hundred quid this guitar represents stunningly good value.

This is a small folk/consert sized acoustic guitar, made in Korea i think. Neck joins body at the 14th fret.
Solid spruce top (very even and close grained) laminated nato back and sides and what looks like a one piece mahogany neck. Rose wood fingerboard and bridge. Thin Poly finish.
finished with a multiply binding to the back and front of the body, and white binding to the neck.
Nice plain martin style headstock.
For 110quid it's amazing.

The balance of this little guitar has to be heard to be believed, i've played 700quid guitars that don't sound this good.
Lovely even bass (not dreadnought style), sweet mids and sparkly and non spikey trebles, it's lovely.
It's very good for chord playing, even barre chords up at the 10th fret.
Great for picking and bluesy open string licks and i imagine it could do slide very well.
Although it's no martin or taylor, for the money it's unbeleivably mature sounding and with the solid wood top should get even better.

Cosmetically i couldn't find a fault, nicely finished and buffed, no runs or overspray, Just nice.
action was way too high and the tuners are crap generic diecast things, changed them for a set of schallers i had sitting about.
Changed the saddle for a tusq compensated one (adjusted to the action i prefer, bridge pins ok, fitted a bone nut.
strung it up with a set of d'addario custom lights and it sings (being a small body it benefits from lighter strings).
Before set up 5, after set up 9, averages aout at about7

Haven't had it long but the build quality seems good so i see no problems.

Haven't used them but i've heard that john hornesby skewes the importers are crap, they wash their hands of any problems you encounter with their instruments.

for 115quid it's impossible to find fault, i bought it on magazine reviews (it's won awards) and they were spot on.
if lost or stolen i'd most likely buy another or spend another 400quid on top and get one of the new freshman guitars of the same size.
Don't expect martin or taylor, but for 115quid it's a steal, i've already recorded mine and with a couple of mics around the soundhole and neck, it sounds as good as anything i've heard lately.
I've been playing guitar for 26 years, have 60'sd teles, 70's 325, les pual juniors and some old washburn and takamine acoustics.
I'm stunned by the quality of this instrument for the price.