NAGD Vintage V300MH

DavidR

Apologies to the FB members who like an actual pic but I don't know how to do that so here's just a pic from the Vintage website. Anyway, a plain and simple guitar, so nothing too exciting on the visuals.

Vintage V300 Acoustic Folk Guitar ~ Mahogany – VintageGuitarsRus

Have been hankering after a Parlour acoustic for some time. Also don't have a mahogany topped instrument, didn't want electrics, don't have megabucks currently and don't like bling. So when I found this nice little student guitar whilst wondering around York this weekend it ticked several boxes and it sounds great.

Thanks to RWB Music in York who sold it me at a good price. I needed a guitar to play on the bench outside in the summer or on the sofa and, at this shop you walk in the door and there's an old sofa! Marvellous. (Thanks also to Banks Musicroom in York city centre who let me try some nice Takamine Parlours (necks too narrow) and the new Fender Paramount PS 220 which was a bit disappointing tonally, none of which I bought.)

Firstly, the tone and sustain from this guitar, even before I fiddled with the action, were very impressive. For £220 its really very good. The action was high at the nut and the bridge and the neck relief was overly tight and I have made initial adjustments to all three and swapped the cheap plastic bridge pins for some Martin white plastic ones. I think the initial strings are phosphor bronze. The Vintage website doesn't specify.

The top and sides are solid mahogany. Again impressive at this price range. There's no inlays, purfling or rosette to speak of. In fact I suspect the rosette may be a (herring bone pattern) transfer, but I can't be sure. I don't care. You don't particularly notice the lack of purfling etc on an instrument where the body (and neck) are all of the same wood. The bridge and fingerboard are both mahogany too. The nut is narrow, 43mm when I measured it c.f. 44mm on my FG5 and OM28, but the neck is full and definitely feels more of a handful than the other parlour instruments I have tried. I was going off the idea of getting a parlour altogether because of the small necks before I played this. 

There are no quiet notes or wolf notes anywhere up to the 5th fret on any of the strings, and that's unusual on any instrument! Beyond the 5th fret all seems well too. Strangely on an instrument with good sustain, harmonics are quite quiet. Perhaps that's just parlours. I've never had one before. The tone is woody and rounded. Not at all bright but nice. It doesn't need to be made any more woody with ebony pins IMO. Eventually I will try Monel MM12s on it but I have no idea how they will sound. I may change the bridge pins to bone too. The nut has 'Nubone' stamped on it. This is a slightly softer version of Tusq from Graph Tec.

Siting on my sofa, it's very comfortable to play, which is what I wanted. It's slightly bigger than a typical parlour. I compared it with my classical and its very similar, just a little narrower in the upper bout. The machine heads are closed chrome generic ones and are of intermediate quality but seem quite steady and smooth. The head is a pleasant Martinoid shape and there is a very nice pearloid 'Vintage' inlay. All quite understated and pleasant.

All round a nice instrument and exceptionally good value. I think Vintage guitars are designed in the UK and assembled in Korea from Chinese parts. 

                                                                                             

artiebear

Looks lovely. Having had a look at the spec, it's not far off an OO size. in effect, a great all rounder. Lovely as a comfy couch guitar but not to small to start to sound "boxy" ( not sure I agree with this term, but it seems to be a perceived description from those going down from bigger guitars to smaller designs ) At that price and with your obvious knowledge of how to tweak it, you cannot go wrong. 

Regarding strings, I know its a very individual thing, but I find phosphor bronze on smaller bodied guitar help all the frequencies to shine at the same time. Not a big fan of Monels , even on vintage guitars if I'm honest.

Enjoy !

ICBM

I had one of these a while ago - a really nice little guitar, and although I did sell it because it was something I just didn't really need, I do slightly miss it. I've also tried the spruce version once, which was nowhere near as nice - not at all bad, but just very ordinary and uninspiring, whereas the mahogany one has much more character.

I did put Monels on it too, and although I didn't think they sounded as good as phosphor bronze acoustically, it was because I wanted to use a magnetic pickup for slightly overdriven acoustic-electric sounds, for which it was actually extremely good.

guitarjack66

I've had my eye on this model but didnt realise it was a parlour sized instrument. I was looking for more of an OM size.

Mellish

Looks fine to me. I look for tone, feel, playability. If you get all that, *and* it looks good, too - well, that's a bonus, but it's fine without  

DavidR

guitarjack66 said:

I've had my eye on this model but didnt realise it was a parlour sized instrument. I was looking for more of an OM size.

No it is bigger than Martins single O size guitarjack66. Just compared it a bit more with my 2018 Martin OM28. Its not far off the OM in the lower bout but the upper bout and waist are slimmer. Surprisingly the depth of the body is similar.  Overall I suspect its nearer to an 00 as artiebear said above. Approx. the size of a classical - quite light too.

The overall build quality is down c.f. the Martin, for example, the pin holes on the bridge are less tidily drilled out, although the seam finishes are surprisingly perfect! (Amazingly, what I paid for the Vintage is approx 7% of the £3K'ish you'd pay for the Martin OM28 Standard now, so my comparisons about build quality are a little unworthy perhaps!)

:-)

bertie

guitarjack66 said:

I've had my eye on this model but didnt realise it was a parlour sized instrument. I was looking for more of an OM size.

its not,  its more 00 and a bit  -  not directly comparable

Kilgore

Parlour is just a generic term used by manufacturers and guitar players for a *small(ish) * guitar.

My personal definition for parlour also means 12 fret. 

TheMarlin

These were lorded in some magazines as the best acoustic guitars under £1000. 

I had one, didn’t live up to the reputation.  Maybe I just had a bad one. It happens. Every LP I’ve ever had was a bad one    Though, to be honest, the Vintage Lemon Drop I’ve got is very nice indeed!

Kittyfrisk

TheMarlin said:

These were lorded in some magazines as the best acoustic guitars under £1000. 

I had one, didn’t live up to the reputation.  Maybe I just had a bad one. It happens. Every LP I’ve ever had was a bad one    Though, to be honest, the Vintage Lemon Drop I’ve got is very nice indeed!

True, but it was the V300 with the spruce top that was reviewed & awarded the title.
I bought an early one on the back of the reviews, it was a nice pleasant guitar that for the price was indeed a good purchase.
I ended up picking up a ridiculously cheap V300MH & then traded the spruce topped one, as the MH is simply better in every way. Still got mine & I have to say my experiences mirrored those of @ICBM 

bertie

Kilgore said:

Parlour is just a generic term used by manufacturers and guitar players for a *small(ish) * guitar.

My personal definition for parlour also means 12 fret. 

, there are some with 14  and some 00/00/OM even Dreads that are 12 

if you want to generalise,  then its a "guitar smaller than a 0" 

Kilgore

bertie said:

Kilgore said:

Parlour is just a generic term used by manufacturers and guitar players for a *small(ish) * guitar.

My personal definition for parlour also means 12 fret. 

, there are some with 14  and some 00/00/OM even Dreads that are 12 

if you want to generalise,  then its a "guitar smaller than a 0" 

Sorry, yes that wasn't very clear. Small guitar with 12 frets. To be honest I even consider a 00 12 fret as parlour.

I read somewhere that the word "parlour" only came into use in the 60's or 70's. No idea if that's true.

 Is it the case that all dreads were in fact 12 frets? Martin simply changed the upper bout to join at the 14th, creating what we know as dreadnought today. 

Mellish

@Kilgore ; not sure when the term "parlour" came into use but it may have been earlier mate. The popularity of that body size peaked late 19th century to 1950s  

earwighoney

Nice looking guitar, if you have time to get a tape measure to the lower bout, I'd be intrigued how large it is. 

Kittyfrisk

Just took a measure & calliper to mine.
Nut 43.34mm.
Lower bout 38.5cm (10 cm deep)
Upper bout 26.5cm (9 cm deep)
Body length 49.4 cm

* Weight  1.735 kg (3lb 13.2oz)

Hope this helps 

bertie

I believe its an Americanism,  and hence its "parlor"   not "parlour"   

other spellings may be available

Kittyfrisk

Parlor/Parlour, tomato / tomato  

earwighoney

Kittyfrisk said:

Just took a measure & calliper to mine.
Nut 43.34mm.
Lower bout 38.5cm (10 cm deep)
Upper bout 26.5cm (9 cm deep)
Body length 49.4 cm

* Weight  1.735 kg (3lb 13.2oz)

Hope this helps 

Thanks.

Lower Bout = 38.5mm = 15.15" so it is OM Shaped or there about!

ICBM

earwighoney said:

Lower Bout = 38.5mm = 15.15" so it is OM Shaped or there about!

It's not OM shaped, it's much narrower in the upper bout and a little in the waist - more 'tapered' looking and feeling.

earwighoney

ICBM said:

earwighoney said:

Lower Bout = 38.5mm = 15.15" so it is OM Shaped or there about!

It's not OM shaped, it's much narrower in the upper bout and a little in the waist - more 'tapered' looking and feeling.

Yes, you are spot on.

The lower bout is about the same size as an OM, and the upper bout is about the same size as one of an OO.

DavidR

Seem to have sparked a good discussion on what constitutes a parlour sized acoustic!

I am probably wrong to have described it as a parlour guitar. Maybe 'small acoustic' would have been better.

 For someone whose usual sofa guitar is an FG or a brick-like Regal resonator this little Vintage is comfy, to me anyway. But I'm tall, so someone smaller might still appreciate a Martin single O or sub-single O size. Personally I'm much more likely to reach for this little fella when I  head for the sofa but that doesn't constitute the entire definition of parlour by the sound of it!