Vintage VECJ100N

This is an understated looking Jumbo cutaway. Solid spruce top, mahogany laminate back and sides. Shadow pickup. Check out the official site for more details:

http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintageacoustic.html

Oh, and be careful when you remove the plastic scratchplate, the white 'Vintage' wording will shed all over the place...

Its a really rich, boomy sound. I own a Taylor 314 and I wanted a beater guitar for taking to parties and this fitted the bill. I played every acoustic in the shop and until you hit the ??500+ guitars this one just sounded better to me.

It had a really high set up, which helped the boomy sound. I took it to a luthier for a full set up. He made a new nut (bone) and took the truss-rod to its full range of adjustment. He thinks its a cracking guitar for the money, but reckons that theres a slight buzz above the 12th fret and that a full fret-dress would be worth doing. I might get that done later, I don't play that high up the neck so I hear no buzzing.

Other than that, iut all seems good to me.

It feels like a pretty sturdy instrument. It certainly weighs a lot more than my Taylor.

I called JHS and they were pleasant enough on the phone. I haven't had any real issue with the guitar, so can't comment further than that.

I've been playing two years. I had an Earthfire steel string that was ??99, which was fine for finger-picking but crap for chords - very tinny. The Taylor 314 I have does sound 'richer', but than that cost nearly ??800 more.

I play this Vintage more often than I play the Taylor, I can't pay it a higher compliment than that. If I had bought this guitar first, I may not have even bought the Taylor. Don't get me wrong, the Taylor is the better guitar, but I just love the sounds from the Vintage.

Definately worth a look if you are after a decent and cheap campfire guitar, or just a starter guitar that you won't grow out of too soon.